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Quebec City
Provincial capital of Quebec, Canada

Quebec City

Quebec City is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec.

Plan a trip to Quebec City→From Montréal

As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459 and the Quebec City census metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is the twelfth-largest city and the seventh-largest metropolitan area in Canada. It is also the second-largest city in the province, after Montreal. It has a humid continental climate with warm summers coupled with cold and snowy winters.

Get in

Getting to Quebec City

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  1. 01
    Jean Lesage International Airport
  2. 02
    Gare du Palais
  3. 03
    Gare de Sainte-Foy
See

Worth seeing

Quebec City's main sight is the Old Town, the upper part of which is surrounded by a stone wall built by both French and British armies. It is now a tourist district with many small boutiques and hundreds of historical and photographic points of interest. Some of the buildings are original structures, while others are built in the same style and architecture as former buildings.

  1. 01
    The Citadel
  2. 02
    Porte Saint Louis

    The oldest of the gates to the city, standing at the western end of the street with the same name.

  3. 03
    Porte Saint-Jean

    Leading to the west, also this gate to the city has been rebuilt several times, the current version is from 1939-40.

  4. 04
    Porte Kent

    Leads to the west of the city, and was constructed as the last of the city gates in 1878-79, but is the only one that has retained its original shape.

  5. 05
    Porte Prescott

    Connects the upper and lower town, and first built in 1797 and named after Robert Prescott who was the general governor of Canada then.

  6. 06
    Église Notre-Dame-des-Victoires

    Next to Place Royal, this is considered the oldest stone church in North America.

Do

Things to do

Horse-drawn carriages. A one-hour tour of the Old City. Quebec-Lévis ferry. From Basse-Ville (Rue des Traversiers), you can take this car ferry to Lévis and enjoy the great view of Old Quebec and Chateau Frontenac en route. The crossing takes 15 minutes and there are departures up to every 20 minutes. As of 2019, pedestrians pay $3.65, with discounts for children and seniors; cars with driver pay $8.65.

  1. 01
    Promenade des Gouverneurs

    Scenic walk starting at the top of the Funiculare, continuing along the wall over looking the old city.

  2. 02
    Dufferin Terrace

    Boardwalk along (east of) the Chateau Frontenac.

  3. 03
    Festival
Eat

Where to eat

All restaurants in the Old City post menus out front in French and English. Look for the table d'hote specials for a full-course fixed price meal. On the cheaper (but very satisfying) side, have a traditional tourtière québecoise (meat pie), or a poutine (fries, gravy, and cheese curds). The café culture is very much a part of Quebec City as in most of Europe.

How locals move

Getting around Quebec City the local way

  • Get aroundCross with the ferry for $3.65 (an experience in itself) and bike west on the south shore until you reach the Quebec Bridge and cross back on the north shore to connect with the Samuel-de-Champlain promenade and Corridor du Littoral.
  • Get aroundDriving in the Old Town can be tricky, since the cobblestone streets were designed for narrow 17th-century horse carts rather than 21st-century SUVs.
  • Get aroundBy charter bus Operates a ferry across the St.
  • Get aroundThe ferry operates throughout the year between 6 am and 2 am.
  • Get aroundThe ferry departs typically once an hour to Quebec City and once an hour from Quebec City, but frequency of departures increases up to every 40 minutes to Quebec City during the weekday morning rush hour and up to every 40 minutes to Lévis during the weekday afternoon rush hour.

From Wikivoyage: Quebec City, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.