Québec City

Sandwiched between the Old Upper Town and the waterfront, this area has the city’s most intriguing museums and galleries, plus numerous plaques and statues and plenty of outdoor cafes and restaurants along its pedestrian-friendly streets. The centerpiece of this 17th-century Old Lower Town district, narrow Rue du Petit-Champlain is most picturesque when seen from the steep heights of Escalier Casse-Cou (Break-Neck Stairs) or from Québec’s cliff-hugging funicular. Turn the corner to discover Place-Royale, the city's original square, and the Fresque des Québécois, a whimsical mural featuring Samuel de Champlain.

The crowning jewel in Québec City’s harmonious collection of architectural treasures, this 19th-century hotel is magnetically attractive inside and out. Admire it from the panoramic riverside boardwalk in summer or the hair-raising toboggan run in winter or grab a seat inside the hotel bar for sweeping river views. And it's a lot more than a pretty face. In August 1943 and again in September 1944, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt met here with Canada's Prime Minister WL Mackenzie King to plot the final stages of WWII.

Straddling the Plains of Abraham, where France’s New World fortunes took a dramatic downhill turn, this star-shaped fort provides stunning Old Town perspectives and a perfect backdrop for understanding Québec's history. It's easy to visualize the legendary rivalry between the French and English on a tour of this, North America's largest fort. Time your visit right and you'll also get a free tour of the Governor General's Residence. It's a small bit of Canadiana right in the heart of Québec.

Québec City’s most fascinating museum will walk you effortlessly though two millennia of local history with 'People of Québec: Then and Now' and introduce many for the first time to Aboriginal culture and art with 'This Is Our Story,' which looks at the dozen indigenous groups who live in Québec province today. Some other unique, sensitively curated and highly educational special exhibitions are here too. Architecturally the museum is a delight, a mix of modern and contemporary design integrating preexisting industrial buildings to great success.

This long boardwalk straddling Le Château Frontenac offers spectacular, sweeping views of the St Lawrence River. Summertime in Québec City is a never-ending party, with street performers on the Terrasse Dufferin, spectacular fireworks displays and open-air concerts in the city's magnificent parks. In winter the boardwalk hosts a dramatic toboggan run. From here you can also access the ruins of four forts and two châteaus constructed by Samuel de Champlain and other early Québec residents and the funicular down to the Old Lower Town.

You haven’t really seen Québec City until you’ve toured the ice sculptures and fur-lined beds of the Ice Hotel in nearby St Gabriel de Valcartier or paraded through the streets with Bonhomme de Carnaval, the friendly snowman and official mascot of Québec’s Winter Carnival. If you want to try a bit of DIY fun, don your skates and glide across the rinks of Place d’Youville or the Anneau de Glace on the Plains of Abraham. The triple-chute toboggan run on the Terrasse Dufferin will take more than your breath away.

Just outside the town walls, this vast and verdant clifftop park is ideal for cycling, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and other outdoor activities. But there’s more to it than just fun and games. As its name suggests, this was the site of a pivotal event: the infamous battle in 1759 on the Plains of Abraham between British General James Wolfe and French General Louis-Joseph Montcalm that determined the fate of the North American continent and the end of New France.

This fabulous museum – and hotel and restaurant and spa – is housed in the 18th-century convent (with some new additions) of an order of Augustinian nuns devoted to charity who ran the city’s first hospital for three centuries. The exhibition rooms are filled with fascinating sacred objects as well as personal effects, and the human story is told accurately and sensitively. If you want more after your visit, you can elect to spend the night in one of the sisters’ modernized cells.

The city’s most important art gallery, the National Museum of Fine Arts of Québec exhibits historical and contemporary art in four buildings on the Plains of Abraham. Of the four 'pavilions’ (halls), two are new while two others are housed in existing structures including a former prison, complete with a block of cells that you can visit. Among the highlights is the Brousseau Collection of Inuit Art, a selection of 100 pieces by 60 artists dating back to the 1950s.

This museum devoted to the history of French-speaking America explores the diaspora of French-speaking people in places like New Brunswick, New England and Louisiana as well as Québec through some very intelligent multimedia exhibits. Other displays look at everything from the early years of New France to the work of artists and artisans here since 1930. It’s housed in the 17th-century Séminaire de Québec and access is through the stunning Chapelle du Musée (Museum Chapel) built in 1898.