Quebec

Québec, set apart from the rest of Canada by the depth of its French culture, is anchored by its biggest city, Montréal. The second-largest French-speaking city in the world, this island metropolis has an awful lot to offer, not least Vieux-Montréal, whose charming, cobbled streets lead visitors past North America’s greatest concentration of 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century buildings to the beautiful twin-towered Basilica of Notre-Dame, cathedral to the Catholic faithful since 1829.

Other highlights include the sprawling Space for Life complex, which includes the city’s biodome, planetarium, botanical garden and insectarium, and a remarkable underground city of shops, museums, bars and restaurants linked together by over 20 miles of tunnels, making Montréal a must-visit city even in the depths of winter.

If Montréal – with its global variety of restaurants, bars, clubs and festivals – is arguably the most vibrant place in Canada, then the pace of life is far more relaxed further down the St Lawrence River in the provincial capital, Québec City. Once the capital of New France, Québec City is one of the oldest European settlements in North America and the continent’s only walled city north of Mexico. Perched on a rocky promontory above the river, Old Québec is a UNESCO World Heritage Site brimming with atmosphere, home to winding, hilly streets lined by vintage stone houses and chic boutiques. Towering above it all is the city’s most famous symbol, Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, whose rooms offer fabulous views across the city’s rooftops and out to the St Lawrence River.

The river forms the backdrop to many of the other highlights of travelling through Québec. Stretching along its north shore east of Québec City is the region of Charlevoix, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve of gently sloping hills, sheer cliffs and vast valleys veined with rivers, brooks and waterfalls, home to species seldom found so far south, including caribou and arctic wolf.

Continue down river and you reach the resort town of Tadoussac and the giant sheer cliffs of the Saguenay Fjord, one of the longest fjords in the world. Its year-round population of beluga whales are joined each summer by minke, finback and even blue whales on their annual migrations. Finally, at the mouth of the river is the sparsely populated Gaspé Peninsula, home to some of the province’s wildest and most spectacular scenery, with the winding coastal drive along Highway 132 taking it all in.