Your Quebec City CME conference.

Quebec City after your study day

Study days finish at 2:00 PM Quebec City time. For an easy afternoon, choose one outing near your study setting: Dufferin Terrace above the St. Lawrence River, the cobblestone lanes of Petit-Champlain, or the Plains of Abraham. Leave time for getting there, because Old Québec is split into an Upper and a Lower Town and is meant to be explored on foot.

Travel, accommodation and admission are arranged separately. Your conference is built around your specialty and interests; the city is the setting you choose for it.

Walls, terraces and the old town

Old Québec was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. Quebec City’s tourism office says the district is ringed by 4.6 kilometres of fortifications, and Destination Canada notes you can walk the walls alone or on a guided tour. The Citadelle, a fortress built after the War of 1812, offers guided tours, and the Porte Saint-Louis is a stone gate first built in 1694.

Dufferin Terrace, a wooden boardwalk built in 1838, looks over the St. Lawrence River and Île d’Orléans. It has street performers in summer and a toboggan run in winter. Place Royale is where Samuel de Champlain founded the city in 1608, and it has a stone church and a large history mural. Château Frontenac, a château-style hotel built by Canadian Pacific Railway in the late nineteenth century, sits on Dufferin Terrace.

Petit-Champlain and the Old Port

Petit-Champlain is one of the oldest shopping streets in Québec City, a cobblestone lane in Lower Town known for the work of local artisans. It looks especially festive in winter, according to the tourism office.

The Old Port has views of the St. Lawrence and a food market, and in summer an aurora borealis light show plays on the grain silos. Rue Saint-Jean is closed to traffic in summer and has boutiques, with an ice-skating rink at Place d’Youville in winter. Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral is also part of the World Heritage district.

The Plains of Abraham and the museums

The Plains of Abraham is where French and British troops faced off for control of the city in 1759. Today it is a green space for picnics, cycling, outdoor sports and festivals, and a museum on the site covers the history.

The Musée national des beaux-arts is the city’s fine arts museum, with a collection of 38,000 works from the last four centuries and an emphasis on Québec artists. Quebec City’s tourism office places it on Avenue Cartier in the Montcalm neighbourhood. The Parliament Building, finished in 1886, has 26 bronze statues on its grounds and is lit up at night. The Musée de la civilisation has permanent displays on Indigenous history and culture. Compare each museum’s hours with your 2:00 PM finish.

Outings beyond the walls

Montmorency Falls is about 15 minutes from downtown, according to the tourism office, with paths that give views from above and below. The same page says the falls are taller than Niagara Falls. The tourism office says the falls run fullest in spring from winter run-off.

Île d’Orléans sits about 17 kilometres from Old Québec and is known for cheese, wine, cider, strawberries and blackcurrant liquor. Both outings need a car or a ride, so allow for that in the afternoon after study.

Neighbourhoods worth a walk

Saint-Roch is a former working-class district that is now home to the city’s arts and technology scene, with venues, restaurants and vintage shops along Rue Saint-Joseph Est. Montcalm, in the upper town, has Grande Allée for dining. Limoilou is family-friendly, with bistros, cafés and bakeries along 3e Avenue and running paths beside the Saint-Charles River. Saint-Jean-Baptiste has an artistic atmosphere in the upper town. The tourism office lists it with Saint-Roch and Montcalm as easy walks from Old Québec, so an afternoon can cover one neighbourhood at an easy pace without needing a car.

When to visit Quebec City

Quebec City’s tourism office lists average highs of 22 to 25°C from June to August, with the Festival d’été de Québec in summer. Fall highs fall from 18°C in September to 3°C in November, and foliage is at its most vivid from late September to early October. Winter highs run from minus 4°C in December to minus 8°C in January, with January lows near minus 18°C. The Québec Winter Carnival and the German Christmas Market belong to the cold months. The tourism office lists hiking, fruit-picking and wildlife watching for fall, with patios staying open, and cycling, swimming and canoeing for summer. Spring is the season for maple sugaring and sugar shacks. Pack for the weather you expect, not just the month.

Getting to Quebec City and your study setting

Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB) is the arrival point shown in this guide. The tourism office says the airport is about 15 kilometres from the city centre and is accessible by public transit.

The map shows straight-line distances from Shift’s designated center. These are orientation distances, not driving distances or travel-time estimates. Check your exact address against the conference’s check-in area before booking.