Last updated on October 30th, 2024 at 06:08 pm
If you are wondering how to experience Europe without leaving North America, then you’ve reached the right place. We usually try to avoid visiting Europe in the summers not only because of the crazy prices but also to avoid flooded tourist scenes.
So last summer, when we were craving a little taste of Europe on a long weekend, we decided to do an impromptu road trip to the Quebec province of Canada. On that note, we also recommend checking out the Winter Carnival in Quebec.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

Getting to Quebec City
DRIVING – We drove from NYC to Quebec City via Montreal since that is, in fact, a much shorter route than directly driving to Quebec City.
- From NYC to Montreal was about 6 hours drive
- From Montreal to Quebec City was another 3 hours drive
FLYING – If you are coming from other parts of the US or Canada beside Northeast, then taking a flight to Quebec City should be your best bet. There are limited direct international flights to Quebec from the US so your alternatives would be to have a layover in Toronto or Ottawa or Montreal. Check for cheaper flight options here.

Are 2 Days Enough in Quebec City?
We spent 2 days in Montreal and 2 days in Quebec City. For just the highlights of Quebec, we think 2 days are enough but 3 days would give you a relaxed itinerary.
When I returned to Quebec the second time, I spent 5 days giving more time to each of these places and doing a bunch more activities. If adventure and activities are on your list for e.g. food tours, history/architecture walking tours, boat ride then spend a few extra days. TIP: Do not just go there on a day trip, spend at the very least one night.
Things to See and Do in Quebec City – Must See Attractions in 2 days
Now that summer is soon approaching we wanted to share some of the fun things that you can do in the summer in Quebec City. This list might rack up those steps on your Fitbit so make sure you wear comfortable shoes 🙂
1. Explore the Old Quebec District
There are lots of fun spots to walk around in the old Quebec City which are pedestrian friendly. Grab a map from the visitor center and explore! Some of our favorite spots are mentioned below. Don’t forget to look out for Quebec City’s festivals & seasonal activities taking place during the time you visit.

Better yet, sign up for a History & Heritage walking tour or a Quebec sightseeing Cruise to know and see the city from a different perspective.

2. Walk the Wall of Quebec
Yes, there is a wall! And summer is a perfect time to see the entire perimeter of the city. FUN FACT: Quebec City is the only fortified city north of Mexico. It’s a pretty easy 1 km walk and might take about 2 hours depending on how often you stop. TIP: If you are not interested in walking the entire circuit then just walk parts of the wall to see the citadel and tower tops.
If not the wall of Quebec, here is a great walking tour of Quebec City you might be interested in.


3. Notre-Dame de Quebec
After seeing the Notre Dame in Ottawa and Montreal, Quebec has hit a hat-trick on the prettiest basilicas in Canada. Definitely, stop by to take look at the architecture inside.
4. The Morrin Center
While looking for some unique activities to do in old Quebec City, the visitor center recommended us to tour the Morrin Center. Little did we know that our history buff souls were in for a treat. Morrin Center was built as a jail and then converted to the first English college in Quebec.
Today it boasts a classic Victorian library that any book lover will die to access. Only other place we saw such a cozy library was at one of the best B&B’s we stayed in West Virginia. You can find more about the tours of the Morrin Center on their official website.


5. Funicular Ride
If this is your first time in Quebec you will be as perplexed when trying to get to Rue du Petit Champlain. On the tourist map, it seemed right behind Chateau Frontenac but we didn’t actually see the street behind the historic hotel.
The old Quebec City is hilly so many streets (called Rue) are, in fact, right below the Chateau. TIP: There are multiple ways to get down there, you can either take the stairs or hop on a ride in the funicular. I’m a total stairs girl but Funicular is a fun ride one way. You’ll find stairs to get down at multiple spots and no it’s not as steep as the funicular.

6. Quartier Petit Champlain
This is one of my favorite parts of the old Quebec city, a fun little street takes you back to a small European town. As we said above, in order to get here you will have to come a level down from the chateau either by stairs or the Funicular. Petit Champlain proudly hosts all the local vendors so do take a peek at these shops. TIP: The hot chocolate in one of these shops was to kill for and the popcorn was pretty amazing too.


