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Château Frontenac in Québec City

For the city bearing the same name see Quebec City.

Quebec (French: Québec) is a province in Canada, the largest in size and second only to Ontario in population. French is the first language of a majority of Quebecois and the official language of the province. Quebec is situated east of Ontario; to the west of Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island; to the south of the territory of Nunavut, and has borders with the U.S. States of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to its south. The provincial capital of Quebec is Quebec City, the province's largest city is Montreal, the second largest city in Canada.

Québec is unique among North American tourist destinations. Its French heritage sets the province apart from its English-speaking neighbours, and unlike most of Canada, Quebec's cultural ties are closer to Western Europe than to the United States. It is also one of the only historical areas in North America to have fully preserved its Francophone culture. Its European feel and its history, culture and warmth have made Québec a favourite tourist destination both nationally and internationally.

Regions

Regions of Québec

Outaouais The Québec side of the Ottawa River with mountains, forests and plenty of outdoors activities. Gatineau, as part of the National Capital Region, has many fine museums.

Montreal and Southwestern Quebec (Montréal, Montérégie, Eastern Townships, Laurentides, Lanaudière) The culturally rich and lively city of Montréal plus its suburbs. South of the St. Lawrence River, there are small towns, farmland, lakes and hills. Parts of the area were settled by Loyalists from the American Revolution giving the area a bit of a New England feel. The mountains north of the river are Montréal's playground.

Quebec City and Central Quebec (Quebec Region, Centre-du-Québec, Chaudière-Appalaches, Mauricie, Charlevoix) This is the heartland of Québec. Quebec City is the capital of the province with a European feel and charming Old Town. To the southwest is the prime agricultural region of the province.

Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean A very distinctive region of Québec with its own culture, accent and geography. The region is highlighted by one of the few fjords on the east coast of Canada.

Southeastern Quebec (Gaspé Peninsula, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Îles-de-la-Madeleine) The rugged coastal region of Québec east of Québec City and south of the St. Lawrence River with small towns and villages hugging the coast. The Gaspé is considered particularly scenic.

Northeastern Quebec (Duplessis, Manicouagan) The rugged coastal region northeast of the Saguenay River on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.

Northern Quebec (Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Baie-James, Nunavik) The sparsely inhabited north and northwestern region of the province, with logging and mining towns and hydro electric projects, as well as Inuit and other Native communities.

Cities

Château Frontenac

The three largest cities in Québec are Montréal, Québec City and Gatineau.

• Quebec City - Capital city of Québec and cultural centre.
• Gaspé - Small city on the ruggedly beautiful Atlantic peninsula of the same name.
• Gatineau - All the advantages of a big city without the inconveniences. Just outside Ottawa.
• Magog - Popular vacation town on Memphrémagog Lake, base for exploring the Eastern Townships
• Montréal - Québec's largest city, cultural and financial centre.
• Mont-Tremblant - Skiing, camping, and hiking at this mountain resort town.
• Saguenay - Gateway to the North. From here, head west to gather blueberries around Lac St. Jean or east to see the whales from Tadoussac.
• Sherbrooke - Largest city in the Eastern Townships.
• Trois-Rivières - Located halfway between Montréal and Québec City on the St. Lawrence River.

Other destinations

• Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré - Large, elaborate church east of Québec City, near Montmorency Falls and the pastoral Île d'Orléans
• Sept-Îles - Departure point for the railway to Labrador City and the ferry to Anticosti

Understand

• Québec was a French colony for more than two centuries, between the arrival of Jacques Cartier in 1534 and Governor Vaudreuil’s capitulation to the English in 1760.
• It is the only province in Canada where French is the sole official language, and it is one of the rare former French colonies in North America where French is still spoken.
• Québec is Canada’s second most populous province. It has 8 million inhabitants, including 6.4 million (approx. 80%) whose mother tongue is French.
• French is the mother tongue of 82% of Quebecers, and English is the mother tongue of 10% of the population. The remaining 8% is divided among some 30 languages such as, in order of importance, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Greek. However, it is very easy to travel in Québec speaking only English, especially in Montréal, and to a lesser extent, Québec City. In fact, over 40% of the population is bilingual. In major cities like Montréal, this percentage is as high as 64%, and 16% of the population speaks a third language.
• The majority of the population lives in the vicinity of the St. Lawrence River, in the southern portion of the province. The population is largely urbanized; close to 50% of Quebecers live in the metropolitan area of Montréal.

