190 Best Sights in Quebec, Canada

Montréal's primary performing arts complex has been hosting performances since 1963. The glass-walled Maison Symphonique 2,000-seat concert hall is the permanent home of the Montréal Symphony Orchestra; with state-of-the-art acoustics and only 75 feet between the end of the stage and the last row, it's an intimate place for concerts. The Salle Wilfrid Pelletier performance space is used by three resident companies: the Opéra de Montréal, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and the popular Jean Duceppe theater company. The venue's four other performance spaces host dance, theater, and festival events. Place des Arts is also the centerpiece of the city's Quartier des Spectacles, a square kilometer dedicated to arts and culture, with performance halls, dance studios, broadcasting facilities, and recording studios. The huge plaza, or esplanade, in front of the complex is a favorite gathering place for locals and visitors—especially during the Jazz Festival and Just for Laughs, when it's packed with free concerts, entertainment, and kid-friendly activities. Even if you don't have tickets to something, you can walk around the quartier during festival season (pretty much all summer) to take in a variety of shows and concerts for free.

What was once a vast parking lot across from the Musée de la Civilisation has been transformed into an elegant, modern park. It now offers stunning views of Upper Town and significantly improves access to the river, both for strolling locals and for the cruise ships that frequently moor here. Children will delight in the interactive water features. Even the new multistory parking garage has been thoughtfully clad in an elegant wooden façade, adding considerable character to the area.

The cobbled square at the heart of Old Montréal is part carnival, part flower market, and part sheer fun. You can pause here to have your portrait painted, buy an ice cream, or watch the street performers. If you have more time, try to get a table at one of the sidewalk cafés, order a beer or a glass of wine, and watch the passing parade. During the holiday season you can order a mulled wine or hot cider in the market and warm up by one of the wood-burning stoves from your perch on an Adirondack chair. At the top of the slope, you'll notice a monument to Lord Nelson. It honors Nelson's victory over Napoléon Bonaparte's French navy at Trafalgar and is a source of anger for some modern-day Québec nationalists. The campaign to raise money for the 1809 monument was led by Sulpician priests, who were engaged in delicate land negotiations with the British government at the time and were eager to show what good subjects they were.

The oldest public square in Montréal, dating to the 17th century, was a market during the French regime and later became a Victorian garden.

The cross-shaped 1962 office tower of Place Ville Marie was Montréal's first modern skyscraper. The mall complex underneath it was the first link in the Underground City. The wide expanse of the building's plaza, just upstairs from the mall, makes a good place to relax with coffee or a snack. Benches, picnic tables, potted greenery, and fine views of Mont-Royal make it popular with walkers, tourists, and office workers. While there you'll surely want to try out the gastro food pavilion, Le Cathcart Restaurants et Biergarten ( lecathcart.com/en). For more opportunities to wine and dine while also enjoying great views of the city, the building's 44th, 45th and 46th floors are home to high altitude restaurants/bars and a rooftop terrace: Rose Orange ( placevillemarie.com/en/restaurants/roseorange) on the 44th floor; Sora45 ( placevillemarie.com/en/restaurants/sora45), on, you guessed it, the 45th floor; and Hiatus ( placevillemarie.com/en/restaurants/hiatus-restaurant) on the 46th.

When Montréal was under attack, citizens and soldiers would rally at Place-d'Armes, but these days the only rallying is done by tourists, lunching office workers, and flocks of voracious pigeons. The pigeons are particularly fond of the triumphant statue of Montréal's founder, Paul de Chomedey, with his lance upraised, perched above the fountain in the middle of the cobblestoned square. Tunnels beneath the square protected the colonists from the winter weather and provided an escape route; unfortunately, they are too small and dangerous to visit.

