Québec City

Québec City is where many Canadians mark a winter anniversary or a first family trip in the snow. A stay at the Château Frontenac, with a room over the frozen St. Lawrence, a toboggan run down the Terrasse Dufferin and dinner in the old town, turns February and the Carnaval into an occasion rather than an endurance test.

Québec City is the cradle of French North America. Its fortified old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Château Frontenac above the St. Lawrence, cobbled lanes and a famous winter carnival give it a European soul and an unmistakably Canadian character.

Samuel de Champlain founded Québec in 1608 on a narrowing of the St. Lawrence, and the city became the capital of New France. Its fortifications, completed by the British after 1759, still enclose Upper Town on Cap Diamant, and the Citadelle remains an active military post. The historic district has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.

Lower Town, around Place Royale and the Petit-Champlain quarter, sits at the foot of the cliff, linked by staircases and a funicular. Beyond the walls lie the Plains of Abraham, the Grande Allée and the Musée national des beaux-arts. Montmorency Falls, Île d’Orléans and the Charlevoix coast are within easy reach.

Summer is warm and lively, with the Festival d’été de Québec filling the Plains of Abraham in July, street performers in the old town and cruise ships on the river. Autumn brings maple colours along the St. Lawrence and harvest on Île d’Orléans. The St. Lawrence also brings whale-watching at Tadoussac, a few hours downriver, from June.

Winter is the city’s signature season. The Carnaval de Québec, held since 1955, takes over late January and February with its ice palace, night parades and ice-canoe races between the floes on the river. Snow lies over the ramparts for months, and Mont-Sainte-Anne and Le Massif de Charlevoix offer skiing nearby. Evenings are cold and clear.

Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, opened by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1893, crowns Cap Diamant above the St. Lawrence and defines the skyline of the walled city; its rooms look over the river, the Terrasse Dufferin or the old streets of Upper Town. Below the cliff, Auberge Saint-Antoine occupies restored stone warehouses beside the Old Port, displaying archaeological finds uncovered on its own site.

The two make a natural pair: the grand hotel for the views and the ceremony of the old capital, the inn for the quiet of Lower Town. LVXVRY books the Château Frontenac through Accor Preferred — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges the programme attaches to the stay — and advises on and arranges stays at Auberge Saint-Antoine, as well as extensions to Charlevoix.