Climate

There are four distinct seasons in Québec, offering a wonderful view of the nature and variety of activities.

• Summer (June to September): Summers in Québec are hot but the season offers many festivals and outdoor activities.
• Fall (September to end of October): The leaves change colour in Québec, creating breathtakingly colourful landscapes.
• Winter (November to end of March): Québec’s extremely low temperatures and abundance of snowfall makes skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing, snowmobiling and dogsledding possible. In December, Québec’s vast outdoors turns into a snow-covered white dreamland. March and April mark the maple syrup festivities in the sugar shacks, as the maple trees awaken from the winter cold and prepare for the forthcoming springtime.
• Spring (April and May): While April may still be relatively cold at times and another large snowfall can occur, April feels like winter is at, long last, over. As May approaches, nature awakens, trees start to bloom and the air warms, welcoming everybody to a magnificent, colourful outdoor scenery.

Talk

See also French phrasebook

Canada is officially bilingual on the federal level, meaning that most federal government official documents, signs, and tourist information will be presented in both French and English. Staff at retail shops, restaurants and tourist attractions will often speak English, especially in Montréal. Smaller establishments, especially outside Montréal, may not offer services in English but try their best to accommodate travellers. About 8% of the province's residents speak English as a mother tongue, and an additional 31% consider that they can get by speaking it. All offices of the federal government are required by law to provide services in both French and English.

The official language of Québec, however, is French. Provincial government signs (highway signs, government buildings, hospitals, etc.) are generally posted in French only. Services at provincial government offices are also often available in French only. Tourist information is offered in English and other languages. The visibility of commercial signs and billboards in English and other languages is restricted by law (except for English-language media and cultural venues such as theatres, cinemas and bookstores). Most businesses will not have signs in English except in tourist areas and localities with a large English-speaking population. Language is a very sensitive subject politically, particularly in Montréal. If you cannot read a sign in a store or restaurant, most sales people will be sympathetic and help you find your way. Most restaurants in tourist areas will supply English menus if asked.

82% of Québec’s population is francophone, but English is also commonly spoken, particularly in the province’s major cities such as Montréal where the percentage is 24%. For French-speaking people from elsewhere, the French spoken in Québec is often difficult to understand. Books have been published on Québec expressions, and these may be worth consulting if you are planning to stay in Québec for any length of time.

Isolated from France for centuries, and unaffected by that country's 19th-century language standardization, Québec has developed its own "accent" of French similar to the one in France in the 16th century, a kind of time capsule. The continental variety—called "international French" or français international here—is well-understood, and something closely approximating it is spoken by broadcasters and many businesspeople. While Quebecers usually understand European French, European tourists may feel lost until they grow accustomed to the local accent(s).

There are a few main differences between Québécois French and continental French-from-France. One is that in Quebec it's relatively common to tutoyer (use the familiar tu second-person pronoun instead of vous when saying you) for all, regardless of age or status (though there are common exceptions to this in the workplace and the classroom). In France, it would be considered impolite. The unrelated interrogative particle -tu is used to form yes-or-no questions, as in On y va-tu? "Shall we go?" Finally, there are a number of vocabulary words that differ, particularly in very informal contexts (for example, un char for a car, rather than une voiture), and some common expressions (C'est beau [literally It's nice] for "OK" or "fine"). Overall, however, pronunciation marks the most significant difference between Québec and European French.

Probably the most puzzling difference in Québec's French is that one will often sacrer (blaspheme or swear) rather than using scatological or sexual curse words. Terms like baptême (baptism) or viarge (deformation of vierge, virgin) have become slangy and taboo over the centuries in this once fervently Catholic culture. Hostie de tabarnac! ("communion wafer of the tabernacle!") or just tabarnak! is one of the most obscene things to say, and more polite versions like tabarnouche or tabarouette are equivalent to "darn" or "fudge!"

