10 Best Things to Do
Québec City rises steeply above the St. Lawrence, its fortified Upper Town crowned by Château Frontenac. Below, Place Royale and the lanes of Petit-Champlain lead towards the waterfront, where the ferry offers a different view of the skyline. French-speaking cafés, regional restaurants and museums give the old streets a lively present. Upper and Lower Town are close on a map but separated by a considerable climb; the funicular is a useful connection between them.
Walk the Historic District of Old Québec
Old Québec, Upper and Lower Town, Canada
Old Québec is best understood as a place to walk slowly, moving between the cliff-top Upper Town and the older streets below. UNESCO recognises the ensemble of fortifications, civic and religious buildings and historic neighbourhoods as an exceptional fortified colonial city. Follow the walls, pause around Place Royale and look back at the river to see how geography shaped the settlement. The changing levels make the walk physically varied, so build a route around your interests and mobility rather than a rigid checklist.
Understanding the fortified city's shape
Explore Parc de la Chute-Montmorency
Beauport and Boischatel, Canada
Montmorency Falls gives a city break a dramatic natural counterpoint. The park's viewpoints, suspension bridge and seasonal staircase reveal different relationships between the falling water, cliff and river basin, with a cable car offering another way to change levels when operating. Choose a route that suits your mobility and the conditions rather than assuming every attraction is available year-round. The pleasure is in seeing the same landscape from several angles, with enough time to pause rather than rushing directly from arrival to departure.
A waterfall landscape close to the city
Visit the Musée de la civilisation
Old Port, Lower Town, Canada
The Musée de la civilisation offers a strong indoor counterpoint to Québec's historic streets. Its exhibition programme explores people, societies and lived experience, including This Is Our Story, developed with the eleven Indigenous nations living in Québec and the organisation La Boîte Rouge VIF. That collaborative approach gives the visit substance beyond a collection of objects. Choose a few exhibitions that interest you and allow time to read and listen, especially when travelling with children whose attention benefits from a less hurried pace.
Culture and society through thoughtful exhibitions
Explore the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
Montcalm, beside the Plains of Abraham, Canada
The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec provides a concentrated introduction to the province's visual culture, from earlier art to contemporary work, design and Inuit collections. Its current programme also includes the new Espace Riopelle, giving a major Québécois artist a dedicated setting. This is a visit to organise around your interests rather than an attempt to see everything at once. Combine a focused gallery session with time in the neighbouring park, leaving room for temporary exhibitions that require a different ticket or booking.
Québec art across periods and media
Walk the Plains of Abraham and visit its museum
Montcalm and Cap Diamant, Canada
The Plains of Abraham combines an important battlefield landscape with one of Québec City's most generous public green spaces. The National Battlefields Commission interprets the events of 1759 and 1760 through the museum, monuments and surviving heritage features across the park. Start with the museum if you want the historical context, then walk out into the landscape to connect the accounts with the terrain. The open setting also rewards a quieter visit focused on gardens, views and the rhythm of everyday city life.
Reading history in an open urban landscape
Tour the Citadelle de Québec
Cap Diamant, Upper Town, Canada
The Citadelle occupies a commanding position on Cap Diamant, combining a national historic site with a working military presence. It remains home to the Royal 22e Régiment, while its museum and guided visits interpret military history, architecture and objects associated with the fortress. Choose this experience for a more structured understanding of Québec's defensive landscape than a walk along the walls alone can provide. The views are a bonus, but the site's continuing use is what gives the visit its particular character.
Military architecture and a living fortress
Take a guided tour of Québec's Parliament Building
Parliament Hill, Canada
A guided visit to the Parliament Building explains Québec's political institutions through their setting, artworks and history. The National Assembly offers the tour in French and English, making it a useful way to understand the city as a working provincial capital as well as a heritage destination. The experience complements a walk around Parliament Hill and the nearby streets beyond the walls. Because this is an active institution, approach it with flexible expectations about which spaces can be entered on the day.
Architecture and the province's democratic institutions
Discover the Musée Huron-Wendat
Wendake, Huron-Wendat territory, Canada
The Musée Huron-Wendat presents the history and continuing life of the Wendat Nation from within the community itself. Its permanent exhibition, Wendat Endi’, Us the Wendat, centres cultural figures, identity, resilience and adaptation rather than treating Indigenous culture as something confined to the past. Guided visits and the wider museum sites offer ways to deepen that encounter. Make time for explanation and conversation, and plan the journey to Wendake as a purposeful part of your Québec visit rather than a hurried detour.
Wendat culture told by the community
Follow the Onhwa’ Lumina night walk
Wendake, Huron-Wendat territory, Canada
Onhwa’ Lumina uses light, sound and projection along a forest path to introduce themes from Wendat culture. Created by Moment Factory in close collaboration with the community, the experience draws on stories, music, language and relationships between living things. It works particularly well as an evening companion to a daytime museum visit, offering a different mode of engagement rather than repeating the same format. Walk at a comfortable pace and give the installations time to unfold, allowing darkness and the forest setting to shape the experience.
An immersive evening of Wendat storytelling
Cross the St. Lawrence on the Québec–Lévis ferry
Old Port to Lévis, Canada
The Québec–Lévis ferry turns an ordinary transport crossing into one of the most revealing views of the city. From the water, the relationship between Lower Town, Cap Diamant and Château Frontenac becomes clear, with the skyline changing as the vessel moves across the St. Lawrence. Travel as a foot passenger and leave time for the Lévis waterfront before returning. It is a compact experience that fits naturally around an Old Port day, while still giving the journey a sense of departure and arrival.
Seeing the city's skyline from the river