7. Place Royale and La Fresque
It is said to be the oldest square in Quebec city, located below the hill where the citadel is located. FUN FACT: It was in this square the merchants would hang out, drink & be merry while the royals basked in the glory of the citadel up above. Also, it is just around the corner from Petit Champlain.
TIP: Don’t miss La Fresque here or the biggest wall mural in Quebec city. This mural portrays the history of Quebec city. The cobbled streets with round colorful lights hanging on top, see our last photo, is also at Place Royale. The lights are up only in the summer though.



8. Montmorency Falls
On your second day, take a little field trip for half of the day. Quebec has tons of other things to explore beyond the old city. Take the cable car to get up close to Montmorency Falls, one of the rare waterfalls that has a walkway right on top of the actual waterfall. I have walked behind waterfalls in Iceland but never on top of them. So cool right?!
And if that wasn’t enough you can even zip line across the waterfall now.

It’s a short 15-minute drive from old town Quebec. Plenty of parking available at the falls visitor center where you will buy cable car tickets to go on top. If aren’t renting a car consider taking a half-day Montmorency falls & Ile d’Orleans tour from Quebec City.


9. Ile D’ Orleans
Across the bridge from Montmorency fall and across the river from Quebec city lies this little piece of heaven – Ile D’Orleans. On our first trip, we drove around the island after Montmorency falls to taste some local wine.
FUN FACT: This island, the first French settlement in North America, is bigger in area than Manhattan. It has only 7000 permanent residents while Manhattan boasts 1.6 million.

Known for its fresh produce and vineyards, definitely, stop by to taste some of the local wine, maple syrup, apple cider, and cassis. We took the Ile d’Orleans taste trail & wine tour on our second visit to Quebec City and would definitely recommend this tour to everyone.


10. EAT & DRINK LOCAL Food
You have to check out some of the cute little cafes and restaurants in Quebec. Try the local food, wine, and beer or go on a food tour in the old town. We do hope to go on a food tour on our next visit. Tip: Do not return from Quebec without eating Poutine! Poutine is the Canadian version of French fries. They like to serve it with curdled Cheese “Curds” and sauce “Gravy” .. you don’t want to offend a Canadian (nor your stomach) by mixing up the ingredients, No! 😉


To sum it up Quebec City is the perfect blend of history, architecture, culture, food and even an amazing party scene. The things we listed above should keep you entertained for 2 or 3 days in Quebec City. If this city is not on your bucket list of places to go, you need to add it now.

