The lit lane
Colourful houses.
Wilfredor — CC0 · 0x010C — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wilfredor — CC0 · Cephas — CC BY-SA 4.0
Quebec City's loveliest lanes, a small quarter in the Lower Town at the foot of the cliff below the Château Frontenac, counted among the oldest commercial streets in North America, with colourful stone houses, small shops, cafés and lights strung above the lane. Visitors arrive from the Upper Town by the steep old Breakneck Stairs, or by the little funicular that has linked Dufferin Terrace with the Lower Town since the nineteenth century. In winter the quarter turns into a greeting-card scene of snow and lights. A few steps away is Place Royale, where Samuel de Champlain founded the first French settlement in 1608, with the small seventeenth-century stone church of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires and a huge mural on a house front depicting the city's history. Walking the quarter is free at any time, and the funicular charges a small fee. It pairs with Dufferin Terrace and the fortifications on a single walk through Old Quebec.
Colourful houses.
The city's birthplace.
To the Upper Town.
Lower Town, below the Château Frontenac, Old Quebec
Château Frontenac and Dufferin TerraceThe symbol of Quebec City and its best-known building, a historic hotel shaped l2 minutes walk4.8
Citadelle of QuebecA star-shaped military fortress on top of Cap Diamant, the highest point of Old 6 minutes walk4.5
Plains of AbrahamA broad park on a plateau above the St. Lawrence west of Old Quebec's walls, whe22 minutes walk4.8By the Breakneck Stairs from the Upper Town, or by the funicular from Dufferin Terrace.