Ultimate Guide to Christmas in Quebec City (Itinerary + Tips)

It’s no secret that I love Christmas, and I love European travel. This year, a trip to Europe in December was not in the cards, so we decided to check out how Quebec City does Christmas! The historic Canadian city is rumored to be as close as you can get to European Christmas markets without crossing the Atlantic. I’m happy to report that Christmas in Quebec City lived up to its reputation, and our family thoroughly enjoyed it. At only 2.5 hours from Atlanta, we definitely plan to return!

If a trip to Europe at Christmas is on your bucket list, check out these posts for more info!

• Ranking the Best Christmas Markets in Vienna
• Ultimate Guide to Salzburg’s Magical Christmas Markets
• Complete Guide to the Christmas Markets in Munich: Food, What to Wear, and More!
• Christmas in London: Sparkling Lights, Joy, and Magic Everywhere

TIP: you definitely want snow for those perfect Christmas vibes – aim to go mid December or later! Although snow is likely earlier than that, it’s not guaranteed to be enough to enjoy ALL the festive activities.

How To Get There

You have a few options to get to your festive destination! We wanted a night in Montreal, so we chose to fly into Montreal, then rent a car and drive the approx. 3 hours to Quebec City the next day. We also had the option to take a train (Via Rail) from Montreal to Quebec City. If you like that option, book as early as you comfortably can – the prices keep rising as you get closer to your travel dates. It was going to be around $1,500 CAD for the 6 of us round trip!

Quebec City has a small airport, so you can also choose to fly there (likely with a layover or two).

TIP: While Quebec does an excellent job keeping roads as clear as possible, if you do not have winter weather driving experience, I would skip the car rental. Luckily for us, Todd grew up in Michigan. 🙂

Try to avoid arriving on the weekend if you can! Since that is the most convenient time for many people to travel, the weekend crowds are significantly heavier. If the Christmas market (Le Marché de Noël allemand de Québec) is your priority, then arriving on a Thursday is perfect (NOTE: in 2025, the market was open Thursday through Sunday).

Where to Stay

Quebec City is separated into Lower Town and Upper Town, which are connected by a funicular and multiple stairs. You really can’t go wrong as long as you stay in Old Quebec. Lower Town is a bit more atmospheric, but quieter at night. If you have mobility issues and can’t do steep staircases, I would recommend Upper Town, since the funicular has limited hours.

When I’m looking for a hotel, first I check Hyatt (since it offers the best points value), then other hotel chains I can use points for. If they don’t have hotels in the locations I want in my price range, I then look at both the Chase portal (they have a points boost feature that can give you more value) and Booking.com. I love their filter options (free cancellation, specific number of bedrooms and bathrooms, property type, etc). Search for Old Quebec – that’s how I found our apartment to fit the six of us within walking distance of nearly everything we wanted to do!

What to Do

Oh boy, this is the fun part! As visitors from the southern U.S., we were super excited by the prospect of snowy fun. We will go through a day by day itinerary for our four days and nights in Quebec City, and discuss what was perfect, and what I would do differently!

Itinerary Day 1: Arrival Day

Get checked in and settled at your hotel or apartment in Old Quebec, then head out for lunch nearby. If you are located in Lower Town, Pub l’Oncle Antoine is the oldest pub in the city and has amazing vibes. The French onion soup was my favorite of the trip (and I tried quite a few) and the atmosphere is cozy and friendly. If you are staying in Upper Town, I would just head to the market! It won’t be crowded yet, and the fondue bread with glühwein will warm you right up!

The Quebec City Christmas Market

The market is dispersed throughout Old Quebec, with locations near major landmarks. They publish a map (link here to the 2025 version) to help you find your way around! The entire area has festive displays everywhere to enjoy.

I thought the items for sale were a step above any other market I’ve been to in North America, and several in Europe as well. I loved the artisan displays and found some unique items to give as gifts or keep for myself! You will find plenty of maple syrup and maple syrup products for purchase, as well as artisan cheeses, sausages, jams, and jellies. If you arrive on Thursday, this will be the least busy you will see the market. Don’t wait, go ahead and make your purchases! I missed out on some items when it got too busy later in the weekend and I didn’t want to stand in line.

