Quebec City 3-Day Itinerary
Day 1: Upper Town and the ramparts
Begin at Place Royale, where Champlain founded the city in 1608, then walk up into Upper Town past the Notre-Dame de Quebec Basilica-Cathedral, free to enter, whose Holy Door was installed in 2013 as only the seventh in the world outside Europe. Continue to the Chateau Frontenac and Dufferin Terrace, then walk a section of the city’s ramparts, the only fortified city walls still standing north of Mexico, out to one of the four surviving gates.
Lunch around Rue Saint-Jean runs roughly CAD $20-30 per person once tax and tip are added. For dinner, budget CAD $50-70 per person at a sit-down restaurant in Upper Town; Aux Anciens Canadiens, occupying a house built in 1675-76, is a genuinely historic option if you want traditional Quebecois cuisine in period surroundings.
Stay in Upper Town for easy access to everything on this itinerary.
Tip: the ramparts walk is free and self-paced, budget at least an hour if you want to read the plaques at each gate rather than just walk through.
Day 2: The Citadelle, Lower Town, and museums
Spend the morning at the Citadelle, home of the Royal 22e Regiment, catching the summer changing-of-the-guard ceremony if the timing lines up, then walk the Plains of Abraham, site of the 1759 battle, and the Musee national des beaux-arts du Quebec (adult admission roughly CAD $15-25, verify).
In the afternoon, take the Funiculaire down to Lower Town for Quartier Petit-Champlain and the Musee de la civilisation, whose permanent exhibits cover 400 years of Quebec history and the province’s 11 Indigenous nations (adult admission roughly CAD $18-24, verify). Dinner in Petit-Champlain or on the Old Port runs a similar CAD $50-70 per person.
Tip: the Musee de la civilisation is large enough to eat up a full afternoon, so pick one or two exhibits rather than trying to see everything.
Day 3: Ile d’Orleans and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre
Rent a car or book a guided tour for a full day out: Ile d’Orleans, the rural garden of Quebec, is about 15 minutes from downtown, with orchards and cider houses like Cidrerie Bilodeau to stop at depending on the season. From there it’s a short drive further to the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, one of the busiest active pilgrimage sites in North America, and the Canyon Sainte-Anne gorge with its three suspension footbridges.
A guided half-day tour covering Montmorency Falls, Ile d’Orleans, and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre typically runs CAD $80-120 per person; self-driving costs only gas and any orchard or basilica admission fees. Return to Quebec City for a final dinner, budgeting the same CAD $50-70 range.
Tip: this loop is entirely car-dependent, public transit doesn’t reach Ile d’Orleans or Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre in any practical way, so confirm your rental or tour booking before the day itself.
Read more: see the Quebec City travel guide for background, or check the 2-day Quebec City itinerary if you’re working with less time.