Activities in Québec City
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Old Québec Tours
This tour operator has a variety of tours from three-hour walking tours (adult/child $22/11) to 4½-hour tours out of town that take in the Montmorency waterfall and Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré (adult/child $49/23) or Île d’Orléans (adult/child $65/38). There are also adventure excursions, including whale-watching from June to October and dogsledding and visits to the ice hotel in the winter. You’ll be given the rendezvous point when you make your reservations.
reviewed
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Ghost Tours of Québec
Local theater actors or storytellers lead you through the streets of the Old Town by lantern recounting the hangings and hauntings of Old Québec. The 90-minute tours are great fun and usually finish with a visit to the city’s most haunted building. Tours leave from the sitting area (98 Rue du Petit-Champlain near Blvd Champlain) in the Old Lower Town. Buy your tickets from the Ghost Tours of Québec office or from the guide 15 minutes before the tour.
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Université de Montréal Adult Education Department
Your best chance at full French language immersion is on ‘the Mountain’ at Université de Montréal. Université de Montréal Adult Education Department has terrific programs that include night or weekend courses, courses in everything from beginners’ French to Québec culture to advanced courses in written French. This is a very proud French-language campus so people are not prone to making le switch so feared by French-language students. Many Americans and South Americans attend this program in summer as a kind of study vacation as it’s cheaper than flying to Europe.
reviewed
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Village Vacances Valcartier
For an adrenaline rush, head off on a white-water rafting trip down the Jacques Cartier River. This outfit also has guided trips for families, suitable for both beginners and experienced rafters. For the biggest thrills, come from May to June when the water is at its highest. You must reserve at least three days in advance. Canoe rental is also available (per three hours $25). It’s a 20-minute drive from Québec City along Hwy 73 north (exit St-Émile/La Faune).
reviewed
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École de Langues de L’université Laval
École de langues de l’Université Laval is your best bet for learning French. It offers 15-week fall and winter courses or five-week spring and summer courses. You can be hooked up for accommodations with a Québécois family (from $88 per week with kitchen access to $180 a week with breakfast and dinner) or, in the spring and summer sessions, you can stay in residence (per week $88).
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La Compagnie des Six Associes
Boasts a great staff and very good walking circuits like the ever-popular ‘Lust and Drunkenness, ’ which creaks open the rusty door on the history of alcohol and prostitution in the city. Other tours, in English and French, focus on epidemics, disasters and crimes. A cheery bunch, they are.
reviewed
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Sherpa Plein Air
These guys operate Navette Shuttle, an excellent, fairly-priced service taking people out of the city to sites such as Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier and Cap Tourmente for hiking, bird watching and kayaking. Sherpa even rents and takes bikes, perfect if you want to get out of town and get active.
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Cyclo Services
This outfit rents bikes and organizes excellent bike tours of the city and outskirts to places like Wendake or La Chute Montmorency. The knowledgeable and fun guides frequently give tours in English. There are good cycling maps covering the vicinity.
reviewed
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Mont-Ste-Anne
A hugely popular ski resort with 66 ski trails, 17 of which are set aside for night skiing (from 4pm to 9pm). You’ll find all sorts of other winter activities here, including snowshoeing, skating and even dogsledding. You can rent skis and snowboards too.
reviewed
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Station Touristique Stoneham
Smaller than Mont-Ste-Anne and only about 20 minutes from Québec City, there are 32 slopes here for downhill skiing and snowboarding. Night skiing runs are usually open from late November until around mid-March. Take Hwy 73 north until the Stoneham exit.
reviewed
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Croisiéres Aml
You can get a new perspective of the city aboard these small vessels. AML offers a range of dining and sightseeing cruises, including a popular 1½-hour trip along the St Lawrence (adult/child $32/17) and a two-hour brunch cruise (adult/child $45/24).
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Parc National de la Jacques-Cartier
There’s a range of snowshoeing and cross-country skiing trails and circuits here, from easy to difficult. Those who’ve done the trails say the winter scenery is picture-perfect. The park is about 40km from Québec City along Rte 175.
reviewed
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Croisiéres le Coudrier
Its sightseeing cruises (1½ hours) run all the way to Île d’Orléans (adult/child $32/15). Other offerings include dinner cruises (adult $75) and special three-hour cruises during Les Grands Feux Loto-Québec.
reviewed
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Les Tours Voir Québec
This group offers a handful of excellent tours covering the history and architecture of Old Québec City. The popular two-hour ‘grand tour’ takes in the highlights of the old quarters (adult/child/student $22/11/20). Reserve ahead.
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Giant Toboggan Slide
Whether summer or deepest, darkest winter, Québec City locals take to the outdoors. Outside the Château Frontenac, the scenic Terrasse Dufferin along the riverfront stages the giant toboggan slide during the winter.
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Paul Gaston L'anglais
Affable archaeologist Paul gives excellent, novel, thematically diverse walking tours (eg beer brewing, cemeteries of Old Québec, parks) when not zipping around town researching on his bike.
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Société Piste Jacques-Cartier/Portneuf
Formerly a railway linking St-Gabriel-de-Valcartier and Rivière-à-Pierre, this 68km trail winds its way through country scenery. In winter it turns into a snowmobile track.
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Muséovelo
Located in the St-Jean-Baptiste neighborhood, this place rents, makes and repairs all sorts of bikes. It also has lots of high-quality Canadian-made bike accessories for sale.
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Pavillon de L’éducation Physique et des Sports
There’s a huge Olympic-sized pool here –probably the best in town – that’s also open to the public at certain times. Call for the latest times.
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Patinoire de la Terrasse
A kind of ice rink gets set up here every winter and is ideal for families and children to putter around on. Skate rentals on-site.
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Place d’Youville
One of the most popular places for ice-skating once winter rolls around. You can also rent skates here.
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Dupont Tours
This tour operator has a smorgasbord of tours from a basic two-hour city tour (adult/child around C$30/around C$18) to 6½-hour tours out of town that take in Montmorency Falls and Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré (adult/child 43/23) or Île d'Orléans (adult/child around C$80/around C$60). Check the website for the full gamut. Not all tours are offered year-round and reservations are a must. There's a free pick-up service and shuttle bus. Family packages are also available.
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Abraham’s Bus Tour
To get your bearings at Battlefields Park consider the 40-minute Abraham’s Bus Tour around the park. An actor in period costume points out historical sites of interest and throws in some colorful asides. It departs from the Discovery Pavilion, the main gateway to Battlefields Park, which houses a museum as well as the excellent Québec City tourist office, Centre Infotouriste.
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