Earlier in the year, my friend Christina and I decided that we would take an international trip together. I didn't want to go far, but I knew I wanted to go someplace different. With a hectic baseball schedule and very limited free time, the only opportunity I had to travel would be after the season ended so we planned a trip for late November before Thanksgiving.
I fell in love with Quebec City and had the most wonderful time eating, sight seeing, and even, yes, you guessed it, relaxing (at Spa Littoral, in case you were interested). Quebec City is not a big place, but we spent 6 days there. You could easily see, do, and eat everything in four. Below are some of my favorite sights, eats, and pictures!
SLEEP:
We stayed at the Hotel du Jardin, which is one of the Les Loft hotel chains. There were a number of Les Loft hotels around Quebec City. The rooms were very minimalistic, spacious, and had everything we needed. It wasn't incredibly fancy, but very clean and the staff very helpful and welcoming.
EAT:
- Le Boit a Pain: bakery, great ham and cheese croissants, cash only
- Le Croquembouche: bakery, great for breakfast or lunch
- Paillaird: sandwich cafe + bakery, great fruit tarts, in old quebec
- Cochon Dingue: good lunch or dinner spot
- Le Billig: fancy dinner and lunch crepes
- Toro Ya Ramen
- Bols et Poke
- Le Bureau de Poste: everything on the menu was $5, and it was great food too!
- Cafe Pekoe: bubble tea, but also has other good drinks
- Sapristi: A chain, but the food was amazing. Make a reservation for this place!
- Cafe La Maison Smith: great macaroons and gelato
A lot of the food places I listed out are either on St. Joseph-Est or St. Jean Street. My hotel was closest to St. Joseph and I spent a lot of time walking up and down that street going into all the shops and food places! Old Quebec is very nice and where most people go to walk around.
It's a great city to just get lost in and try random things; most of the stuff on my list were things I found by accident (especially the $5 lunch/dinner place and we actually ended up going there three times because the food was good, service was quick, and it was affordable).
SEE:
- Old Quebec: where all the touristy things are, but also has very cute little shops. In Old Quebec there is the Chateau Frontenac, a castle built to be a hotel. Take a tour of the hotel, as it is very interesting. There is also Le Petit Champlain in Old Quebec, which is a shopping area. During the holiday, storefronts are dolled up with a bunch of Christmas lights. Take the giant staircase down to Le Petit Champlain and then the Funiculaire (basically an elevator on an escalator) back up. Note: The Funiculaire cost $3 so have cash on you.
- The tourist information center across from the Frontenac also does bus tours. I recommend doing the inner and outer city bus tours because the outer one will take you to Montemorecy Falls. It might also take you to St. Anne Basilica (amazingly beautiful church). You can also Uber there but Uber won't pick you up from the basilica because it's outside their range (learned that the hard way). They will drop you off/pick you up from the Montemorecy Falls though. There's a bus to Montemorecy (not the basilica), but we didn't use it because we didn't want to get lost so we Ubered everywhere we couldn't walk (pro-tip, walk downhill, uber uphill).
- Cartier Street (at night) has giant lamps that light up on the sidewalk
- Aquarium of Quebec
- Art Museum, if you're between 18-35 you get a discount!
- There is a boat that crosses the St. Lawrence river from Old Quebec to Levis and it's $7 round trip. It's mostly for commuters, but you can get great pics of the Frontenac and the sunset is nice to see from the water
- Morrin Centre: jail turned college turned library. Very cool place to take a tour of!
- Parliament building, also a great place to take a tour of.
- Observation Deck: kind of a rip off but it's the highest building in Quebec City so if you have time go but if not, you're not missing much
BONUS: Check out my trip to Chicago last year.