My wife and I just returned from a trip to Quebec City. It was a lot of fun. We stayed downtown at a small boutique hotel inside the city walls. We had a great breakfast at the
Sagamité restaurant of bison on a potato base with egg and hollandaise sauce. The next day we had the buffet breakfast at the Château Frontenac, where it's cheaper on weekdays and included fantastic crêpes and made to order salmon benedict. For lunch we had poutine and a pint at
Pub St-Alexandre. Our final dinner was at
L'Omelette, right across the street from our hotel. It is such a great walkable old city. We did a guided tour of the citadel, rode the funicular multiple times, and took a river cruise to see Montmorency Falls. I was disappointed that the
naval museum was closed, but otherwise a fantastic trip. VIA Rail there and back was flawless, and Quebec's
Place de la Gare has to one of the prettiest train stations I've seen in Canada. And the autumn colour of the leaves combined with the unseasonable warmth was perfect for spending all day outside - we walked 18,000 steps two days in a row.
One of the best things about Quebec City, at least from my limited experience within the old city walls is the total lack of vagrants, junkies, beggars, encampments, litter and graffiti. I don't know how they do it, as I saw zero police, minus two friendly, jovial officers directing traffic during the Sunday marathon. It was like walking around Epcot or to my memory, Singapore, with people enjoying themselves at open air restaurants and parks. I appreciate the old city is the tourist district, so likely gets special attention from the multiple levels of government, but again I saw zero enforcement activity. What's their secret?
So, I highly recommend a trip to Quebec City. Just leave your car at home and take the train. Pack light as the boutique hotels have lots of stairs and do not have elevators.