Although sacre may seem funny, be assured that Quebeckers, particularly the older generation, do take it seriously. Don't sacre any time you don't really mean it! But be sure that younger Quebeckers may be fond of teaching you a little sacrage lesson if you ask them.

English-speaking Quebeckers are generally bilingual and reside mostly in the Montréal area, where 25% of the population speaks English at home. Aside from the occasional borrowing of local French terms ("dépanneur" as opposed to corner store or convenience store), their English differs little from standard Canadian English, including the occasional "eh" at the end of the sentence; accents are influenced heavily by ethnicity, with distinct Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Greek inflections heard in Montréal neighbourhoods. Conversations between anglophones and francophones often slip unconsciously between English and French as a mutual show of respect. This can be confusing if you're not bilingual, and a look of puzzlement will generally signal a switch back to a language everyone can understand.

Although English-speakers will usually greet strangers in French, it is considered pretentious and overzealous for a native English-speaker to continue a conversation in French with other English speakers (though two francophones will easily converse together in English when in a room of anglophones). Local English-speakers may also refer to street names by their English names as oppose to the posted French names, but this is getting rarer (for example, Mountain Street for rue de la Montagne, Pine Avenue for avenue des Pins).

Some French-language radio stations, including those with "classic rock" formats, play up to 50% English-language music but announce everything in French.

There is one daily English-language broadsheet newspaper (la Gazette) in Montréal and a few English-language radio stations, which play very little French-language music (typically 5%, with no French-language announcements).

Get in

Montreal's Trudeau International Airport

By plane

There are flights to Québec from major cities in North America, Europe and Asia. Montréal is a 70-minute flight from New York and is less than 6 hours and 45 minutes by air from London or Paris.

Québec has two major international airports: Montréal's Trudeau International Airport, which has direct flights to most major Canadian and U.S. cities as well as selected European destinations (including daily flights to Paris, London and Frankfurt), is located in the suburb of Dorval, about 30 minutes from downtown. Quebec City's Jean Lesage Airport is much smaller but also serves several Canadian and US destinations (including Toronto, New York (Newark), Chicago and Detroit), as well as Paris (Air France and Air Transat). Jean Lesage Airport is located in L'Ancienne-Lorette, about 25 minutes drive west of downtown Québec City. Gatineau only has a tiny local airport as most of its intercity traffic is routed through nearby Ottawa.

By train

From the US, the Amtrak "Adirondack" runs from New York City once a day, with stops connecting to bus routes serving upstate New York. The trip is a scenic 6 hours along the Hudson River, but be prepared for delays at the border that can tack on 2–3 hours to the trip.

VIA Rail Canada, the federal passenger railway, operates numerous trains daily from both Toronto and Ottawa to Montréal, with multiple connections to Québec City. They also run a daily train from Halifax, Nova Scotia, stopping in Moncton, New Brunswick into Montréal. A more scenic route follows the Gaspe Peninsula. Significant discounts are available to youths and to university students carrying as ISIC Card (International Student Identity Card).

Tshiuetin Rail Transportation operates two trains weekly which pass through Emeril, Labrador on their route to Sept-Îles, Qué. from Schefferville, Qué.

Get around

Québec has a vast road and air network that makes it easy to travel between cities.

By plane

Using air transportation to travel between the different cities in Québec (Gatineau-Québec City, Montréal-Québec City, Montréal-Bagotville) is possible but usually too expensive to be worthwhile. Air travel is indispensable for getting around northern Québec (except for the Baie-James region, which is served by a paved highway), because there are no highways or railways serving these remote areas.

By train

Via Rail [1] offers train service along the St. Lawrence river, up the Saguenay and in the Gaspé Peninsula. VIA is Québec's only intercity passenger train carrier, while AMT runs Montréal's suburban commuter trains. Trains run infrequently (compared to Europe). There are no high-speed trains in Québec. Buses are usually cheaper, with more daily connections.

Tshiuetin Rail Transportation runs a passenger train twice weekly on the QNS&L line between Sept-Îles and Schefferville. This isolated network, not connected to the rest of the North American rail system, briefly crosses out-of-province to serve Emeril, Labrador.

