Quebec City Guided Walking and Museum Tours
Enjoy These Fun Quebec City, Canada Guided Tours
It’s fun to follow the leader when the guided tour is good. Here are some of the best guided tours that Quebec City has to offer.
Château Frontenac Guided Tour — All visitors to Quebec City are drawn to the architectural charms of the Château Frontenac. But while renting a room for the night may be out of your vacation budget, you can still take a thoroughly engaging hour-long tour led by costumed guide to one of the most famous hotels in the world.
The tour explores a number of topics, everything from hotel history to famous guests to fun facts. For example, the Château was built as luxury stopover by the Canadian Pacific Railway to accommodate passengers traveling from one end of Canada to the other. The Château opened its doors Dec. 20, 1893, but its iconic tower wasn’t completed until 1924.
The hotel has hosted many famous guests — a who’s who of celebrities and politicians alike including Charles Lindberg, Grace Kelly, Alfred Hitchcock, Celine Dion and Paul McCartney, who performed a free concert on the Plains of Abraham in honor of the city’s 400th anniversary in 2008. Queen Elizabeth and Ronald Reagan have stayed there and President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King met at the Château to discuss plans for the D-Day invasion during the Second World War.
Other fun facts: the corridor carpeting — all 8.4 miles of it — is changed every 15 years. It’s a tidbit of trivia that prompts the question — what brand of vacuum do they use? Bring your camera as the view is magnificent inside and out.
- Daily from May to mid-October; weekends the rest of the year
- At 1 Rue des Carrieres
- Tel.: (418) 691-2166
- Cost: $8.50
Fortifications of Quebec National Historic Site of Canada — This guided tour retraces 400-plus years of city history with an accent on the 2.9 miles of rampart or Quebec City’s iconic fortified wall. The tour meets near the Quebec Funicular and stops at Dufferin Terrace, the wooden promenade that overlooks the St. Lawrence River; the Governors’ Garden; and takes a short hike up the Cap Diamont hill towards the Citadelle. You don’t walk the entire wall, but do allow 90 minutes for the tour and wear comfortable shoes.
- Tour runs daily from June to mid-October
- At 100 rue St. Louis
- Tel.: (418) 648-7016
- Cost: $9.80 for adults (includes access to the Learning Center)
La Citadelle National Historic Site/Royal 22nd Regiment Museum —The Citadelle is Quebec City’s star-shaped fortress that was built between 1820 and 1850 as part of the British fortifications of North America. Visits inside are available only by guided tour as the site remains an active military garrison as well as the official residence of the Governor General of Canada. The tour includes access to the Royal 22nd Regiment Museum, which boasts a collection of uniforms, weapons and maps. The regiment performs traditional changing of the guard ceremonies daily during summer.
- Open year-round
- At Côte de la Citadelle (access from Rue St. Louis)
- Tel.: 418-694-2815
- Cost: $10 for adults
Parliament Building — National Assembly of Quebec — Free guided tours and self-guided tours are available at the Parliament Building, the center of government in Quebec City, the capital of the province. The tour highlights the building, which was constructed from 1877 to 1886 in the majestic Second Empire-style of architecture.
- Open year-round
- Visitors’ entrance at door No. 3 of the Parliament Building at the corner of Grande Allée and Honoré Mercier Avenue
- Tel.: (418) 643-7239
- Cost: Free
