134 Best Sights in Quebec, Canada

If your taste runs to the chic and fashionable, then there is simply no better street than rue Bernard, west of Avenue Querbes, for people-watching. Its wide sidewalks and shady trees make it ideal for the kind of outdoor cafés and restaurants that attract the bright and the beautiful.

Few churches in North America are as wow-inducing as Notre-Dame. Everything about the Gothic Revival–style church, which opened in 1829, seems designed to make you gasp—from the 228-foot twin towers out front to the tens of thousands of 24-karat gold stars that stud the soaring blue ceiling.

Nothing in a city renowned for churches matches Notre-Dame for sheer grandeur—or noise-making capacity: its 12-ton brass bell is the largest in North America, and its 7,000-pipe Casavant organ can make the walls tremble. The pulpit is a work of art in itself, with an intricately curving staircase and fierce figures of Ezekiel and Jeremiah crouching at its base. The whole place is so overwhelming it's easy to miss such lesser features as the stained-glass windows from Limoges and the side altars dedicated to St. Marguerite d'Youville, Canada's first native-born saint; St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, Canada's first schoolteacher; and a group of Sulpician priests martyred in Paris during the French Revolution.

For a peek at the magnificent baptistery, decorated with frescoes by Ozias Leduc, you'll have to tiptoe through the glassed-off prayer room in the northwest corner of the church. Every year dozens of brides—including Céline Dion, in 1994—march up the aisle of Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur (Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Chapel), behind the main altar, to exchange vows with their grooms before a huge modern bronze sculpture that you either love or hate.

Notre-Dame is an active house of worship, so dress accordingly. The chapel can't be viewed weekdays during the 12:15 pm mass, and is often closed Saturday for weddings. Don't miss the 45-minute multimedia spectacle, "Aura," which celebrates the basilica's exquisite features through light and sound. See website for schedule (www.aurabasiliquemontreal.com/en).

Named for Québec's patron saint (the mother of the Virgin Mary), this small town is on Route 138, east of Québec City. It attracts more than a million pilgrims each year who come to visit the region's most famous religious site.

The French brought their devotion to St. Anne (also the patron saint of shipwrecked sailors) when they sailed across the Atlantic to New France. According to local legend, St. Anne was responsible for saving voyagers from shipwrecks in the harsh waters of the St. Lawrence. In 1650, Breton sailors caught in a storm vowed to erect a chapel in honor of this patron saint at the exact spot where they landed.

The present neo-Roman basilica, constructed in 1923, is the fifth to be built on the site where the sailors first touched ground. The original 17th-century wood chapel was built too close to the St. Lawrence and was swept away by river flooding.

The gigantic structure is in the shape of a Latin cross and has two imposing granite steeples. The interior has 22 chapels and 18 altars, as well as rounded arches and numerous ornaments in the Romanesque style. The 214 stained-glass windows, completed in 1949, are by Frenchmen Auguste Labouret and Pierre Chaudière.

Tributes to St. Anne can be seen in the shrine's mosaics, murals, altars, and ceilings. A bas-relief at the entrance depicts St. Anne welcoming her pilgrims, and ceiling mosaics represent her life. Numerous crutches and braces posted on the back pillars have been left by those who have felt the saint's healing powers.

A walk here is a walk through Montréal's multicultural history. The shops, restaurants, synagogues, and churches that line the 10-block stretch north of rue Sherbrooke reflect the various waves of immigrants that have called it home. Keep your eyes open and you'll see Jewish delis, Hungarian and Slovenian charcuterie shops, Chinese grocery stores, Italian coffee bars, Greek restaurants, Vietnamese sandwich shops, and Peruvian snack bars. You'll also spot some of the city's trendiest restaurants, cafés, and galleries, as well as the dernier cri in skateboard fashion. The first immigrants to move into the area in the 1880s were Jews escaping pogroms in Eastern Europe. It was they who called the street "the Main," as in Main Street—a nickname that endures to this day. Even Francophone Montrealers sometimes call it "La Main."

The seat of the Anglican (Episcopalian) bishop of Montréal offers downtown shoppers and strollers a respite from the hustle and bustle of rue Ste-Catherine, with free noontime concerts and organ recitals. Built in 1859, the cathedral is modeled on Snettisham Parish Church in Norfolk, England, with some distinctly Canadian touches. The steeple, for example, is made with aluminum plates molded to simulate stone, and inside, the Gothic arches are crowned with carvings of the types of foliage growing on Mont-Royal when the church was built. The stained-glass windows behind the main altar, installed in the early 1920s as a memorial to the dead of World War I, show scenes from the life of Christ. On the wall just above and to the left of the pulpit is the Coventry Cross; it's made of nails taken from the ruins of Britain's Coventry Cathedral, destroyed by German bombing in 1940. Free Saturday group tours can be arranged by calling the office.

