Québec City Road Trip with Kids

On Day 1 of our family road trip across Eastern Canada, we drove 9 hours (plus stops) from our home in Southern Ontario to Québec City.

This post covers a bit about the trip out there, things to do as a family in Québec City itself, and in Old Québec City.

The Drive

With our 2 kids (aged 8 & 11) we were able to do this drive with 3 stops: one bathroom break in Ontario, one refuel/lunch/bathroom break in Ontario, and one bathroom break in Québec , before reaching Québec City.

In the photos below, you can see us with the lunch we packed (I thought the way Katrina labelled the sandwiches was funny: "Katrina Little Sister", "Heather Mom", etc.), and Ken showing the girls where we were on the map.  This was a great opportunity for them to learn more about our country!

Québec City

After checking into our hotel, we drove into the city, parked our car, and explored the city on foot. Our first stop was the Fountaine de Tourny (right in front of the Parliament Building). It was a popular spot for photos and it's easy to see why! We saw this fountain again in the evening and it was all lit up.

Next, we walked up to see La Citadelle de Québec. We were there later in the day so we didn't go on any tours or learn much about it, but we learned what we could from the displays and we explored the grounds around it, walked under the wall through a tunnel, and even walked on top. We thought it was really interesting that the wall had grass on top!

When we got to the top, we were able to get a pretty awesome view of the city!  If you're visiting Québec City with kids, be prepared that it is not a flat city and there will be a lot of uphill walking! It will definitely be worth it for the views, if your kids can handle it (or if you can handle pushing their stroller uphill. ;)




Another thing you won't want to miss while in Québec City is the Château Frontenac. It is a beautiful building! It is often considered the most photographed hotel in the world. It is pretty impressive to stand on the street and look up at it. This building is also beautifully lit up when it gets dark outside.

Right next to the statue (that you can see on the right side of the above photo), we watched a street performer. We saw another street performer in a different area of the city that evening as well. It is such a fun element to add to your experience walking these streets, and definitely a favourite part for our kids! Katrina was thrilled when we gave her some money to give to him after his show and she got to put it in his hat!

I loved walking through the streets and looking in the shop windows. There were a lot of unique restaurants that I would have loved to have visited if we had the time! We did stop for some delicious gelato and while walking the streets, I snapped some photos of some of the pretty doors:





There is so much charm to this city! I loved this old tree growing right in the middle of the city!

Last but not least, here we are with the Saint Lawrence river behind us- one last amazing view you don't want to miss while you're in Québec City!  

If I get to visit again, I would love to do an evening boat cruise on the river and see the city from that angle, all lit up! We thought about it, but after our long walk we were all too tired to do another thing!

At the end of the first night of our Canadian road trip, this is a pretty accurate representation of how we all felt:

Old Québec City - Day 2

There was a specific part of Old Québec that I wanted to see. I had seen it in photographs that my grandmother took when she was there.  In her photos, there were cobblestone streets and adorable buildings with shops and cafés. I saw some beautiful buildings on our first day, but never those cobblestones, so I was pretty sure I had missed that section.

In the morning, we headed to that part of Old Québec and I finally got to see those cobblestones!

The adorable buildings did not disappoint, and those window boxes!! I loved the overflowing window flower boxes!

I got more photos of pretty window boxes, cute buildings, and fabulous doors but I'll save some of them for Instagram.

We bought some fudge before leaving (and took note that they sell Beaver Tails there- I didn't know they were sold outside of Ottawa!) and then got back in the car for our 7.5 hour drive to Moncton, New Brunswick! This drive, by the way, was so scenic; all day long we were commenting on how beautiful our surroundings were!

If you're interested in seeing a little more from our day, I uploaded a vlog from day 1 of our road trip:


Stay tuned for more about our travels, from Old Québec City to Prince Edward Island and more in between!

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