Off thread going to Quebec City

[CalgarySnow]

Going for my birthday (and Montreal), what can you recommend as must sees please? And how good does my French have to be? I can just about get by in France. TIA

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[Kairi Zaide]

If you can just about get by in France, you'll have no issue in Quebec City. In the touristic parts you'll always be able to fall back to English if needed. In the less touristy place, most people will at least know basic English, especially millenials and younger as we learned it as a 2nd language.

Must sees would be Montmorency Falls, Quartier Petit Champlain and all that beautiful area in the "Vieux Québec" basically, with the Chateau Frontenac, Terrasse Dufferin, Rue Saint-Jean, Citadelle de Québec, etc. There's a lot of boutiques, museums, scenery, etc. The area around the Plaines d'Abraham also has a few things (Manège Militaire, Musée des Beaux Arts, a lot of historical buildings and sites, etc.).

If you're going to be driving, Île d'Orléans is also nice if you're going in fall. The bridge isn't far from the Montmorency Falls. Wonderful scenery for a road trip. But it might be crowded because it's apple picking season around september.

If you want to do some original stuff I guess you could look into ferries and tours to Grosse île which is a big part of the Irish history in the province. Cap Tourmente is a park outside the city (45-60 minutes drive) where you can see a lot of migratory birds in fall, with lots of hiking trails of various difficulties. The landscape is absolutely gorgeous if you're going in late september-october.

If you love biking, or just walking, the Promenade Champlain in Sillery is a nice spot for that, although cars kill the vibe for me.

That's just a few obvious stuff that comes to my mind. The must see really depend on what kind of tourist you are - as in any place honestly.

 

[Andrei79]

La Cohue in Ste Foy is a really nice restaurant outside of the more tourist old town and L'affaire est Ketchup is good too.

 

[Chadstudsky]

I was told Ashton in Quebec City had the best Poutine in the province. Man I was excited. I wanted to fall in love with it. It sucked don't fall for that trap. There's tons of great restos unfortunately my wife has the palate of a 5th grader so we didn't end up going to nice restaurants last time I was there so I can't recommend any, unless you're looking for fish n chips or chicken fingers

 

[Kaiden Ghoul]

Bienvenue chez nous, frère de l'ouest

Dont wear habs jersey in Québec and you should be okay

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I was told Ashton in Quebec City had the best Poutine in the province. Man I was excited. I wanted to fall in love with it. It sucked don't fall for that trap. There's tons of great restos unfortunately my wife has the palate of a 5th grader so we didn't end up going to nice restaurants last time I was there so I can't recommend any, unless you're looking for fish n chips or chicken fingers

I'm not a poutine guy but the idea that anyone would recommend Ashton as the best poutine in the province is wild.

 

[Chadstudsky]

I'm not a poutine guy but the idea that anyone would recommend Ashton as the best poutine in the province is wild.

Yeah. It was our tour bus guide that said it too lol..

 

[Fenris]

Seconding Le Zairafim ‘s tips.

The best view of Québec is from the Lévis (South Shore) ferry.

Stay downtown near the Vieux-Port and Vieux-Québec where you don’t need a car. Ste-Foy (west) and Charlesbourg (north) areas are your typical North American suburbs.

The Citadel and especially the nearby view from the Plaines d’Abraham park should be part of the visit.

If you have more time, you could push further east to Charlevoix.

 

[MXD]

The Chutes Montmorency are probably still awesome. They were when we got there in mid-july at least, as it had been quite rainy. And I suppose it's still rainier than usual. Either way it's really easy to get as long as you aren't too far west or north in Quebec.

We ate at Buvette Scott and Rioux&Pettigrew. Highly recommend, just... well, it's not cheap. And Buvette is probably already booked anyways. Chez Boulay is apparently pretty good too. Authentic places - there,s quite a bit of cosplaying in Old Québec, and these aren't like that at all. We also ate on some patio on St-Jean the evening we were going to the FEQ. I hope the Ashton suggestion was ironic.

 

[LaP]

I was told Ashton in Quebec City had the best Poutine in the province. Man I was excited. I wanted to fall in love with it. It sucked don't fall for that trap. There's tons of great restos unfortunately my wife has the palate of a 5th grader so we didn't end up going to nice restaurants last time I was there so I can't recommend any, unless you're looking for fish n chips or chicken fingers

lol Ashton is fast food there's nothing better about it. The best poutine is debatable but you'll get arguably better poutine at Chez Victor and Frite Alors!

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Yeah. It was our tour bus guide that said it too lol..

I'm going to guess there's some sort of commercial arrangement there. That's really unfortunate.