As of 2015, two scenic tourist trains remain temporarily out of service:

• Hull-Wakefield steam train, due to a track washout in 2011 which remains unrepaired. The historic rolling stock will likely be moved to some other departure and terminus, perhaps Montebello.
• Orford Express, a Magog-Sherbrooke dinner train, missed the 2014 and 2015 seasons due to fire damage to one of the panorama cars during renovation but will return in 2016.

By bus

The main way to travel between cities is by bus. The bus network is very well developed, particularly for connections between Québec City-Montréal, Ottawa-Montréal and Toronto-Montréal. Montreal's main bus station is located at 505 De Maisonneuve East. Buying tickets and making seat reservations is a good idea, particularly for Friday evening or holiday travel, but same day ticket purchase is also possible.

Within cities, public transit tends to be good by North American standards, though showing the signs of funding cuts in recent years.

By boat

Numerous cruises are available on the St. Lawrence River, one of the world’s biggest waterways [2].

West of Montréal, a ferry crossing connects Hudson to Oka across the Ottawa (Outaouais) River.

From the centre of Québec-Lévis downriver to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the river widens and ferries become necessary as there are no bridges; a ferry crossing is also necessary to reach Tadoussac from Saint-Siméon on the north shore and to reach the Magdalen Islands, which politically are part of Québec despite their proximity to Prince Edward Island. Coastal ferries are also needed to reach a few small, isolated communities east of Kegasha.

See

• Provincial Parks. Quebec has 22 provincial parks (known as National parks in French and in official English documentation). They vary from smallish, easily accessible preserves to massive tracts of remote near-wildnerness and everything in between. 

• Jardins de Metis (Reford Gardens), 200, route 132, Grand-Métis (located on route 132 mid-way between Rimouski and Matane), ☏ +1 418-775-2222, fax: +1 418-775-6201. See Website for hours. An internationally renowned centre for garden art and design. $16 Adults, $8 Young Adult. 
• Montmorency Falls. A beautiful natural waterfall right outside Québec City, taller than Niagara Falls. 

Sites and attractions

Québec has a number of sites and attractions.

• Gardens: the Montréal Botanical Garden, the Insectarium, Reford Gardens and the international garden festival in Gaspésie are among Québec’s garden attractions.

• Museums: Québec has over 400 museums.

• Religious heritage: St. Joseph’s Oratory, the Basilique Notre-Dame-de-Québec.

• Historical sites: the fortifications of Québec City, Old Montréal. There is a limited historic district in Trois-Rivières, portions of which were lost to fire in the early 1900's.

Buy

Shopping in the Petit Champlain district of Old Québec in Québec City

• Prices are marked without tax (unless otherwise indicated). At the cash register, a 5% goods and services tax (GST – federal tax) and a 9.5% provincial sales tax (QST), i.e. 14.975%, will be added to the marked price. Certain items are not taxed at the same rate. This is the case with foods such as muffins or pastries, which are best bought in quantities of six or more (when sold individually, they are considered a prepared meal for immediate consumption and taxed). Fuel prices are in litres and displayed with all taxes included; fuel taxes are higher in Montréal and Québec City (by about a dime a litre) and lower at the provincial border. It's best to fill up before entering the province and certainly before even thinking of venturing onto Montréal island.

• Since April 2007, tourists can no longer obtain reimbursement of the QST.

• Tipping: Like elsewhere in North America, servers in restaurants and bars earn only a modest salary. This is why tipping is systematic when ordering in bars or restaurants (tipping does not apply to fast food or take-out food). A tip should be about 15% of the pre-tax price. Tips also apply to taxis, drinking establishments, restaurants and hair salons.

• Alcohol and tobacco: Alcoholic drinks and cigarettes are subject to specific taxes. Wines and spirits are particularly expensive: up to three times the European price for French wine, for instance (and 50% more when ordering a bottle of wine in a restaurant, hence the appeal of the “bring your own wine” formula). It is advisable to buy local wines, which are very comparable to French wines and less expensive. This enables you to support local products, which need it given the small market. Cigarettes cost between $7 and $9.50 a pack (a pack contains 25 cigarettes). Canadian cigarettes have quite a different taste than U.S. or French brands. Keep in mind, though, that since May 31, 2006, smoking is prohibited in all public places in Québec, including bars, restaurants and theatres.

