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Quebec City getaway
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: August 21, 2017
With our trip entering the two-week point up here in Quebec, I’m going to clue you men in on a wonderful little secret I discovered in French Canada years ago: If you really want to woo your significant other, I urge you to take her to Quebec City.
Hands down, it’s my go-to romantic destination, especially if I’d been partaking in one too many cycling or backpacking weekends. And there’s a rather artful fringe benefit here if you proceed with my recommendation, because you can fill two needs with one deed. More on that coming up.
Thanks to its European ambiance, 400-year-old Quebec City is the perfect place to experience unforgettable moments without flying across the Atlantic Ocean. You can wander down cobblestone streets lined with centuries-old buildings, and you can spend countless hours visiting a host of boutiques, art galleries, cafes and some pretty spectacular restaurants. Best of all, you’re beautifully situated on a bluff high above the majestic St. Lawrence River, where you’ll find those “pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming” moments are far too frequent.
Now here’s my recommendation to actually setting yourself up for a wonderful experience in QC without breaking the bank: Stay in the small town of Levis (check airbnb.com for some amazing lodging deals) on St. Lawrence’s south shore, then simply take the ferry to QC each day. By doing so you’ll either save yourself a bundle of cash by not lodging in the heart of the city, or you’ll negate having to stay miles away in el cheapo lodging. Finally, you just can’t beat the amazing cityscape views of QC from atop Levis’ several hundred foot high escarpment.
The 10-minute ferry trip from Levis to QC will put you smack dab in the heart of the city with zero driving hassles, all for a thrifty seven bucks/person roundtrip. Yup, my advice is to explore the city using good old fashioned human locomotion, walking or riding a bicycle, because you’ll be able to see way more of this gorgeous place that way than if you were tethered to the inside of a car fighting thick tourist traffic. And honestly, trying to drive in downtown Quebec City is as complicated and maddening as negotiating the streets of San Francisco.
Okay, now that we have the romantic and lodging prerequisites out of the way, let’s move on to the second need I was referring to - and that’s cycling, which can be easily justified as a great opportunity to get in a little extra cardio each day. QC’s plethora of biking trails gives it a wow factor that’s hard to beat anywhere else in North America. And whether you’re a recreational rider or a hard core roadie, the 240-plus miles of cycling routes are just beyond comprehension. You can create short, medium, long and ultra-long loops around both the city and the picturesque shores of the St. Lawrence River.
So out of this maze of paved cycling trails, here’s two of my favorite routes that are perfect for QC first-time riders. The first is a short-medium distance (20 up to 40 miles) loop connecting two parallel trails that run along both shores of the St. Lawrence River. Begin in Levis on the Parcours Des Anses trail and proceed southwest, where you’ll eventually ride across the Post de Québec Bridge and jump on the Corridor du Littoral trail and ride northeast into QC. You can either continue out of the city all the way to Montmorency Falls for a longer out-and-back add-on, or stop in QC and jump on the ferry back to Lévis for a 20-mile loop.
The second route is an out-and-back ride that begins in Levis and heads north on the Parcours Des Anses, which turns into the Parcourse Harlaka, and then into the Cycleroute De Bellechasse, one trail into the next. You can actually ride 50 miles one-way if your urge is for some big volume.
So there it is, you and your significant other can blast the cardio and get a cycling fix in the afternoon with several hours of stellar riding, then dine on an outdoor patio along the beautiful St. Lawrence River in the evening. I’d call that a win-win vacation all the way around. Au revoir.