If you find yourself humming "Getting to Know You" as you explore Mont-Royal Cemetery's 165 acres, blame it on the graveyard's most famous permanent guest, Anna Leonowens (1834–1915). She was the real-life model for the heroine of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I. The cemetery—established in 1852 by the Anglican, Presbyterian, Unitarian, and Baptist churches—is laid out like a terraced garden, with footpaths that meander between crab-apple trees and past Japanese lilacs. If you're lucky, you may spot a fox sunbathing on one of the tombstones in winter.

Visible from up to 50 miles away on a clear day, the 98-foot-high steel cross at the top of Mont-Royal has been a city landmark since it was erected in 1924, largely with money raised through the efforts of 85,000 high-school students. Once upon a time, it took four hours and the labor of three to replace the 249 electric bulbs used to light the cross; today, the iconic cross is illuminated via a high-tech remote-control LED system.

Welcome to the oldest stone church in North America! The fortress shape of the altar is no accident; this small, but beautiful stone church on Place Royale is linked to a bellicose past. Grateful French colonists named it in honor of the Virgin Mary, whom they credited with helping French forces defeat two British invasions: one in 1690 by Admiral William Phipps and the other by Sir Hovendon Walker in 1711. The church itself was built in 1688, making it the city's oldest—it has been restored twice since then. Several interesting paintings decorate the walls, and a model of Le Brezé, the boat that transported French soldiers to New France in 1664, hangs from the ceiling. The side chapel is dedicated to Ste. Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris.

The most photographed landmark in Québec City. This imposing turreted castle with a copper roof owes its name to the Comte de Frontenac, governor of the French colony between 1672 and 1698. Samuel de Champlain was responsible for Château St-Louis, the first structure to appear on the site of the Frontenac; it was built between 1620 and 1624 as a residence for colonial governors. The original portions of the hotel opened the following year, one in a series of château-style hotels built across Canada to attract wealthy railroad travelers. It was remarkably luxurious for the time: guest rooms contained fireplaces, bathrooms, and marble fixtures, and a special commissioner purchased antiques for the establishment. The hotel was designed by New York architect Bruce Price, who also worked on Québec City's train station, Gare du Palais. The addition of a 20-story central tower in 1924 completed the hotel. Since then the Château, as it's called by locals, has accumulated a star-studded guest roster, including Prince William and Kate Middleton, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Grace of Monaco, Alfred Hitchcock, and Ronald Reagan, as well as Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, who met here in 1943 and 1944 for two wartime conferences.

Visitors who can spend the night can book a guided visit of the hotel and learn more about its many secrets.

Creating one of the world's great botanical gardens in a city with a winter as harsh as Montréal's was no mean feat, and the result is that no matter how brutal it gets in January there's one corner of the city where it's always summer. With 181 acres of plantings in summer and 10 greenhouses open all year, Montréal's Jardin Botanique is the second-largest attraction of its kind in the world (after England's Kew Gardens). It grows more than 26,000 species of plants, and among its 30 thematic gardens are a rose garden, an alpine garden, and—a favorite with the kids—a poisonous-plant garden.

You can attend traditional tea ceremonies in the Japanese Garden, which has one of the best bonsai collections in the West, or wander among the native birches and maples of the Jardin des Premières-Nations (First Nations Garden). The Jardin de Chine (Chinese Garden), with its pagoda and waterfall, will transport you back to the Ming dynasty. In the fall, all three cultural gardens host magical mixes of light, color, plant life, and sculpture during the annual Gardens of Light spectacle.

Often regarded as one of the most iconic attractions in the Old City due to its location and stunning views of the neighborhood. But the steepness of the city's first iron stairway, an ambitious 1893 design by city architect and engineer Charles Baillairgé, is ample evidence of how it got its name: Breakneck Steps. No serious injuries have been reported on the stairs, despite their ominous name! Still, those 59 steps were quite an improvement on the original wooden stairway, built in the 17th century, that linked the Upper Town and Lower Town.

Built at the city's highest point, on Cap Diamant, the Citadelle is the largest fortified base in North America still occupied by troops. The 25-building fortress is, quite literally, the star of the Fortifications of Québec National Historic Site. It was intended to protect the port, prevent the enemy from taking up a position on the Plains of Abraham, and provide a refuge in case of an attack.