Eat

Québec cuisine

• Québec’s cuisine derives its rich flavour from a blend of influences. It has a solid French culinary base and is enriched by the contribution of the Amerindian peoples and the different cultural communities that have made the province their home. This blend of culinary cultures is what makes Québec cuisine what it is today. Many quality regional products are also used in its cuisine. Terroir products that grace Québec tables include ice cider, micro-brewed beer, wine and over 100 different varieties of cheese.

• Another unique feature of Québec is the sugar shack (cabane à sucre), a family culinary tradition of eating maple products to the rhythms of Québec folklore. You can go as a group at the beginning of spring, during March and April. Most sugar bushes also sell maple products on site (maple butter, taffy and syrup) at very attractive prices. If this formula interests you, be sure to reserve in advance, and—in true tradition—go in as large a group as possible. It’s customary for several families to go together, but there’s no obligation to do so, particularly seeing as people rarely travel in groups of 50! Certain sugar bushes are open year round.

• Other Québec culinary specialities include: shepherd’s pie, poutine, sugar pie, pouding chômeur (a sponge cake with a maple syrup sauce), maple syrup, baked beans, tourtière (a meat pie), cretons (a pork spread with onions and spices), etc.

• Maple syrup (French: sirop d'érable) is the sticky, drippy giant on Quebec's culinary landscape. Boiled down from sap of the maple tree in sugar shacks (cabanes à sucre) around the province, it's got a more tangy flavor than the corn-based pancake syrup you may be used to. Different types of candies are obtained by pushing the boiling process further and are popular gifts during springtime. Also don't miss taffy-on-the-snow (tire sur neige). In Quebec, the syrup is used for more than just pancakes, though. You can find it as a glaze for pork and beef, mixed in with baked beans (fèves au lard), or in desserts like pouding chômeur ("welfare cake") or tarte au sucre (sugar pie). It's also made into loose sugar and candies. Syrup is on sale practically anywhere you want to go, but if you really want to take some home, stop into a farmer's market or a grocery store rather than a tourist shop. You can get the same high-quality syrup as at the souvenir stand for about half the price.

A mouth-wateringly delicious-looking plate of poutine

• No visit to Quebec is complete without at least one plate of poutine. This unique dish is a plate of French fries, drowned in gravy, and topped with chewy white cheddar cheese curds . There are variations on the theme—adding chicken, beef, vegetables or sausage, or replacing the gravy with tomato meat sauce (poutine italienne). Poutine can be found in practically any fast-food chain restaurant in Quebec, but higher-quality fare can be found at more specialized poutine shops. Local restaurant chains are your best bet. One great spot for trying out poutine is Ashton (in the Québec City area), where, in January only, you will get a discount based on the outdoor temperature (the colder it is outside, the cheaper the poutine!). The origin of poutine is still under debate, but it was first served in Drummondville in 1964, at the Roy Jucep restaurant owned by Mr. Roy. Since then, the surrounding areas have been trying to lay claim to its creation.

• Befitting the province's sub-arctic climate, Québécois cuisine favors rich, hot foods with more calories than you want to know about. Tourtière du Lac-Saint-Jean for instance is a deep-dish pie, typically from the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region, made of various meats (usually beef and pork, often including game, cut into small cubes) and diced potatoes, baked together in a flakey pastry shell.

Sleep

Quebec offers the usual range of North American accommodations including hostels, chain motels, and high-end resort hotels. Particular to Quebec are Auberge, literally "Inn" but range from faux-lodge style motels to Gites, B&B style guest houses with sometimes only a single room for rent.

Stay safe

Quebec is generally a safe place, with the exception of a few "bad" neighbourhoods of Montreal and Quebec City. Visitors should use common sense when travelling, as they would anywhere else, and keep cars locked so that they do not fall prey to theft.

Respect

• It is considered respectful to refer to Quebec citizens as Quebecer (m. Québécois, f. Québécoise) and not French-Canadian. Most citizens of Quebec who are not separatists still feel more Québécois than Canadian, but at the same time Québec is not France so many prefer to identify as "francophone" (which indicates only French language) instead of "français" (which is ambiguous, as it can infer French as a national citizenship).