In 2013, Montréal got a new, ultramodern, C$48 million planetarium, one of only a handful of planetariums worldwide to have two circular theaters—one for astronomy exhibits and the other a high-tech multimedia venue. Part of the Espace pour la Vie complex, this state-of-the-art facility delivers a futuristic experience unlike any other. The permanent exhibit lets the whole family have fun exploring life on Earth and (perhaps) in the universe through interactive and hands-on stations. Hours vary seasonally, so check online before heading out.

Pick apples and strawberries (in season) or buy fresh fruits, vegetables, and apple cider at this family farm. In March/April, enjoy maple-sugar treats from the roadside shack.

Visiting potters, many from France, study Canadian ceramic techniques at this pottery studio, about 25 km (15½ miles) east of La Malbaie. Classes for amateurs are available from late June through August (by the hour or longer, starting at C$15). Half of the bright yellow barn housing the studio is a store, with ceramics and other crafts made by Québec artists.

The Réserve Faunique des Laurentides wildlife reserve, which incorporates the Parc National de la Jacques-Cartier and hundreds of lakes, is approximately 60 km (37 miles) north of Québec City via Highway 73, which leads to the Saguenay region. It has great hiking trails and camping spots, and good lakes for canoeing and fishing (but you should phone 48 hours in advance to reserve a fishing time). Boats, pontoons, canoes and kayak's can be rented on-site. From July to September, you can join bilingual guides to observe black bears in their natural environment from the safety of the park's observation towers. In winter, the park is a popular venue for sledding, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing.

Stand anywhere in the town of Percé and its main attraction, the Rocher-Percé, will supply an amazing view. The gigantic sheer rock formation sits offshore on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and is part of L'Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé National Park, in the care of Sépaq. Its reddish limestone and shale host dozens of fossil species, some of which date back more than 300 million years. Marvel at the massive wonder from shore or take a boat tour to get up close and pass through the huge natural archway that pierces the giant rock—hence the name. Private tours needn't be booked in advance and leave the Percé wharf on the hour and half hour from the end of May to mid-October. Admission is C$9. Car parking is an additional C$9.

From Baie-St-Paul, instead of the faster Route 138 to La Malbaie, drivers can choose the open, scenic coastal drive on Route 362. This section of road has memorable views of charming villages and rolling hills—green, white, or ablaze with fiery hues, depending on the season—meeting the broad expanse of the "sea," as the locals like to call the St. Lawrence estuary.

Nestled between the historic Château Frontenac and the majestic Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Québec, Rue du Trésor exudes an undeniable allure. During the French Regime, settlers flocked to this very street to pay their taxes at the royal treasury, which is how Rue du Trésor ("Treasury Street") earned its name. Today, this charming cobblestoned lane, affectionately known as "Artists' Street," transforms into a vibrant open-air art gallery particularly in summer and on long weekends, During the quieter shoulder seasons, the street takes on a more tranquil, yet equally enchanting, ambiance.

Art fans might want to explore this tiny street off chemin Royal, named after the early-19th-century painter known for his landscapes of the island. Horatio Walker lived on this street from 1904 until his death in 1938. At nos. 11 and 13 rue Horatio-Walker are his home and workshop, but neither are open to the public.

The burial place of many of the earliest English settlers in Canada was established in 1771 and is the oldest cemetery remaining in Québec City. Also buried here is Robert Wood, the disavowed half brother of Queen Victoria. Closed in 1860, the cemetery has been turned into a park. Next door is St. Matthew's Anglican Church, now a recently renovated public library. It has a book listing most of the original tombstone inscriptions, including those on tombstones removed to make way for the city's modern convention center.

Built in 1955, on the site of earlier churches dating back to 1659, this is Canada's national shrine to Notre Dame (Our Blessed Mother) and an important pilgrimage site. As impressive as the great European cathedrals, this white granite, octagonal building hosts up to 1,660 people, and its lofty dome is topped by a pyramid and cross 258 feet above the ground. Reinforced concrete arches outline the building. Five bells ring A, Bb, D, F, and G notes, and the sanctuary's organ has 5,425 pipes. Inside, the altar is a single block of marble, and nary a pillar blocks views of magnificent architecture and stained-glass masterpieces.