We did our job and sampled both the red and white mulled wine (aka glühwein in German, or vin chaud in French), the warm cider, boozy hot chocolate, and themed beers. Between the two wines, white was the winner – even I (as a hardcore red wine lover) agreed! The hot chocolate spiked with maple whiskey was a hit, too.

Before you go, be sure to check their website for the schedule of events and add anything that interests you to your itinerary! The Giant Puppet Parade (more on this below) was a major highlight for us – it didn’t feel like anything we had ever seen before. If at all possible, make sure you will be there one of the two weekends to watch the parade! We also enjoyed watching the Krampus band and Alphorn performances.

Happy Hour/Dinner

Once it is time to escape the cold, there are some great happy hour options surrounding the market. We enjoyed Dorsay, a slick English pub near Hôtel de Ville. They boasted our favorite poutine – the Sunday Roast poutine! Rue Saint-Jean is lined with pubs – we had some good drinks and enjoyed live music at Pub St. Alexandre as well!

From there, we walked to Buvette Scott. The food was good, the wine was great, but the prices were a bit inflated – likely due to their Michelin mention! They serve a rotating small-plates menu. If you have room for another drink, Bar Le Sacrilege is just around the corner. The vibe was perfect for a late-night bar, with an enclosed hidden patio!

Itinerary Day 2: Exploring Old Quebec

Quartier Petit Champlain

Since we were staying in Lower Town, we started by exploring the Petit Champlain shopping district. It is recognized as the oldest commercial shopping area in North America! Although there are some souvenir shops, the city makes an effort to keep the area authentic with a variety of local artisan shops and cafes as well.

Neighboring bakeries Le Petit Dep and Paillard are both standouts. We loved the special hot chocolate at Le Petit Dep, and I’m still thinking about my almond croissant from Paillard. You can do cider tastings at Ciderie Pednault, listen to carolers perform, and try maple taffy lollipops cooling in troughs of fresh snow.

Dufferin Terrace and Fairmont Chateau Frontenac

After that, we enjoyed panoramic views of the partially frozen St. Lawrence River from the funicular to Upper Town. The funicular deposits you on the Dufferin Terrace just outside the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac – the most recognizable sight in Quebec City. We joined a tour group via Get Your Guide to learn about the history of this stunning hotel and get a tour of the interior.

Dufferin Terrace is the elevated boardwalk (covered in snow in the winter) in front of the Château, and the Au 1884 toboggan slide is the wintertime star of the terrace. You can buy your tickets ahead of time on the website if you are going at a busy time (I purchased them while we were in line). The slide was so much fun and supposedly reaches speeds of up to 43 miles per hour! This is a do-not-miss activity. After your slide, you can enjoy a hot chocolate while taking in the views.

Evening at the Christmas Market

The sun sets around 4 p.m. in December in Quebec City, so by this time we were ready to check out the Christmas market again and see the Krampus band perform at the Place d’Youville location. First, we stopped at the main market for our favorite treat: hot fondue in a hollowed-out baguette. Then we made our way to the Alpenbar, where the Krampus band was performing. Besides the small stage, Place d’Youville is known for its German-style chalets and ice skating rink. We got some maple taffy here as well! Dinner at Va Bene, a small Italian restaurant in Petit Champlain finished out our evening.

Itinerary Day 3: Montmorency Falls and Ile d’Orleans

Since we had a rental car, it was easy to get out of the city for a bit to these nearby sights. You can take a bus to the falls as well, but it would be very difficult to visit Ile d’Orleans without a car – I would recommend joining a tour group.

The Falls

Montmorency Falls are located about a 20 minute drive north of Quebec City. They are a full 30 meters taller than Niagara Falls and are worth the visit no matter the season. You can drive to the base for the best views of the falls themselves. In the summer, you can either take the cable car or walk from the base to the top. In winter, the paths and cable car are closed, so we drove to the top as well so we could walk the suspension bridge over the waterfall. We marveled at the bright white snow and icicles—a welcome change from the gray snow in the city by then. The power of the waterfall from directly overhead is something to behold.

Ile d’Orleans Drive

Île d’Orleans is an island in the St. Lawrence River, and is only about a 10 minute drive from Montmorency Falls. It is primarily rural, and is home to a variety of artisans and their storefronts. The island is quieter in the winter, so make sure to check the hours of any locations you are interested in visiting.

