Quebec Winter Carnival: Montreal and Quebec City in the snow

1. Day 1: Arrive in winter Montreal

   Montréal-Trudeau International Airport to your hotel in Montreal

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Montreal
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL), about 20 km west of downtown, where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the warm ride to your hotel by Old Montreal. Plan to land by about 3 pm so you can settle in before the evening briefing; the exact time comes with your final itinerary. Darkness falls around 5 pm in February, and the streets of the old town look their best under snow and lamplight, so a short walk down to the frozen Old Port is worth it if you arrive early. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the week: how to dress for the cold, what the carnival holds on your dates, and how each day mixes outdoor time with warm stops. Then we walk to dinner together at a bistro serving Québécois winter cooking: pea soup, tourtière, braised meats and maple desserts.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide, with a winter clothing check
   • Welcome dinner of Québécois winter cooking

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

2. Day 2: Mount Royal in the snow and Old Montreal

   Mount Royal to Mile End, then the underground city and Old Montreal

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Montreal
   Day 2 details

   We start on Mount Royal, the hill that gives the city its name. The van takes us up to the chalet, and from its terrace, the Kondiaronk Belvedere, the downtown towers line up below you with the frozen St. Lawrence behind them. Beaver Lake, a short walk away, is usually a skating rink in February. Down the north side of the mountain we stop in Mile End for a bagel still warm from a wood-fired oven, which does well as a hand warmer. Lunch is a sit-down meal of Montreal favourites. In the afternoon your guide shows you how locals cross the city in winter, through part of the underground city, the network of passages linking metro stations, malls and office towers, before we come up in Old Montreal for Place d'Armes and the Notre-Dame Basilica, opened in 1829, with its deep blue and gold interior. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Mount Royal and the Kondiaronk Belvedere
   • A Mile End bagel
   • Sit-down lunch
   • The underground city and Old Montreal on foot with your guide
   • Entry to the Notre-Dame Basilica

   Optional experiences

   • Igloofest, the outdoor winter music festival in the Old Port, on the nights it runs during your dates (ticket paid on the day)

   Easier option: Stay in the warm chalet on Mount Royal while others walk to Beaver Lake.

   More active option: Rent skates and take a few turns on Beaver Lake, when the ice is open (rental paid on the day).

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About 4 to 5 km on foot over the day, much of it indoors or on cleared paths.

   

3. Day 3: By train to Quebec City and the ice hotel

   Montreal to Quebec City by VIA Rail, then the Hôtel de Glace at Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Quebec City
   Day 3 details

   After breakfast the van leaves for Quebec City with your bags while we take a late-morning VIA Rail train from Montreal's Central Station, about three and a quarter hours along the snowy south shore of the St. Lawrence; we confirm the exact train against the VIA timetable for your dates. We arrive in the early afternoon at the Gare du Palais, at the foot of Old Quebec, and the van takes your bags to the hotel, where we stay three nights. Lunch is yours, on the train or in the Lower Town. Later in the afternoon the van drives about 30 minutes north to Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier for a guided visit to the Hôtel de Glace, an ice hotel rebuilt every winter from snow and ice: carved rooms and suites, an ice chapel and an ice bar, kept just below freezing inside. We stay as the light goes and the coloured lighting comes up. Back in the city, your guide hands out your Effigy and walks you to Bonhomme's Ice Palace, lit for the evening, and the carnival is yours.

   Included

   • VIA Rail from Montreal to Quebec City, with your bags carried by road
   • Transfer from the Gare du Palais to your hotel
   • Guided visit to the Hôtel de Glace
   • Your Bonhomme Effigy, the pass to the carnival sites
   • Evening walk to Bonhomme's Ice Palace with your guide

   Optional experiences

   • A drink in a glass carved from ice at the Hôtel de Glace bar (paid on the day)

   Free time: Lunch and evening free in Old Quebec

   Activity: Inside the ice hotel it stays below freezing, about -3 to -5 C; keep your coat and gloves on. If the carnival's night parade falls tonight, we set the evening around it. The train time depends on the VIA Rail timetable for your dates; we pick a late-morning departure and confirm it with your final itinerary.