 

[Kimota]

I was told Ashton in Quebec City had the best Poutine in the province. Man I was excited. I wanted to fall in love with it. It sucked don't fall for that trap. There's tons of great restos unfortunately my wife has the palate of a 5th grader so we didn't end up going to nice restaurants last time I was there so I can't recommend any, unless you're looking for fish n chips or chicken fingers

When I was a kid, my sister always went to Ashton with her friends after going to the bars. For teens it was legendary. But when I started going there, I was always disappointed. It was cold, never enough sauce, etc...I think it's a made up legend. There are better poutines outthere. Just an average restaurent like Valentine has better poutines.

 

[CalgarySnow]

If you can just about get by in France, you'll have no issue in Quebec City. In the touristic parts you'll always be able to fall back to English if needed. In the less touristy place, most people will at least know basic English, especially millenials and younger as we learned it as a 2nd language.

Must sees would be Montmorency Falls, Quartier Petit Champlain and all that beautiful area in the "Vieux Québec" basically, with the Chateau Frontenac, Terrasse Dufferin, Rue Saint-Jean, Citadelle de Québec, etc. There's a lot of boutiques, museums, scenery, etc. The area around the Plaines d'Abraham also has a few things (Manège Militaire, Musée des Beaux Arts, a lot of historical buildings and sites, etc.).

If you're going to be driving, Île d'Orléans is also nice if you're going in fall. The bridge isn't far from the Montmorency Falls. Wonderful scenery for a road trip. But it might be crowded because it's apple picking season around september.

If you want to do some original stuff I guess you could look into ferries and tours to Grosse île which is a big part of the Irish history in the province. Cap Tourmente is a park outside the city (45-60 minutes drive) where you can see a lot of migratory birds in fall, with lots of hiking trails of various difficulties. The landscape is absolutely gorgeous if you're going in late september-october.

If you love biking, or just walking, the Promenade Champlain in Sillery is a nice spot for that, although cars kill the vibe for me.

That's just a few obvious stuff that comes to my mind. The must see really depend on what kind of tourist you are - as in any place honestly.

Thank you loads of good ideas, I think we’re going to forego Montreal as there is so much to do in QC, I want to go whale watching too. We had planned on a couple of days in QC and a couple in Montreal but we have done Montreal before and it’s only a couple of hours drive so we can have a weekend away for that. Irish history sounds good (my granddad was from Cobh, County Cork, immigrated to England). QC you’re on warning the Snowdons are coming to town, let’s see how my rusty French works out lol!

 

[atrud66]

Just finished a road trip around parts of Quebec I've never been to. Would highly recommend travelling up the coast to Tadoussac. I was travelling with a dog so I couldn't go on a whale watching boat but we were able to whale watch on the shore from Cap de Bon Désir. We saw 11 whales and 2 seals in the 3 hours we were there. Super scenic and chill and you get to see a ton of whales. Would also recommend hiking in the Saguenay Fjord.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Holystik]

La Cohue in Ste Foy is a really nice restaurant outside of the more tourist old town and L'affaire est Ketchup is good too.

I live right behind the Cohue lol

I was told Ashton in Quebec City had the best Poutine in the province. Man I was excited. I wanted to fall in love with it. It sucked don't fall for that trap. There's tons of great restos unfortunately my wife has the palate of a 5th grader so we didn't end up going to nice restaurants last time I was there so I can't recommend any, unless you're looking for fish n chips or chicken fingers

I like Chez Richard.
Awesome poutine there and they have this amazing burger called l'interfromage.

 

[JC Superstar]

The arena where the Bulldogs won their 2 Stanley Cups was near the Citadel. I go on a pilgrimage once a year.

Ile d'Orléans is a can't miss at that time of the year; if you have car trouble on the island, Say hello to my cousin.

 

[Ezpz]

The last time I went was 2003 but avoid the (literal) clowns with shopping carts trying to cast themselves as street performers.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Going for my birthday (and Montreal), what can you recommend as must sees please? And how good does my French have to be? I can just about get by in France. TIA

I'm an outsider here with no knowledge of French, but from my experience if you attempt to say some words in French in QC the locals can kind of tell if it's not your first language (my French accent is ATROCIOUS and I cannot speak the language at all) and will appreciate the effort and respond to you in English (someone once explained to me that she wanted to practice her English lol.) However, I can only speak as an American; I was told, but cannot confirm, that they expect Canadians to have a bit more of a command in French (locals are not stupid and realize that Americans by and large do not learn French in school and have no real command of it.) You are in a very different position than me, seeing as you have some command of the language already, and should have no problem.

Quebec is one of my favorite cities in the world. I absolutely adore it. In the countryside, far away from the city, I did not hear a single word of English whatsoever but that is to be expected.

I'm not a poutine guy but the idea that anyone would recommend Ashton as the best poutine in the province is wild.

I thought poutine came from Drummondville?