Since 1920, the Citadelle has served as a base for Canada's most storied French-speaking military formation, the Royal 22e Régiment, known across Canada as the Van Doos, from the French "vingt-deux" (22). Firearms, uniforms, and decorations from as far back as the 17th century are displayed in the Musée du Royal 22e Régiment in the former powder magazine, built in 1750. Watch the Changing of the Guard, a ceremony in which troops parade before the Citadelle in red coats and black fur hats while a band plays. The regiment's mascot, a well-behaved goat, watches along. The queen's representative in Canada, the governor-general, has a residence in the Citadelle, and it's open for tours in summer. You must take a tour to access the Citadelle, since it's a military base.

The location—set high above the St. Lawrence river with stunning views of the city and surrounding countryside—is worth a visit even if you don't want to pay (or wait) to take a tour.

Step back in time at this marvelously restored early-20th-century general store, where counters and shelves are loaded with bygone products such as old-fashioned tinctures, sewing machines, and period clothing. Hear an old telephone ring and see a fully equipped barber shop. Other rooms feature antique stoves and carriages. Curiosities fill every shelf and corner. Shopkeepers in costume lead guided tours, giving a feel of being in the store while it was in operation. They point out how some old devices worked.

Well worth a stop for design, architecture, and book lovers alike, this stunning library houses permanent exhibitions on French Canadian literature. Set in a former 19th century Methodist church, the now white-washed, design-heavy building was completely revamped a few years ago, winning international acclaim and architecture awards in the process.

Augustinian nuns arrived from Dieppe, France, in 1639 with a mission to care for the sick in the new colony. They established the first hospital north of Mexico, the Hôtel-Dieu, the large building west of the monastery. The complex underwent a complete renovation and expansion, in 2015, and now includes a quiet, health-conscious restaurant (with silent breakfast!), as well as accommodations—both contemporary en-suite rooms and dorm-like rooms with antique furniture—for those looking for a calm retreat. The museum houses an extensive collection of liturgical and medical artifacts of all kinds, and it's also worth visiting the richly decorated chapel designed by artist Thomas Baillairgé, as well as the vaults, which date to 1659 and were used by the nuns as shelter from British bombardments. There is still a small order of nuns living in a section of the monastery.

This stately gray-stone building has served many purposes, from imprisoning and executing criminals to storing the national archives. Built between 1808 and 1813, it was the first modern prison in Canada and was converted into Morrin College, one of the city's first private schools, in 1868. That was also when the Literary and Historical Society of Québec, forerunner of Canada's National Archives, moved in. Historical and cultural talks are held in English, and tours of the building, including two blocks of prison cells, the Victorian-era library, and College Hall, are also available. Children and families particularly enjoy this space.

A modern glass edifice built on the site of Montréal's first European settlement, the PAC impresses. The museum presents new local and international temporary exhibitions each year, but the real reason to visit the city's most ambitious archaeological museum is to take the elevator ride down to the 17th century.

It's dark down there, and just a little creepy thanks to the 350-year-old tombstones teetering in the gloom, but it's worth the trip. This is a serious archaeological dig that takes you to the very foundations of the city. A more lighthearted exhibit explores life and love in multicultural Montréal. For a spectacular view of the Old Port, the St. Lawrence River, and the Islands, ride the elevator to the top of the tower, or stop for lunch in the museum's glass-fronted café. In summer there are re-creations of period fairs and festivals on the grounds near the museum.

The Fort Ville-Marie pavilion showcases the remains of the forts and artifacts from the first Montrealers. The 360-foot underground William collector sewer, built in the 1830s and considered a masterpiece of civil engineering at that time, connects the original museum space with the new pavilion and features a sound-and-light show projected onto the walls of the collector sewer.

Wedged between narrow streets at the foot of the cliff, this spacious museum with a striking limestone-and-glass façade was designed by architect Moshe Safdie to blend into the landscape. Its bell tower echoes the shape of the city's church steeples. Two excellent permanent exhibits examine Québec's history. People of Québec, Now and Then engagingly synthesizes 400 years of social and political history—including the role of the Catholic church and the rise of the Québec nationalist movement—with artifacts, time lines, original films and interviews, and news clips. It's a great introduction to the issues that face the province today. This Is Our Story looks at the 11 aboriginal nations that inhabit Québec. The temporary exhibits here are also always worth a visit.

