Quebec City: 2-Day Itinerary
Quebec City in 2 Days
Two days is enough for Old Quebec’s core and one day trip, no more. This itinerary keeps the walled city to day one and sends you out to the falls on day two rather than trying to squeeze both into a single overloaded day.
Day 1: Old Quebec, Upper and Lower Town
Start at Place d’Armes in front of the Chateau Frontenac, the 1893 railway hotel that’s still a working Fairmont, not a museum. Walk the Dufferin Terrace boardwalk, then take the funicular (about CAD $4 one way, verify) or the Breakneck Stairs down to Petit-Champlain, the oldest commercial district in North America. Stop at Place Royale, where Samuel de Champlain founded the city in 1608, and the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church beside it. In the afternoon, tour the Citadelle (the Royal 22e Regiment’s home; changing of the guard runs daily in summer, roughly 10am) and walk the Plains of Abraham, the 1759 battlefield. Dinner at Aux Anciens Canadiens, in a house dating to 1675, runs roughly CAD $40-60 per person before the 14.975% tax and tip. Tip: book that dinner before you land, it fills up in high season.
Day 2: Montmorency Falls and Ile d’Orleans
Rent a car or book a shuttle for the 15-minute drive to Montmorency Falls, 83 meters high and taller than Niagara. Park entry runs around CAD $12.60 per adult; the cable car adds about CAD $15 round trip, or walk the free 487-step staircase to the base instead. Cross to Ile d’Orleans in the afternoon for the loop road’s orchards and cider producers, then head back to Quebec City in time for a final dinner before departing from Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB), about 25 minutes from downtown. Tip: skip any combo ticket bundling the zipline or via ferrata unless you’re actually doing them, they’re priced and booked separately. If two days leaves you wanting more, see Quebec City: 3-Day Itinerary for how the extra day gets used.