Quebec City is a family favourite destination and experiencing the city during its winter carnival celebration was a whole other level of fun. With claims as the world's snow capital, Quebec City embraces winter with festivities over a ten day period in February. To find out more about the history of the carnival and what to expect this year visit Carnaval de Quebec.
Our vacation started with a mid morning flight from Toronto for an afternoon arrival in Quebec City. We headed straight to the heart of the Old Port of Quebec City to Les Lofts St. Pierre. Quebec City offers many excellent accommodations. We love the spacious and modern design of @loftsvieuxquebec tourist apartments and their perfectly situated locations throughout the city.
After settling into our space, we took to the streets to discover what our wintry wonderland had to offer. Within a short distance the discovery began.
And continued with maple toffee pull.
Walking through the many beautiful streets of Old Quebec City.
Finally ending our first day at one of our favourite restaurants @lapinsaute.
Our second day was packed with fun! The first activity we had planned was tobogganing outside of Chateau Frontenac. On our way we met some new friends :)
After buying our tickets, we got into line and grabbed a wooden sled. While waiting our turn, the kids played in the snow and we watched the families ahead of us hurdle down the icy track. The toboggan ride can reach speeds of up to 70 km/h! When it was our turn, we climbed the formidable hill with our sled and strategically placed the kids in the middle. We waited excitedly at the top of the slide for the operator to release the latch and took our turn to hurtle down the icy track. No toboggan ride will ever match that experience!
Our next adventure for the day was to meet Bonhomme himself. Before we headed to heart of the festival, we stopped for fondue, escargot, and frites at Le Petit Chateau. On route we also enjoyed a Caribou which is a drink usually made with red wine, brandy, anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves and maple syrup. Delicious!
With full tummies and all warmed up we headed to the magical winter wonderland of Bonhomme's Ice Palace. We made our way through the maze of ice and snow sculptures to meet the legendary snowman himself.
The third day of our trip we traveled thirty minutes outside of Quebec City to visit Valcartier Vacation Village. We spent a beautiful sunny day snow tubing and discovering the famous Hotel de Glace (The Ice Hotel).
We ended our experience with the kids enjoying a hot chocolate as we enjoyed a cocktail called 'Accident de ski doo' at the ice bar.
After a full day of outdoor fun, we treated ourselves to a wonderful dinner just steps away from our loft apartment, at the french bistro Echaude.
The promise of Quebec City being the world's snow capital was going to be experienced first hand during our trip. We watched the city prepare for an impending snow storm and mother nature delivered!
The calm.....
before the storm....
On our last day in Quebec City we took full advantage of the plentiful snow and made our way to the Plains of Abraham. A fantastic site with a stunning view of the St. Lawrence River, which is easily accessible to visitors to cross country ski, snowshoe and skate.
Our last night in in this amazing city we hung out at a local haunt and dined on some fantastic fare at Kraken Cru.
Au revoir Quebec City! A bientot.
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