Behind imposing iron gates, nestled beside the Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral, stands a tranquil courtyard. It's encircled by austere stone buildings and soaring steeples that have continuously served as classrooms and student residences since 1663. This is the Québec Seminary, founded by François de Montmorency Laval, New France's first bishop, with the vital mission of training priests for the burgeoning colony. Remarkably, in 1852, this very institution gave rise to Université Laval, establishing itself as the first francophone university in North America.

Today priests still live on the premises, and Québec City's architecture school occupies part of the building. The small Second Empire–style Chapelle Extérieure, at the west entrance of the seminary, was built in 1888 after fire destroyed the 1750 original; its interior is patterned after that of the Église de la Trinité in Paris.

On sunny summer days you can join the folks who gather in these two green squares, located across from each other on boulevard René Lévesque in the center of the city, to eat lunch under the trees and perhaps listen to an open-air concert. Dorchester Square features a Victorian-style fountain designed to appear cut in half and two arched footbridges. Even the vespasienne, the public toilets built in the 1930s as make-work projects just after the Depression, was restored and turned into a little summer café with outdoor tables.

This large, leafy square is an oasis in the middle of Montréal's urban jungle of noise, traffic jams, and chronic road works. Entering the square, which is surrounded by colorful and ornate Second Empire–style graystone homes, feels a little like entering a children's picture book, especially in winter, when the ground and the houses are blanketed with snow and the white stuff muffles all sound. In summer, locals spread out on the grass by the fountain or take a bistro table at the little gray kiosk (a public toilet, once upon a time) café that serves coffee, sandwiches, salads, ice cream, and other cold refreshments—it even offers a book exchange. And for an unexpected bonus, some of the lanes to the side and rear of the square's beautiful houses have been lovingly "greened up" with street art and vegetation, thanks to a lot of hard work and effort on the part of the residents.

Although Square Victoria officially lies within the Quartier International, or International District, Montrealers consider it a part of Old Montréal. The square nicely blends its French and English heritage with an 1872 statue of Queen Victoria on one side and an authentic Parisian métro entrance and a flower market on the other. Both are framed by a two-block stretch of trees, benches, and fountains that makes the square a pleasant place to relax and admire the handsome 1920s office buildings on the east side. The Art Nouveau métro entrance, incidentally, was a gift from the French capital's transit commission.

Venture under the Terrasse Dufferin to see archaeological treasures from the official residence and power base of the French and British governors. Massive excavations unearthed artifacts from the first château, built under the direction of Governor Montmagny, to the time the Château St-Louis burned in 1834. Wine bottles, kitchenware—even remains of walls and doorframes—give clues to the luxurious life of the governors, who were among the most powerful men in the nation. Don't miss the guided tours and activities. History buffs might consider attending one of the in-depth archaeology conferences held here.

Once an industrial area and now a technology hub, St-Roch is dotted with hip bars and trendy shops. Because there are so few locals living in the old part of the city, St-Roch is a great place to mingle with the locals. And if Old Québec is a magnet for European gastronomy and fine dining, St-Roch is where the younger chefs are having the most fun; as a result, new spots are popping up all the time.

Rue St-Joseph is the neighborhood's main street. It's a mix of office buildings, modern lunch spots, and after-work hangouts. You'll quickly find the neighborhood's main thoroughfare by looking for the Église St-Roch, a massive stone church. Curated shops, third-wave cafés, trendy bistros, crowded microbreweries, and oyster bars are plentiful, creating a thriving, vibrant atmosphere. For good people-watching, head to the Jardin Jean-Paul-L'Allier, a large leafy square.

Art also abounds in the neighborhood, from the famous street-art-covered viaduct (just off rue St-Paul) and modern sculptures to outdoor theater and circus acts.