We had a great lunch and some local brews at Microbrasserie de l’Île d’Orléans/Pub Le Mitan. Ciderie Verger Bilodeau and Domaine Steinbach offer tastings in December that include the winter specialty, ice cider. Cassis Monna et Filles is a boutique store that specializes in black currant products, both with and without alcohol. The cheese, fudge, and chocolate shops all also have limited winter hours as well. We started at the furthest point and worked our way back toward Quebec City!

The Giant Puppet Parade

The Giant Puppet Parade was one of my very favorite experiences on the trip. The stars are Saint Nicholas, Krampus (he is in charge of punishing naughty children according to Central European folklore), and the Christkindl (an angelic figure modeled after the Christ child). They march down Rue Saint-Jean and Côte de la Fabrique, and you can set up anywhere along the sides of the streets. Performers dressed as Krampus and other characters, along with musicians, accompany the puppets as they move through the streets, telling a story where Krampus is defeated. They stop periodically to perform so everyone gets a good view. We watched near the very beginning so we could break away and get even more fondue bread while the crowd was enjoying the parade!

La Buche

After the parade, it was time for our dinner reservation at the highly recommended La Bûche. The restaurant is meant to mimic a traditional “sugar shack” experience, with rustic food and interiors. I found the drinks to be overpriced, but the food was mostly well received. It’s definitely an experience curated for tourists! You should be able to find a better, more reasonably priced meal elsewhere. While we were inside, it started pouring snow, which was magical to walk home in – we had to take a break and play in Lower Town.

Itinerary Day 4: Dog Sledding and Nordic Spa

For our last full day in Quebec City, we headed outside the city for some dog sledding, then warmed up at Strøm Nordic Spa for the afternoon. Again, having a rental car was very helpful for getting to our dog sledding location, although it would have been possible with a bus and shuttle combo.

Passion Husky Dog Sledding

My number one criterion when choosing a dog sledding organization was transparency in their treatment of dogs and a commitment to their well-being while they are working and after they retire. The industry has an unfortunate history of mistreating their dogs and tossing them aside once they are no longer able to run sledding routes.

I found a few that clearly had a commitment to their canines, but Passion Husky is the one we chose because of its convenience and reasonable pricing. They offer loaner cold weather clothes (snow pants, etc) and are flexible when booking the right outing length for your group. My guys had a ton of fun during this excursion – we are all animal lovers, and being able to spend as much time as we wanted with the dogs afterward was a bonus.

Strøm Nordic Spa

After spending the morning out in the snow, we were more than ready for some thermal spa time! Strom Nordic Spa is a surprisingly affordable spa located right in Old Quebec overlooking the river. If you are interested in venturing outside of the city, Siberian Spa would fit the bill. It is located further out in a more rustic, wooded environment.

We pre-booked our times for the “thermal experience”, and I used gift certificates I had purchased on Black Friday at 20% off to pay when we arrived. They provide robes and slippers, and there are well-equipped changing rooms with lockers. There are pools at varying temperatures ranging from too hot to stay in for long to cold plunge, saunas, and steam rooms. The complex is so large it never felt crowded, and you get hot enough in the thermal pools to stay warm while (quickly) hopping to the next one. Infrared heating lamps keep your robes and slippers warm while you soak. We were happy to stay for several hours and watch the sunset for a perfect final evening!

Final Night

After the spa, we were warm and toasty and ready to head back to the Christmas market for some more glühwein and fondue bread. However, when we arrived, the market was closing down! It was Sunday evening and the market closed at 6 p.m. So double- and triple- check that schedule! We found a pub and relaxed instead until it was time for our reservation at our favorite restaurant, Hono Izakaya.

Our server explained to us that an izakaya is a casual Japanese restaurant that specializes in small plates everyone shares. After a tapas-laden trip to Spain, that’s our favorite type of meal! We ordered 8-10 items, and some standouts were the okonamiyaki, marinated quail eggs, and creme brulee for dessert.

Final Take

Our family had a wonderful time in Quebec City at Christmas. We loved embracing all the festive winter fun and soaking in the European-style holiday magic. It truly felt like stepping into a real-life Christmas village. We would absolutely recommend it for anyone looking for a special holiday getaway that doesn’t break the bank. Just make sure to pack your warmest winter coat! Joyeux Noël!