Only took me a month but I’m finally getting around to sharing our fun family trip to Quebec City. 🙂

My mom’s side of the family is French-Canadian and I’ve been to QC twice (with high school during the winter festival and with my grandparents during the summer between school). I also love how you feel like you’re in Europe without having to fly (we’re in New England so it was an easy drive to Canada).

We left early on Sunday, February 15th and drove up through NH/Vermont. Of course, once we got into Canada, we stopped at Tim Hortons. I’m currently learning French and even though I would try to speak it, they heard my accent and would speak English. Haha.

We stayed at the Doubletree Hotel, about 15 minutes outside of the city center. It was the perfect location, right off the highway. We booked a two-bedroom suite and the kids loved having their own room and bathroom.

Monday morning, we headed over to Montmorency Falls for when they first opened up. I’m glad we did because it got busy! We walked around the bottom of the falls and got some pictures (really cool with everything being frozen over). Then we drove up to the top of the falls and walked over the bridge. Fun family fact: my grandmother’s brother was married at the falls in the early 50s.

After the falls, we drove to Old Quebec for lunch. Lucky for us, the parking lot I found online was right across the street from the restaurant I wanted to go to (I remember going here on past trips): Cochon Dingue (Crazy Pig). To start, we absolutely had to try the poutine. Even the kids enjoyed it! I also had this incredible latte and for lunch I had the maple pork chops.

We took the afternoon to walk around Old Quebec, checking out the decorations and small fire pit areas, left over from the Winter Carnival (and posed with the Bonhomme de Neige!). And then we headed over to the base of the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac to ride the Toboggan! This was on the top of my must-do list. David and I both carried up the sled; he rode down with Lincoln and I was with Eleanor. I wanted to take a video of going down, but we were going really fast! It was a lot of fun and I’m so glad we didn’t have to wait hours to get on (only about a 30-minute wait).

Since we had a larger lunch, we ended up going to a grocery store and getting fruit and noodle bowls for dinner.

On Monday afternoon, I stopped by a bakery that was recommended (Le Petit Dep), but unfortunately they had sold out of most of their pastries. They told me to get there no later than 10AM and I should be able to get something. So on Tuesday, we were there by 9AM! We shared a raspberry and a chocolate croissant. We also went to a store that did boiled maple syrup in the snow.

The big activity for Tuesday was to visit the Citadelle of Quebec. I always love visiting historical sites in a city and I remember my grandparents taking me here in the early 2000s. It even started snowing as we were walking around! And we ended the tour at 12PM and they fired the cannon to indicate the time. The kids thought that was cool.

The goat up there? That’s the mascot, Batisse the goat. I actually got to meet the goat when I visited the summer with my grandparents! He only comes out during the summer, apparently.

That night, we kept dinner casual and picked up pizza from a local spot. It was good!

We left on Wednesday morning and made it home by 6PM. I will say that going into Canda was easier than getting back into the US. The agents both times were very nice and the kids did great. Overall, a wonderful trip and my son even asks when we’re going back to Canada. I think the next trip will be along the east coast (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Bay of Fundy).

Have you ever visited Quebec City? What’s your favorite city to visit?