Quebec City

Two of my favorite cities in the world. Quebec City is wonderful but much smaller than Montreal. If you don't speak French, it's not hard to find neighborhoods outside of the main part of the city where the residents don't speak English or don't speak it well. The Citadelle, or the old walled part of the city is still use by the military and is also a tourist attraction. It's worth seeing but it's not my favorite part of the city. The hotel Le Château Frontenac is a wonderful old hotel. Even if you don't stay there, you should go for a meal or a drink in their bar and see the views of the river.

As cliched as it is, my partner and I have found we enjoy a guided tour of the city by a reputable tour early in the trip. It helps to orient you, learn the basics about the city, see the most well-known tourist attractions, and figure out the places you want to visit on your own.

Over the years, we've made friends in Montreal and I tend to prefer Montreal for a long visit. But I usually like to make day-trip to Quebec City, it's one of the most European-like cities in N. America. You'll want to use your own judgment and ask around, but in my experience Canadian cities are very safe, relative to U.S. cities. Of course, you have to be aware of pickpockets and the type of criminals who prey on tourists, but I've never had any problems. Sometimes, I imagine Quebec is the way New York City must have been in the 1940s and 1950s, lots of little neighborhoods, each with their own grocery stores and bars. A wonderful city to walk around and explore.

Thank you so much.

I do speak French in the most basic of ways. Food, directions, simple conversations. I was told in Paris that I spoke French similar to a highly intelligent 8 year old.

Montreal is wonderful too - I even enjoy going there in Winter. There are so many underground connected underground malls and if it's not wet or particularly windy, the snow can be beautiful.

Of course, I love The Gay Village on St Catherine East - an amazing vibrant city. If strip bars are your thing ( and they are mine) Montreal has some of the best in the Western Hemispheres. The French Canadian men are awesome. While the French Canadians can be prudish about some things, there strip or dancer bars are wide open. Unlike anything I had ever seen before. The Montreal Metro is also one of the best and most reliable of any city I've ever visited.

Montreal also has some of the best restaurants in the world. In the years when the U.S. dollar was stronger, the exchange rate was amazing. I was there once when the Canadian dollar was worth only 0.63 to the U.S. dollar. You could withdraw $100 dollars from a Canadian ATM, it would go just as far as $100 bucks in the U.S., but only $63 U.S. dollars were subtracted from your U.S. account. The current exchange rate is about 0.81, but that's still a pretty good discount.

You have to watch out for purchases that the VAT (national sales tax) applies to though - it'll pretty quickly eat up your discount. At one time, you could save all your receipts, get the correct government form, and send all your receipts (above a specific dollar amount) for the VAT reimbursement. I did that once and got a check for several hundred dollars after my trip.

Canadians generally seem to really appreciate your making the effort to speak French (unlike some Parisians, I've encountered). As you can probably tell, my French is strictly the HS variety, but it came in very handy in small towns and neighborhoods off the beaten path. Almost everyone in Montreal speaks or understands English.

My trips to Montreal have generally been longer trips of a week or more. The immersion system is the best. You'll be amazed at how quickly you're reading in French and understanding some French without even trying.

Find out about your credit card provider's exchange policy. The good ones won't fee you for making the exchange and will give you the best exchange rate of the day. It can save a lot of money.

The Quebec ATM system is connected to all of the major U.S. ATM interchanges. I've always been able to withdraw money at just about any ATM. I could even my credit union account ATM card in Quebec, which doesn't charge a foreign ATM fee - the best combination.

Quebec has easily the prettiest churches in Anglo America.

There used to be a very small male strip club there -- sort of a scaled-down version of the more famous ones in Montreal. Not sure if it's still there or not.

Top 10 best Quebec City restaurants according to USA Today:

1- Toast! 2- Charbon Bar & Grill 3- Voodoo Grill 4- La Fenouillière 5- L'Initiale 6- Aux Anciens Canadiens 7- Laurie Raphael 8- Le Paris-Brest 9- Le Saint-Amour 10- L'Échaudé

Don't forget to take the Funiculaire

Saloon in the Montreal village for weekend brunch - tout le monde gai is there!

Sky rooftop for "cinq à sept" (happy hour) in Montreal Village

My favorite restaurant in Quebec City is Restaurant Aux Anciens Canadiens. It’s got a lot of old style Quebecois dishes. The Fields of Abraham is a good place to visit if you’re interested in why the majority speak English in the U.S. now instead of French. To get a good feel for the city’s history, I recommend one of the ghost tours. They should be going all summer long. You don’t have to believe in the supernatural for it to be appealing. The guides are very good at giving historical details about the city.

I mostly party in Montreal. Lots of hopping gay bars and saunas. It’s a bit quiet on week nights, but crowded on the weekends. But, beware, lots of hustlers. You can get a full body massage at a sauna for super cheap. Just the massage, no happy endings involved.

To get a good feel of gay life there, try Le Resto du Village. Nice tourist sights are the Olympic Stadium and the Montreal Botanical Gardens.

Be forewarned, a lot of places do not have a/c, so you may be in for a hot/humid time during the summer. Figure out the Montreal Metro, and you can get around the city easily and quickly with lots of walking in the cool underground instead of on the streets. And, try some poutine if you haven't had it before.

R10 R11 OP was not asking about Montreal.

seconded on the château Frontenac (and le rue petit Champlain)

beware: québécois French isn't Parisian French

Thank you for all the Montral tips, however I will be spending my time in Quebec City. I have been to Montreal many times before.

I wanted to go this summer, but it looks impossible :(

After visiting Montreal, I found Quebec City to just be a much smaller version. I'd go back to Montreal in a heartbeat, but have no desire to return to Quebec City.

I know in advance that I'll be pilloried for saying this, but in my very limited time in Québec City, I found the locals to be even ruder than Parisians—which is really saying something. Perhaps it was the part of town I was in, but NO ONE spoke English, and I was openly sneered at for not knowing French. The rest of the province was fine, but Québec City, while beautiful, was home to some of the most arrogant, nationalistic assholes on the planet.

This is such a random bump, but I was in Quebec City the year this thread was first started. I thought it was quite lovely, but I agree with the R18 that the locals were much ruder than Parisians. Still, I'm from New York, so I didn't really care that much. Would visit again someday.