Quebec tourist attractions include Jardins de Metis, Montmorency Falls, Quebec City’s Vieux-Québec, Montreal’s Underground City, and a whale cruise from Sept-Îles.
Jardins de Metis (jardinsdemetis.com) are internationally renowned gardens, famous for their art and design, located halfway between the Quebec towns of Rimouski and Matane.
The gardens, which are located adjacent to the Metis River, about 355 km (220 miles) from Quebec City, have been open to the public since 1962, and they are also known as Reford Gardens, after the name of the place’s founder.
Today, the gardens offer over 3,000 species of plants, ranging from local varieties to imported, exotic plants.
Jardins de Metis are open only through the summer months (June-October), and a typical tour through the area takes about 1.5 – 3 hours.
Of the Quebec tourist attractions, Montmorency Falls are waterfalls located approximately 10 km (6.2 miles) east of Quebec City, at the mouth of Rivière Montmorency river, in front of Orleans island.
The waterfalls, which are 83 meter (272 ft) taller than the Niagara Falls in Ontario, have been named after Henry II, duc de Montmorency, who was the Viceroy of “New France” (as Quebec was then called) from 1620-1625.
You can explore the upper parts of the waterfalls with a cable car, which is in operation from late April to late August.
Quebec City’s Vieux-Québec (Old Town) is an area east from Quebec City’s modern city center, and contains almost all of the city’s main attractions, including the famous Château Frontenac.
The old town is divided into sections, so that the walled city district on top of a hill is known as Haute-Ville (“Upper Village”), while the district between Haute-Ville and the river is known as Basse-Ville (“Lower Village”).
Between these two districts goes a steep street called Côte de la Montagne, but you can also travel between the districts using a funicular (cable railway).
Highlights at the Vieux-Québec include:
- Chateau Frontenac, one of the most photographed hotels in North America and an icon of Quebec City, and
- The Citadel, a fortress district at the intersection between old town and Grand Allee (where you can watch the changing of guards every morning at 10 am, weather permitting).
Quebec tourist attractions also feature Montreal’s Underground City, the world’s largest underground complex, located within Montreal’s downtown.
Underground City is mostly a complex of interconnected shopping centers, making it a tourist’s dream destination.
The place contains 32 kilometers (19.8 miles) of tunnels within an area of 12 square kilometers (4.6 sq. miles), linking together…
- shopping centers, apartment buildings, hotels, banks,
- office buildings, museums, universities,
- seven metro stations, two train stations,
- a regional bus terminal, and Bell Centre amphitheater and arena.
You can enter the Underground City through 120 entrances, with one of them being through the region’s largest shopping center, Centre Eaton de Montreal (centreeatondemontreal.com).
Finally, a whale cruise from Sept-Îles (www.ville.sept-iles.qc.ca) is one of the surest ways to see whales on a whale cruise, as the city is one of the world’s top five whale sighseeing sites.
In addition to the whale sightseeing cruises, the city streets also featurespecifically marked places, which are good places to watch the whales.
You can go whale watching using any of the available private tour operators, which offer both whale cruises and shuttle boats to Grande Basque Island.
The most popular time to go on a whale sightseeing cruise in the region is from mid-May to the end of October.