Old Charm and French Vibe in Canada - Quebec City

I have always heard how beautiful Quebec City is. Its been 3 years in Canada for me and every time I would plan to visit Quebec, it would somehow fail. 2020 changed everyone's life completely. All travel plans were cancelled. No flights to new destination. I am still scared to take flight thinking about the crowd. So when restrictions lifted and it was little safe to go around we decided to take a trip to Quebec city from Toronto. Since we were travelling via car there was no fear of public transport and crowd.

It is approximately 900KM from Toronto and takes about 8 to 9 hours one way. So we divided our route and halted at Brockville for the 1st night. We left from Toronto by 8pm in the evening and reached Brockville by 11pm or so and rested there for the night.

Day 1 :-

Next morning we wanted to see 2 things on our way to Quebec , 1st - Brockville Railway Tunnel . It is Canada's 1st railway Tunnel and you ought to take pictures with such history. It was closed due to covid so we had to see from outside and could not go in.

Next was - St. Raphaels Ruins . This is little detour from 401 but wanted to check it out . Old church ruins do make a memorable trip itinerary.

We went via Montreal towards Quebec city. If you like you can make a halt around Montreal. We opted for quick lunch in Montreal (only take outs were preferred) and left for Quebec City.

We reached Quebec in evening and checked in to our Airbnb. We had earlier booked a hotel right in the old city but then preferred to go with Airbnb as less crowd and considering safety standards.

Stay - The Kaméléon, L'Appart Gourmand : - https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/23897864?source_impression_id=p3_1628183585_8m017EyiNeH10E6J

airbnb

Check out my Instagram stories under Quebec Highlights : https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17878079842755417/

Day 2 : -

Explore the famous Quebec City !!! Hopped in our car , grabbed coffee and left for city. Airbnb was 10 minutes away so had to find a parking spot. You should get parking near old port. Then we just walked. Morning we saw the below places -

Quartier Petit Champlain :- You just need to reach here and start walking. You will be mesmerized by the old city charm and the beauty this place holds.

Umbrella Alley

We grabbed lunch (take out) and went back to airbnb as it was getting crowded at that place. So you know I will visit this place again in future to explore more and eat something good there.

We rested for a bit and left again. We went to see Montmorency Falls but it was closed by the time we reached so we had to see it from road and explored the area near by.

Drove back towards city. We initially wanted to visit Dufferin Terrace but did not find parking in evening. So instead we went to The Citadelle of Quebec , Quebec Fort. There is an underground public parking near by easily accessible.

Parliament is also near by , there was some protest going on so we skipped going inside

we then went back and retired for the night. We did drive around the city and captured few beautiful views

Day 3 :-

We checked out and before leaving Quebec went to Dufferin Terrace to see the famous Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. Pre-Covid there used to be tours to see inside this big palace hotel.

We grabbed breakfast and coffee from local shop, walked the area and saw few more architectural beauty. I can spend few days admiring them.

Sadly had to say good bye to Quebec city and start with the return journey. For return we planned to stay for a night in Ottawa, the Capital city of Canada. (also thought about Mont Tremblant as another halt option but skipped and kept Ottawa as we were covering all cities. )

Found a cute place for a break so stopped

So there was some road issue so google maps suggested some inside route and that let us to a strawberry farm. We did not do any picking but bought some farm fresh berries.

Reach Ottawa by evening and checked in to this beautiful hotel :- Andaz hotel byward market. https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/canada/andaz-ottawa-byward-market/yowaz?src=corp_lclb_gmb_seo_yowaz

View from RoomCheck out my Reel for room tour

View from the room :-

Some pics of Ottawa : -

Day 4: -

Finally on our way to home - Toronto / Mississauga but did stop at Kingston for tiny halt and then reached home. On routes are another halt places if you are looking for on 401 East.

Thus amazing trip comes to an end. This is the itinerary I followed but you can surely skip few and concentrate more on Quebec or shorten your days or stay. It is exactly 1 year ago I visited Quebec City and this year I am writing about it remembering the trip.

au revoir , Good bye