Where to Stay in Quebec City
The best thing would be to stay within walking distance of Old Quebec City. Unless you have a car then you can afford to stay in other parts of Quebec City as the old town has several parking garages to park your car for the day. We also encourage you to compare accommodation prices on Booking.com, Airbnb, and TripAdvisor for budget options.
Some of our recommendations:
- Hilton Quebec
- Marriott Quebec City Downtown
- Auberge du Trésor – this hotel has some good reviews and much-recommended option to stay in Quebec City.
For more on booking hotels visit our Travel Resources.
Read Next: Winter Carnival in Quebec – Here’s why you must go!
More on Travel in Canada
- The Quebec City Winter Carnival Guide – How to enjoy your winter getaway in Canada
- Things to do in Banff, Yoho & Jasper National Park – A 5-day itinerary
- Banff in Summer – 10 Essential Travel Tips to Know Before Going
- Banff to Jasper Drive – The Ultimate places to see on Icefields Parkway
- How to dress for winter in Canada – The essential winter packing list!
Hope you all get to discover a flavor of Europe in your backyard. If you liked this post then share it with friends and family or pin it for later 🙂
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Happy Traveling!
Very Informative post. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.
Boat Rental Montreal
We do not use ‘curdled’ cheese in poutine! eww lol, no. Poutine is a majestic food. We use ‘cheese curds’ (100% different) and GRAVY! not just sauce.
haha.. thanks for pointing that out! 😀 I’m pretty sure we had cheese curds not curdled cheese as well .. so yes makes sense to change the wording.. lol.. You might wanna revisit the edited section in jest.
Hi Richa and Gaurav – I’m probably the newest member to this community and your insights and experience was very helpful to plan our 4 day trip to Montreal and Quebec this past weekend.
We absolutely enjoyed our visit and will definitely look forward to visit again.
Thank you for taking time to write all your experiences and inspiring many. I’ll definitely look forward to use your website as a resource for planning my next vacations.
Keep inspiring.
Cheers,
Praveen.
It is wonderful to hear from you Praveen and we are so glad we could help you out. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter where we share our latest blog posts to give you some wanderlust 🙂
How did you get around in Quebec? Especially how did you go to Ile d’Orleans?
In Quebec’s old city everything is within walking distance or at the most a short Uber ride. The first time took a rental car and stopped at Montmorency Falls and a couple of vineyards in Ile d’Orleans. The second time we took a food & wine tour in Ile d’Orleans which was a great experience in my opinion.
Love the photos. We are planning a trip to Montreal then Quebec from VA! We’ll be driving to NYC then spending the night there and taking the kids around then the next day we will continue to Montreal. And after seeing those amazing pictures I would love to visit Quebec. Did you end up taking a plane from NYC to Montreal or QC?
Absolutely no need for a plane ride from NYC in my opinion! You will be in Montreal in about 6 hours from NYC. We did a similar road trip. We drove from DC to NYC stayed the night there. Started at 6 am or so from NYC and reached in time for lunch in Montreal 🙂 Spent 2 days there and then headed to Quebec City which is about 2.5 hours from Montreal. On the return journey, you still have to cross Montreal but you can drive straight down to VA from there skipping NYC. Hope this helps and you have a great trip!
Wow! The architecture in Quebec City is simply astonishing. It definitely has the European charm which is truly unique. Are two days enough to see all of the highlights Quebec City has to offer?
Two days is just about enough to explore the city but if you want to do some adventures like go on a food tour or take a boat ride then you might want to add extra days.
Quebec City certainly looks like a little slice of France! I love the look of it and can’t wait to visit when I head to Canada over summer! I’ve noted your things to do as they all sounds amazing 🙂
Thanks a lot Rachel!! You are going to have a blast… it’s so much fun in the summertime 😀
What an awesome post! I’m actually planning to visit Montréal this summer! Your pictures are wonderful!
Thanks Christine! 🙂 I love Montreal too <3
wow loved reading it and all the pictures too. Quebec looks like an interesting place with so many attractions, like you said would have definitely mistaken it for a ancient European town.
Right!? What’s even funny is that most uber rivers didn’t talk in English very well.. so it definitely felt like we landed in Europe rather than Canada… lol
This is such a great post. I will have to put this on my must see list. The funicular looks so fun and I love the European charm of the Petit Champlain district.
Yes! Especially if you are in the US.. it’s so close to us without traveling across the Atlantic 🙂
I never been to Canada but it is on top of my list. Quebec sounds and looks like a lovely city. I would love to explore the Old Quebec City, walk the Wall of Quebec and see this waterfalls. Thanks for sharing this great post!
You are most welcome Maike! Quebec certainly has something for everyone 🙂
Oh Quebec! Such a wonderful territory. I don’t think I’ll only be staying there for 2 days but hey, you’ve pretty much covered a lot of things, yeah? Hoping I could go and finally see it with my own eyes soon!
Yeah you bet! I went back for the second time and stayed for 5 days this time around.. haha 😀 The first time we saw all these highlights in 2 days. And the second time around I actually spent more time at each of these places. And I still have so much more to see… lol
Quebec looks like such a beautiful place – I can see why is is such a popular destination. Not really sure what part of Europe it would be. A mix of lots of different countries I guess?
FRANCE! Every single drop of it bleeds French.. even though Quebec has also been an English colony they love their French roots way too much 🙂
Love your photos and the whole blog post. Hopefully I will get a chance to visit Quebec city next time I’m in Canada!
I hope so too!! 🙂
Such a beautiful post! I visited old Montreal on a flight layover.
I can’t wait to go back. I lived in Toronto for 2 years but never visited Montreal when it was so close *life*
Haha Right! Tell me about it.. we often ignore the best of our own backyard sometimes 😉 Hope you get to go back to Montreal and Quebec both!
I’m not THAT far from Quebec (I’m in Virginia) but I’ve never been! Niagara is the only part of Canada I’ve been to. Quebec looks so lovely and interesting though! I need to get up there soon haha. Thanks for sharing!
Maggie, we are not too far from Virginia being in DMV area! We drove to NYC first and then drove up to Montreal. Although took a flight on our second trip.. so much faster 😀
Love this! I’m planning a weekend trip to Quebec later this year and this will be super useful!
Thanks Reena! I hope you have a great time there 😀
Quebec looks stunning! I’d love to come and explore the old town – there are so many nods to French architecture it must be fascinating.
Indeed, it’s super intriguing with its quaint architecture.