St-Roch is a long but downhill jaunt from the Old City, though easily walkable if you have the time. If you're not in the mood for exercise, the best way to get there is by taxi. Plan on spending about C$9 each way. There are usually plenty of cabs available for the return trip. Taking the bus (800 or 801) is also an option.

This is possibly the prettiest Anglican (Episcopalian) church in Montréal. Step into its dim, candle-scented interior and you'll feel you've been transported to some prosperous market town in East Anglia, England. The double hammer-beam roof, the rich stained-glass windows, and the Lady Chapel on the east side of the main altar all add to the effect. It certainly seems a world away from Centre Bell, the modern temple to professional hockey that's across the street.

This station founded in 1979 was first to conduct long-term research on the Gulf of St. Lawrence cetaceans, in particular the endangered blue whales. Get a sense of the animal's grand presence in life-size painting and sculptures at the visitor center, and hear the mammal’s distinctive language in the acoustic room.

Housed in the arsenal of Île Ste-Hélène's 1820s Old Fort, the Stewart Museum encompasses two floors full of interesting historical objects. The permanent collection has close to 27,000 artifacts consisting of military objects, images, rare books, maps, and pieces of weaponry, all of which document the history of Montréal, l'Île Ste-Hélène, and the surrounding area, from the early First Nations to today. Open year-round, the Stewart Museum is definitely worth a visit for those interested in the history of New France.

Of the 16 Martello towers in Canada, four were built in Québec City because the British government feared an invasion after the American Revolution. In summer, visitors can tour Martello Tower No. 1, and watch a presentation on the history of the four structures. A haunted maze is held for youngsters on Halloween at Martello Tower No. 2, at avenues Taché and Laurier, and a mystery dinner show is available by reservation. Martello Tower No. 4, on rue Lavigueur overlooking the St. Charles River, houses an escape room game, The Tormentor, in the summer months.

Place Ville Marie, the cruciform skyscraper designed by I. M. Pei, was the tallest structure in the city when it opened in 1962. Located in the heart of Downtown, it was the birthplace of Montréal's subterranean city. Montrealers were skeptical that anyone would want to shop or even walk around in the new "down" town, but six decades later they can't live without it, especially in winter.

About half a million people use the 32-km (20-mile) Underground City, or la ville souterraine, daily. The tunnels link 10 métro stations, seven hotels, 200 restaurants, 1,700 boutiques, and 60 office buildings—not to mention movie theaters, concert halls, convention complexes, Centre Bell, two universities, and a college. In 2004, the Underground City was rebranded as the RESO, a play on the word réseau, which means network. You'll see the signs for it in the Downtown area and can find a map of the network online ( montrealvisitorsguide.com/the-underground-city-map).

Founded in 1639, the Ursuline Chapel and its Couvent des Ursulines stand as North America's oldest institution of learning for women. Step inside to discover some of the finest wood carving in all of Québec, painstakingly gilded by the nuns themselves. Though the exterior was rebuilt in 1902, the interior reveals the original chapel, a masterpiece that took sculptor Pierre-Noël Levasseur a decade (1726-1736) to complete.

Dating to the early 1800s, this was the oldest continuously operating prison in Canada prior to its closure in 1986. The stark, stone structure with thick bars on the windows makes it clear that nobody is getting out. Originally built to house 40 inmates, the facility at times hosted up to 100 convicted criminals. If only the old doors and cedar basement joists could talk, what tales of mayhem might they tell? Tour guides share a few. The prison is attached to the Musée Quebecois de Culture Populaire. The museum's collection of more than 70,000 objects, plus traveling and changing exhibitions, showcase Québec's history and culture, including crime and prison life.

Native nomadic Innus people spent summers at this spot, and it’s here that they encountered the area’s first French traders around 1673. See evidence of both cultures and how they interacted. Animal-skin tents stand in the re-created Innu camp. The trading post reproduction is stocked with the goods, even the aromas, that would have filled a 19th-century station. Guides bring the setting to life with details and stories about the post’s history.