- Code:QC
- Type:province
- Population:8.5M (2021)
- Area:1,542,056 km²
- Capital:Quebec City
Introduction
Québec is the heart of French Canada — the only majority French-speaking province, where the language, the food and the joie de vivre give travel a distinctly European flavour on a North American scale. It runs from the cobblestone old towns of the St. Lawrence valley to vast northern forests and a wild, cliff-bound Gulf coast. For travellers the draw is culture and landscape together: the only walled city north of Mexico in Québec City, the festival energy of Montréal, ski mountains and lakes in the Laurentians, and whales, fjords and sea cliffs along the great river that built the province.
Overview
Québec's two cities anchor any trip. Montréal, the metropolis, is the festival-and-food capital — Old Montréal's cobblestones, Mount Royal, the Plateau and Mile End, and a summer calendar led by the International Jazz Festival (it has its own city guide). Three hours up the St. Lawrence, Québec City is the cultural jewel: the only fortified city north of Mexico, its UNESCO-listed Old Town a maze of 17th- and 18th-century stone streets beneath the green-roofed Château Frontenac, with the Plains of Abraham, the winter Carnaval and the nearby Montmorency Falls and pastoral Île d'Orléans on its doorstep. Beyond the cities the province opens up. North of Montréal, the Laurentians (Laurentides) offer the ski-and-lake resort region around Mont-Tremblant; east, the Eastern Townships add wine, cycling and rolling hills. Down the St. Lawrence, the scenery turns dramatic: the artists' region of Charlevoix, the deep Saguenay Fjord, and Tadoussac, one of the world's great whale-watching spots, where belugas and great whales gather where the fjord meets the river. Further out, the Gaspé Peninsula (Gaspésie) wraps the Chic-Choc mountains, the Forillon cliffs and the iconic pierced sea-rock of Percé, with the gannet colony of Bonaventure Island offshore. Québec is large and the seasons are emphatic — green summers, a blazing autumn, and a long winter the province turns into a festival of carnivals, skiing and sugar shacks.
Discover Quebec
Québec City is the most European place in North America. Its Old Town (Vieux-Québec), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the only walled city north of Mexico — a hilltop maze of narrow stone streets, ramparts and the unmistakable green-copper turrets of the Château Frontenac, the most photographed hotel in the world, above the boardwalk of the Dufferin Terrace. Below, the Petit-Champlain quarter and Place Royale, where French settlement began in 1608, hold the oldest streets and the prettiest shopfronts. The Plains of Abraham, the battlefield park where the fate of New France was decided, now hosts joggers and summer concerts. Just outside the city, the Montmorency Falls drop higher than Niagara, and the pastoral Île d'Orléans grows the strawberries, cider and maple of the Québécois table. In winter the city becomes the stage for the famous Carnaval de Québec.
Ways to Experience This Destination
Québec City's walled UNESCO Old Town and Château Frontenac, and the festivals and food of Montréal.
Mont-Tremblant and the Laurentians' lakes and slopes, and the vineyards of the Eastern Townships.
Whale-watching at Tadoussac where the Saguenay Fjord meets the St. Lawrence, and the scenery of Charlevoix.
The Gaspé Peninsula's Percé Rock, gannet colonies and the cliffs of Forillon National Park.
A French-speaking province of sugar shacks, cider, cheese and a European café culture on a North American scale.
Frequently asked questions
Cities in Quebec
Visaja keeps this page's contact details and visa guidance under continuous review — still, requirements can change at short notice, so confirm the essentials with the mission or the official government portal before you travel.