• Generally, expressing yourself in French is considered by Quebecers as a sign of respect and is much appreciated. People working in the tourism industry often speak several languages. Many young people (especially in the Montreal area and the federal capital region) are perfectly bilingual and will speak in English if they see you struggling. Don't be afraid to ask for a French lesson; most locals will be happy to teach you a couple of words.

• Québec’s language is key to the province’s cultural identity, and its inhabitants battled for several centuries to preserve it against the odds. Quebecers have heard it all when it comes to making fun of their linguistic particularities, so it’s best to avoid this. In Québec, "French from France" isn’t "real French" so much as merely associated with a foreign accent. Quebecers view it as an insult to be told they speak "franglais" (French mixed with English), "joual" (a local backwater slang dialect) or some other language which is not "comprehensible" French, "proper" French or "bon français".

• There is a substantial English-speaking minority (about half a million people) concentrated mostly in Montréal's western suburbs or in border communities (such as the Outaouais region, near Ontario; also the Eastern Townships, near Vermont). If you say something in broken French and get a response in flawless English (as a first language), you might be speaking to a fellow anglophone... at that point, stay in English or you will feel rather silly.

• Like in several Canadian provinces, it is officially prohibited to smoke inside public buildings, including restaurants, bars and theatres. It is also forbidden to smoke within a nine-metre (30-foot) perimeter of the doors to public buildings (there is often a visible line delineating this perimeter in front of hospitals, CLSCs, etc.) and it is forbidden to smoke anywhere on school property.

Touchy subjects

• The issue of sovereignty is an extremely complicated and emotional issue, on which Québécois are almost evenly divided. Québéc francophone media give equal coverage to both sides, something which would be unthinkable in another province or in media serving linguistic minorities. Even those who aren't souverainistes speak of Quebec as a nation with national parks, national assembly and national capital which can be confusing as both levels of government use terms like "parc national" or "région de la capitale nationale" with different meaning. To further complicate matters, there are innocuous local translations for the word "national(e)" that do not contemplate a sovereign nation-state, such as the Canadian Parliament's acknowledgment of a Québécois nation. The discussion of Québécois politics is therefore best left to Québécois.

• Although Quebec is part of Canada, you'll see few maple leaf flags, and the Quebec media outlets don't emphasize connections with the ROC ("Rest of Canada"). Some Quebecers consider the display of the Canadian flag to be an inflammatory symbol of Canadian "dominance"; others see displays of the Quebec flag as overzealous ethnic nationalism. Phrases like here in Canada or as a Canadian may make your conversational partner ill at ease. Depending of the region, very few people will celebrate Canada Day (July 1) but Quebec's National (la Saint-Jean Baptiste on June 24) is probably the most important party throughout the province. (Ottawa-Gatineau may be an exception, as the "Outaouais" portion of the federal capital region celebrates both days.) In fact, the holiday of the first of July is traditionally used by most Quebecers for moving to their new apartment or house.

• Note also that Quebec is not France. Calling Quebecers "french fries", or jokes with French stereotypes (impoliteness, poor hygiene, eating frogs' legs, and especially "surrendering") will bring puzzled stares, or at best show that you have no idea which continent you're on. It is as illogical as applying British stereotypes to Americans just because of the historical and linguistic ties. Comparing Québécois culture and language unfavourably to France's is best avoided. Although Quebec and France have many ties, the Québécois typically regard themselves as a distinct culture quite separate from the country that "abandoned" them three centuries ago.

Connect

Most hotels and hostels offer Internet access and many have on-site computers for guests to use. Montreal has a free WiFi program called Île Sans Fil (Wireless Island), look for the sticker in café and restaurant windows. Wi-fi is also available in some coffee shops and public libraries.

Québec's main telephone area codes are +1-418 (Québec City and east), +1-819 (western Québec, Outaouais, Trois-Rivières, Eastern Townships), +1-514 (Montréal Island) and +1-450 (Laval and the southwestern corner of the province). Additional area codes have been overlaid onto all of these regions, breaking seven-digit dialling throughout the province.

Postal codes for Québec begin with G (Québec City and eastern Québec), H (Montréal and Laval) and J (western Québec). H0H 0H0 is reserved for seasonal use.