Not surprisingly, Canada's oldest museum has one of the finest collections of Canadian art anywhere. The works of such luminaries as Paul Kane, the Group of Seven, Paul-Émile Borduas, and Marc-Aurèle Fortin are displayed here in a space built onto the back of the neoclassical Erskine and American United Church, one of the city's most historic Protestant churches. The nave has been preserved as a meeting place and exhibition hall and also displays the church's 18 Tiffany stained-glass windows, the biggest collection of Tiffany's work outside the United States. The rest of the gallery's permanent collection, which includes works by everyone from Rembrandt to Renoir, is housed in its two other pavilions: the neoclassical Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, across Avenue du Musée from the church, and the glittering, glass-fronted Jean-Noël-Desmarais Pavilion, across rue Sherbrooke. All three are linked by tunnels. If you visit the museum in summer, spring or fall, you'll be greeted outside the main entrance by bright, twisted glass sculpture, now part of the MMFA's permanent collection. Admission is free from 5 to 9 pm Wednesday.

Situated on the city's liveliest avenue, the Grand Allée, this neoclassical museum in the park with a slick and modern wing is a remarkable steel-and-glass setting for its collection of 22,000 traditional and contemporary pieces of Québec art. Designed by starchitects Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu, the Lassonde Pavilion, added in 2016, features three stacked, cascading galleries; a grand stairwell that spirals dramatically from the top floor to the basement, where a rising almost-mile-long tunnel connects to the museum’s three other wings; and views of the neighboring neo-Gothic church from both the rooftop terrace and courtyard. MNBAQ houses works by local legends Jean-Paul Riopelle, Jean-Paul Lemieux, Alfred Pellan, Fernand Leduc, and Horatio Walker that are particularly notable, as well as temporary exhibits by international artists such as Turner, Miro, and Giacometti. The original museum building in Parc des Champs-de-Bataille is part of an abandoned prison dating from 1867; a hallway of cells, with the iron bars and courtyard, has been preserved as part of a permanent exhibition on the prison's history.

Located atop the Édifice Marie-Guyart, the city's tallest building, Observatoire de la Capitale offers a spectacular panorama of Québec City from 31 stories up. The site features an overview of the city's history with 3-D imagery, audiovisual displays in both French and English, and a time-travel theme with a 1960s twist.

Each year some 2 million people from all over North America and beyond visit St. Joseph's Oratory. The most devout Catholics climb the 99 steps to its front door on their knees. It is the world's largest and most popular shrine dedicated to the earthly father of Jesus (Canada's patron saint), and it's all the work of a man named Brother André Besette (1845–1937).

By worldly standards Brother André didn't have much going for him, but he had a deep devotion to St. Joseph and an iron will. In 1870 he joined the Holy Cross religious order and was assigned to work as a doorkeeper at the college the order operated just north of Mont-Royal. In 1904 he began building a chapel on the mountainside across the road to honor his favorite saint, and the rest is history. Thanks to reports of miraculous cures attributed to St. Joseph's intercession, donations started to pour in, and Brother André was able to start work replacing his modest shrine with something more substantial. The result, which wasn't completed until after his death, is one of the most triumphal pieces of church architecture in North America.

The oratory and its gardens dominate Mont-Royal's northwestern slope. Its copper dome—one of the largest in the world—can be seen from miles away. The interior of the main church is equally grand, although it's also quite austere. The best time to visit it is on Sunday for the 11 am solemn mass, when the sanctuary is brightly lit and the sweet voices of Les Petits Chanteurs de Mont-Royal—the city's best boys' choir—fill the nave with music.

The crypt is shabbier than its big brother upstairs but more welcoming. In a long, narrow room behind the crypt, 10,000 votive candles glitter before a dozen carved murals extolling the virtues of St. Joseph; the walls are hung with crutches discarded by those said to have been cured. Just beyond is the simple tomb of Brother André, who was canonized a saint in 2010. His preserved heart is displayed in a glass case in one of several galleries between the crypt and the main church.

High on the mountain, east of the main church, is a garden commemorating the Passion of Christ, with life-size representations of the 14 stations of the cross. On the west side of the church is Brother André's original chapel, with pressed-tin ceilings and plaster saints that is, in many ways, more moving than the church that overshadows it. Note: the oratoire operates a shuttle bus for visitors who aren't up to the steep climb from the main parking lot to the entrance of the crypt church. The main church is several stories above that, but escalators and two elevators ease the ascent. A major renovation and expansion project is underway, so expect some potential disruption during your visit.