4. Day 4: Old Quebec on foot and a carnival afternoon

   Upper Town to Petit-Champlain and Place Royale, then the carnival sites on the Plains of Abraham

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Quebec City
   Day 4 details

   A local Quebec City guide joins your See Sight Tours guide at about 9 am for a walking tour of Old Quebec, the walled town UNESCO listed in 1985. We start on Dufferin Terrace beneath the Château Frontenac, where the toboggan slide has run in winter since 1884: everyone gets a run, sitting on a wooden toboggan down an icy chute towards the terrace. From there we follow the walls to the edge of the Plains of Abraham, then go down the Breakneck Stairs to the Petit-Champlain quarter and Place Royale, where Champlain founded the city in 1608, and ride the funicular back up. Lunch is a warm sit-down meal in the old town. In the afternoon we go to the carnival on the Plains of Abraham with your guide: maple taffy poured on snow and rolled on a stick, ice slides, snow sculptures and a cup of caribou, the carnival's wine and spirit drink, if you want one. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Old Quebec walking tour with a local guide: Dufferin Terrace, the walls, the Breakneck Stairs, Petit-Champlain and Place Royale
   • A run on the Dufferin Terrace toboggan slide
   • The Old Quebec funicular
   • Sit-down lunch in Old Quebec
   • Afternoon at the carnival with your guide, with maple taffy on snow

   Optional experiences

   • The carnival's snow bath, night parade or ice canoe race, on the days they fall within your dates (free with the Effigy)

   Easier option: Take the funicular down to the Lower Town instead of the Breakneck Stairs, and watch the toboggan run from the terrace if you prefer.

   More active option: Take extra runs on the toboggan slide and the carnival's ice slides in the afternoon.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot in the morning on steep, sometimes icy streets; good boots with grip matter today. Warm stops are built in every hour or so.

   

5. Day 5: The frozen falls and a day in Charlevoix

   Quebec City to Montmorency Falls, along the Côte-de-Beaupré to Baie-Saint-Paul, and back

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Quebec City
   Day 5 details

   We drive about 15 minutes east to Montmorency Falls for around 9 am, ahead of the day groups. The falls drop 83 metres, about 30 more than Niagara, and in a cold winter the spray freezes into a tall ice cone at their foot that locals call the sugar loaf, with ice climbers sometimes on the frozen cliffs beside it. We walk the top of the falls for the view down to the St. Lawrence. Then Route 138 follows the Côte-de-Beaupré past the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré and climbs into the hills of Charlevoix, a UNESCO biosphere reserve, to Baie-Saint-Paul, an artists' town in a snowy valley. Lunch is a sit-down meal of Charlevoix produce, then there is time for the galleries and cafés on Rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste. We are back in Quebec City by about 4:30 pm, and we finish together at a farewell dinner in the old town.

   Included

   • Montmorency Falls in winter
   • Drive along the Côte-de-Beaupré into Charlevoix
   • Sit-down lunch in Baie-Saint-Paul
   • Time in Baie-Saint-Paul's galleries
   • Farewell dinner in Old Quebec

   Easier option: Skip Charlevoix: after Montmorency we send you back to Old Quebec by taxi, paid by us, for a free day at the carnival, and you rejoin the group for the farewell dinner.

   More active option: Walk out across the suspension bridge over the top of the falls, when it is open in winter.

   Free time: Late afternoon free before dinner

   Activity: About 3 hours of driving in three legs, with stops; the 487-step staircase at Montmorency is closed in winter, and the cable car runs on a winter schedule we confirm before you travel.

   

6. Day 6: A last carnival morning and home

   Old Quebec to Quebec City Jean Lesage International Airport or the Gare du Palais

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 6 details

   The last morning is unhurried. After breakfast you have time for one more walk on the walls, a last run on the toboggan slide, a coffee in the Lower Town or a final visit to the carnival sites, which open in the late morning; your guide stays in the old town and is around for questions and directions. Bags come down by late morning, and the van leaves Old Quebec at about 12:30 pm for Quebec City Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB), about 16 km and 25 minutes away in normal winter traffic. If you are taking the train back to Montreal, or staying on in Quebec City for the rest of the carnival, we drop you at the Gare du Palais or your hotel instead. Your guide checks your flight or train before saying goodbye. If you want to stay longer, we can add hotel nights in Quebec City before or after the trip.

   Included

   • Free morning in Old Quebec, with your Effigy still valid on the carnival sites
   • Drop-off at Quebec City Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB), the Gare du Palais or an Old Quebec hotel

   Optional experiences

   • Extra hotel nights in Quebec City to stay on for the rest of the carnival (priced at booking)

   Free time: Morning free

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 3:30 pm: we reach YQB around 1 pm, which leaves room for a slow winter road. Or take an afternoon VIA Rail train to Montreal.

Wildlife and weather: Late January and February are the coldest weeks of the Quebec winter: days often between about -10 and -20 C, colder with wind, short daylight (sunrise around 7:15 am, sunset around 5 pm in early February) and snow on the ground throughout. The cold is what makes the trip: the ice hotel, the frozen falls and the snow sculptures exist because of it. A heavy snowfall or extreme cold can change the order of a day; your guide moves outdoor visits to the best window.

• Montreal2 nights
• Quebec City3 nights