quebec city - too much?

[VicKen]

We will be in Quebec City from 8-6 in October with Royal Princess. Princess is offering a 4 hr tour that includes Montmorency Falls and Ile d'Orleans. If we did this it would only allow us 5 hours to see upper and lower town including lunch. I am afraid this would be really rushing it and would not give us enough time. Could anyone who has been to Quebec City offer their advice?

[uppitycats]

I thnk you should do one or the other...not both. Quebec really is an easy city to see on your own, assuming you don't mind dealing with lots of hills and cobblestones, and brick streets (a challenge for me in a wheelchair, but otherwise a really fun city to explore). The other trip is quite scenic, but very different.

[Twickenham]

It really depends on how tired you think you'll be after the morning tour. Old Québec is quite compact, and while you obviously won't have time to see everything, you will be able to see a great deal, especially as your ship is docked right at the foot of Lower Town, so you really only have to allow 5 minutes to get back to your ship. On the other hand, there's plenty to occupy you in Old Quebec without having to take a tour.

[agabbymama]

We did a walking tour with a carriage ride in Old Town Quebec, (from 9-12) and still had time for a trip out to Montmorency Falls and St. Anne's Basilica (I think that was the name). Then back to the ship to get ready for a visit to "The Sugar Shack". An authentic lumberjack dinner and small tour of how the maple syrup is extracted, processed, and of course lots of items to buy. We absolutely loved Quebec, even in the pouring rain and wind.

 

I would think it depends on how in depth you want to see upper and lower Quebec. We were satisfied with our 3 hours, but if you want to walk extensively or shop extensively, you might have a problem doing that and going out to Montmorency.

[Keith1010]

You can walk around the main area of Quebec City in a couple of hours and see quite a bit. I think you can do both.

 

Keith

[OKSuDu]

My husband & I had a 4-5 day trip to Quebec City 2 years ago and fell in love with upper & lower old town. We fit in a trip to Ile d'Orleans, Montmorency and St Anne de Beaupre (?) but we're going back via a cruise this October on Princess. I am recommending to my sister, her husband and inlaws who are Quebec City first-timers that they limit their excursions to Old Quebec - simply because I think it is such a wonderful place that 1-day can't really do justice. It's not just shopping - the ambiance is amazing and there are churches, restaurants, small museums, shops (of course), as well as photo ops from the ramparts & Differin Terrace. You can schedule a fairly short, inexpensive tour of Chateau Frontenac through the hotel concierge there (for non-guests as well as their own guests). When we visited, it was the end of September and the farmers' market in Ville Basse (is that right? - Lower town) was so beautiful with gorgeous gorgeous produce from Ile d'Orleans - spectacular. We found Ursuline School - Convent? - anyway, it's pretty near Frontenac and Rue du Tresor and the uplifted praying hands were lovely in a cul-de-sac. Rue du Tresor is an artists' alley where you can buy lovely street art. We enjoyed just milling about and breathing it all in.

 

Now, I don't want to take away from the other options - Ile d'Orleans is just a darling island with cute houses that have been in famlies for generations. There are chocolate makers and various other places to stop. Montmorency is pretty. It's a waterfall...and fine but if you have other options, they may be more unique. St Anne de Beaupre is further out but the cathedral is amazing if you have the time and prefer that sort of thing. It is as beautiful as the cathedrals we'd seen the same year in Italy, Prague and Salzburg.

 

...so basically, you just have too many great options!

 

Hope you enjoy whatever you pick! Sorry if I messed up a lot of the French spelling!

[iata]

I live in Quebec City I will choose to spend the day in the city.

Island of Orleans and the shrine is nice but it is in the countryside about 30 minutes from de pier. for me a church is a church even if it is a big one!

Enjoy your stay

[Jean17]

I am interested in taking the walking tour and carriage ride that is offered through Holland America in Quebec City. Does anyone know how long and how far the walking part is?

 

Thanks

[eh2zed]

I would do both. There is enough time if you are up to it.

[jp2001]

You can do both but it depends what you prefer:

 

If you do both, it will be a busy day and I would suggest that you simply walk around town (you can look up my post “Quebec City by Foot’ for an idea of what there is to see near the port) without making any tours (like the Citadel or the Chateau Frontenac) but just look at the sites from the exterior. I would also recommend to simply grab a sandwich or fast food somewhere because going back to the ship or going to a restaurant will likely take more than 1 hour of your precious time.

 

If you skip the Chutes Montmorency, Île d’Orléans and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Cathedral, and just opt for a tour of Old Quebec, you will save money but won’t see the country side of Quebec (from the ship, you will be able to see the falls and the island – on opposite sides of the ship) from a distance but of course it’s not as nice has an upclose look). If you just do the city tour, then you will have plenty of time to do some guided tours that might interest you, take a good lunch in town (my blog has some suggestions you might like) and just take your time enjoying the places you like the most (I personally like very much the train station and the farmers market in the fall for example).

 

My PERSONNAL choice would be to save the $ and just discover the city at a leisurely pace instead of trying to do it all in such a short period of time.

 

I hope you come back another time in our great city to explore it in depth (so much more to see than this area, you could easily spend 3-4+ full days touring the area).

[dtracker]

You can do both but it depends what you prefer:

 

If you do both, it will be a busy day and I would suggest that you simply walk around town (you can look up my post “Quebec City by Foot’ for an idea of what there is to see near the port) without making any tours (like the Citadel or the Chateau Frontenac) but just look at the sites from the exterior. I would also recommend to simply grab a sandwich or fast food somewhere because going back to the ship or going to a restaurant will likely take more than 1 hour of your precious time.

 

If you skip the Chutes Montmorency, Île d’Orléans and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Cathedral, and just opt for a tour of Old Quebec, you will save money but won’t see the country side of Quebec (from the ship, you will be able to see the falls and the island – on opposite sides of the ship) from a distance but of course it’s not as nice has an upclose look). If you just do the city tour, then you will have plenty of time to do some guided tours that might interest you, take a good lunch in town (my blog has some suggestions you might like) and just take your time enjoying the places you like the most (I personally like very much the train station and the farmers market in the fall for example).

 

My PERSONNAL choice would be to save the $ and just discover the city at a leisurely pace instead of trying to do it all in such a short period of time.

 

I hope you come back another time in our great city to explore it in depth (so much more to see than this area, you could easily spend 3-4+ full days touring the area).

 

We are going to be there in early October and your suggestions are exactly what we had planned to do. You all have confirmed we made the right choice! I have seen beautiful cathedrals and waterfalls in many parts of the world, and I'm looking more towards the cultural experience of QC. Thanks for your suggestions!

 

DT