Île Ste-Hélène and Île Notre-Dame now constitute a single park named, fittingly enough, for Jean Drapeau (1916–99), the visionary (and spendthrift) mayor who built the métro and brought the city both the 1967 World's Fair and the 1976 Olympics. The park includes La Ronde (a major amusement park), acres of flower gardens, a beach with filtered water, the Formula 1 Grand Prix Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, performance spaces, and the Casino de Montréal. There's history, too, at the Old Fort, where soldiers in colonial uniforms display the military methods used in ancient wars. In winter, you can skate on the old Olympic rowing basin or slide down iced trails on an inner tube.

Bright with colorful flowers in summer, this urban park is lined with stunning 19th-century mansions and is often adorned with seasonal decorations. It makes for a lovely place to rest between museums. The focus of the park is an equestrian statue of Joan of Arc. A symbol of military courage and of France itself, the statue stands in tribute to the heroes of 1759 near the place where New France was lost to the British. The park also commemorates the Canadian national anthem, "O Canada"; it was played here for the first time on June 24, 1880.

Colossal rock cliffs and forest-covered mountains meet the still waters of the Saguenay Fjord, one of the longest in the world, and the namesake national park runs its entire 105-km (65-mile) length. Of the park’s three regions, the Baie-Éternité, which hosts the visitor center, is about 60 km (37 miles) south of the city of Saguenay, where you can visit the Fjord Museum (Musée du Fjord). Outdoor enthusiasts have much to do here, including kayaking, fishing, hiking, camping, bird-watching, whale-watching, and mountain biking, and the park can supply equipment and guides. The spectacular Baie-Éternité escarpments provide thrilling climbs and a via ferrata. Or you can take it easy on sailboat and sightseeing boat cruises, or enjoy a thrilling whale-watching experience.

Rue du Petit-Champlain, the oldest street in the city, was once the main thoroughfare of a harbor village, with trading posts and the homes of rich merchants. Today it has pleasant boutiques, art galleries, and cafés, and on summer days the street is packed with tourists. Natural-fiber weaving, Inuit carvings, hand-painted silks, local designers, and enameled copper crafts are among local specialties for sale here. If you're coming from Upper Town, take the Escalier Casse-Cou (Breakneck Steps) down, and the funicular back up (or round-trip): both deliver you to the start of this busy, unique street.

Place Royale is where Samuel de Champlain founded the City of Québec in 1608; more than 400 years and several iterations later, this cobblestone square is still considered to be the cradle of French-speaking North America. Flanked on one side by the oldest stone church in North America, Église Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, and on the other by houses with steep Normandy-style roofs, dormer windows, and chimneys, once the homes of wealthy merchants, Place Royale is the epicenter of Old Québec. Until 1686 the area was called Place du Marché, but its name changed when a bust of Louis XIV was placed at its center. During the late 1600s and early 1700s, when Place Royale was continually under threat of British attack, the colonists moved progressively higher to safer quarters atop the cliff in Upper Town. After the French colony fell to British rule in 1759, Place Royale flourished again with shipbuilding, logging, fishing, and fur trading. The Fresque des Québécois, a 4,665-square-foot trompe-l'oeil mural depicting 400 years of Québec's history, is to the east of the square, at the corner of rue Notre-Dame and côte de la Montagne.

This park, named after Abraham Martin, who used the plains as a pasture for his cows, is the site of the famous battle on September 13, 1759, that decided New France's fate as part of the acrimonious Seven Years' War. On that date, British soldiers under the command of General Wolfe climbed the steep cliff under the cover of darkness, ultimately defeating the French through a single deadly volley of musket fire, causing the battle to be over within 30 minutes. At the Museum of the Plains of Abraham, check out the multimedia display, which depicts Canada's history, as well as the numerous family-friendly activities at Martello Towers.

Nowadays, locals come here to cross-country ski and admire the relentless St. Lawrence River even as it freezes over in winter; in July, the Summer Festival takes over with tens of thousands of concertgoers.

Crossing the St. Lawrence River on this ferry will reward you with a striking view of the Québec City skyline, with the Château Frontenac and the Québec Seminary high atop the cliff. The view is even more impressive at night. Ferries generally run every 20 or 30 minutes from 6 am until 6 pm, and then every hour until 2:20 am; there are additional ferries from April through November.

Recognized as a Wetland of International Significance, this nature reserve protects a vital habitat for migrating greater snow geese, and sees more than a million fly through every October and May, with tens of thousands of birds present every day. The park harbors hundreds of other kinds of birds and mammals, and more than 700 plant species. This enclave also has 18 km (11 miles) of hiking trails; naturalists give guided tours. It's on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, about 8 km (5 miles) east of Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré.