After France, considering Quebec

I've only been to QC and lived in Montreal for 4 years decades ago. QC deserves about 3-4 days. Lots of great museums if that is your thing and highly recommend seeing Montmorency Falls, 13 km outside of QC. My guess is timing for fall colours is late September to early October, of course very much Temperature dependent. I would guess the farther east along the St Lawrence th earlier it would be. I believe Tadoussac is known for good whale sightings, though I don't know when the best time for that would be.

Just note that the French spoken in Quebec and in France are different. I expect cuisine is different too - it's French Canadian cuisine- tortiere, deseerts with maple syryp, tarte au sucre are traditional.

I had the same thoughts after we visited Paris and Eastern France in 2022. I took a solo four-day visit to QC in 2023, so not the rest of Quebec - but your plans sound lovely. My trip included taking the Louise Penny book "Bury your Dead" and going to as many places mentioned in the book as possible. There are several posts on this forum about QC, particularly with suggestions for restaurants in Lower Town that I didn't get to. I highly recommend staying at the sweet little Auberge Place D'Armes, very near to the funicular and the Chateau. Also Chez Temporel for a glass of wine and soaking in the atmosphere...Cafe Buade (I had poutine, but Gamache didn't)...souvenir art in Rue de Tresor...Tours Voir Quebec for do-it-yourself audio walking tours. Beware the slippery, narrow and cobbled sidewalks in places. I just loved it and would go back in a heartbeat. Have fun!

Lots of things to see in old part of Quebec City. Very walkable old part. Ile d Orleans makes a great day trip also if you have a car.

Brome Lake Books for all the Three Pines merchandise! https://shop.bromelakebooks.ca/

I have been going to Quebec for over 60 years. It is a nice place to visit. I don't think it lives up to comparison to anywhere in France, but it makes a nice weekend. If you are a fisherman, the rivers to the East are very renowned destinations. A trip through the Gaspe is worth doing.
Quebec City hockey is still a big deal. We enjoy taking in a Junior game. The Remparts are a top team. They are a 3 time Mem Cup winner. Not quite the Nordics, but if you haven't been to a good Junior game, give it a try. Canada comes alive at Junior games.
My father was a French Canadian so he spoke the archaic French that is Quebecois. He fit right in. That was not the case in France where his fluent French was met with some disdain.
My wife and I once aspired to paddle to Quebec City from Lake Ontario but we stopped in Massena. The river was a bit much in some sections. We did run through the Iroquois dam. What a river! Below Quebec, we thought we would need a converted sea canoe to reach the ocean. Maybe some day.
My personal preference is Ottawa. There are more museums there and a lot to do. Montreal is also a nice weekend visit.

A little off-topic, but I had a plan to go to Québec City a few decades ago. I was up in Newfoundland and Labrador on a motorcycle trip, and had made arrangements to have my MC and I board a freighter leaving Blanc-Sablon, Quebec (just over the border from Labrador) and arriving in Havre-Saint-Pierre several days later after stopping in fishing villages along the way that weren't connected by roads. Unfortunately the ship broke down and I had to make my way back to New England through Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. So I never made it, but it has always been on my "list." I know it is a popular place for some friends in Northern New England to visit in the winter when they have some sort of an ice festival. I am sure that is different from "90 degrees plus heat."

Cynthia,
I too want to head to Quebec City (and Montreal too). I am another Louise Penny fan who wants to see what she talks about in her books. Go to the Beyond Europe section here, do a search for "Quebec city" and filter "forum" and "one year or less" See my entry "Seeking guidance on 10 days....." The forum contributors gave me lots of good advice and ideas. Alas, the trip didn't pan out...YET! I still want to go.
Lots of luck in your planning and have a great trip!

We were just there last month - spent 5 nights in a self-catering apartment about a block from the Chateau Frontenac.
Loved it - it's a beautiful place and one that's become one of my wife's favorites. Very French, very clean, and very safe. Also quite easy to get around on foot to see the various sites within the old city. Fascinating history too.
Was told that it's even more beautiful during the winter months when everything is decked out for Christmas. Enjoyed it so much that we're considering a winter trip ourselves just to enjoy what promises to be a magical experience.
If you like Paris but don't fancy the long flight across the pond then I think Quebec would be the next best thing - it certainly is for us.

In present-day Quebec, no one working in hospitality is going to speak anything resembling archaic French to you. It’ll be standard French with a different accent from what you’re used to. You are more likely to interact with an immigrant from France than you are a joual speaker, especially in places like bakeries and restaurants (and banks!) — and all of these people are perfectly capable of communicating with their Québécois colleagues and customers, and vice versa.

Just as in France, most people will switch to English if they believe you aren’t fluent, though in Quebec City you are far more likely to encounter a unilingual francophone than you are in Montreal. If you speak French fluently and people switch anyway, persist and either they will switch back or you will have a bilingual conversation in your respective second languages. And in Montreal it isn’t unusual for two anglophones to have a conversation in French. Anglophone employees don’t always switch to English, perhaps because customer service in French is required by law, so they may be wary of secret shoppers trying to bait them into violations.

Edit: To clarify that last bit, service has to be offered and available in French, no one is going to get in trouble for switching once it's obvious the customer doesn't speak French. What does happen every year or two, is a certain tabloid newspaper sends a reporter to downtown Montreal to go into stores and address staff in English. When they don't respond in French, the ensuing article stokes panic about the death of the French language.

We took the train between Montreal and Quebec, it's a great ride.

Once in the city we took a bus daytrip out to an island and to the falls and to the church where every lame person is cured and they abandon their crutches.

I was unimpressed with Quebec. I was there late Sept 2024. There was 1 tree that had turned color in the old part of the city, and virtually none to be seen in Canada on our cruise to Boston.

Golly, Bigtyke, I find it hard to believe you are serious about not liking Quebec. The turning colors of the trees in Quebec Province and US New England happens when Mother Nature decides, not on the command of the cities, states or provinces. Each year is individual and sometimes you are ahead of the color change, and sometimes behind. Plus, there is a lot more to Quebec than the seasonal color change of the trees. If your trip was mainly to witness the fall colors, of course it must have been disappointing, but please don't judge a whole province by one parameter.

I hope you get the chance to visit Quebec city, Montreal, and all the other sights in the province. Maybe you will be more impressed.

Thanks to all of you for your generous sharing of information. My French is limited to about fifty words, so I don't think I will need to worry about different accents! Lots to mull through this winter as I plan the trip. More information about the Saint Lawrence river area would be helpful. We are thinking about heading to Tadoussac, then taking a ferry across and heading back down the south side of the river. I have found almost no information about the south side of the river - is it of little interest?

The Gaspe peninsula across the river would make for a very enjoyable off-the-beaten-path excursion with a car. The drive along the coast out to the town of Gaspe and Forillon National Park is gorgeous, and the park itself has several terrific hiking trails.
If that's a little too far afield then a drive back down the coast to Levis would be a scenic one.
If you're interested in an area of natural beauty, and some great hikes, not far from Quebec City there's Cartier National Park about 45 minutes north of the city.
Regarding Gaspe: I do recall that the area was very French-speaking ... sometimes exclusively so. My French is rudimentary at best and it definitely got a workout during our own drive around the peninsula a few years ago.

hey hey Cynthia
several years ago we flew into quebec from sfo for a fall foliage cruise (Quebec to NYC).
spent 5 days in quebec city and loved it. we were there during their canadian thanksgiving (2nd monday of october), the town was beautifully decorated all over. looked liked halloween/autumn colors, haystacks, scarecrows, crows and straw figures in plazas, stores/shops/hotels/restaurants/bars with festive colors.
roamed all around, stopped at the different shops to window shop, have glass of wine, tasted chocolates, real maple syrup and other maple products & cheeses, crepes, croissants, poutines, "hard cider" in a bar near our hotel. quebec cuisine we were game:)
funiculaire ride lower town to upper town. lots to see and do.
fairmont chateau frontenac (cicerone.ca/ tours)

did the guided tour of this grand & gorgeous hotel, so so worth it. after tour stopped at bar 1608 for glass of wine and the views
stroll the boardwalk along the river in lower town, the mural, st john's gate landmark, plains of abraham/the citadelle.
quebec-cite.com/ prettiest streets in old quebec
legranddemarchedequebec.com
gourmet public market
theculturetrip.com/ things to do in ile D'Orleans
we rented a car for the day, drove the the island (farming, wineries, artisan shops, cheese, chocolates old historic homes & churches, french speaking, restaurants). wrong day for us since holiday but fun day. stopped at small deli shop- bought baguette, salami, cheese, bottle wine (we always carry a corkscrew), plastic glasses, napkins. found a closed shop with picnic table outside and enjoyed our picnic and view of the river. couple heard us in lobby about our day trip, were on another cruise, asked if they could join us, sure. were from charleston SC, owned restaurant, and away we went. asked anything you guys want to see, said no we just out for the tour. still friends till this day
after island, drove to canyonsa.qc.ca

deep canyon gorges, waterfalls, suspension bridges, kinda spooky looking down hundreds of feet if scared of heights. it was a great time.
sainte anne de beaupre church, it's huge and on the hiway back.
stopped in to see the inside, pay respects for my family with coins/lighting candles. back to quebec city, drop off car downtown (avis or enterprise) then out for dinner. was a great DIY road trip. enjoy, have fun, hope this gives you some ideas
aloha

It’s been at least 10 years now, but we did a summer trip to Quebec City and then drove up to Tadoussac. I loved Tadoussac. The whale watching was fantastic. Don’t miss the Sanguenay fjord. We only spent 2 nights in Tadoussac. I wish we had had more time. I have not been on the southern side of the St. Lawrence where you describe but on another trip, about 3 years ago, we went around the Gaspé peninsula which was fantastic. We stayed a few nights in Percé. We also spent one night in the National Park of the Gaspésie (loved it) and one night near Mont-Joli. From there we turned south.

As a French person, if you go to Quebec expecting something reminiscent of France, you might be disappointed, except perhaps in Vieux Québec. It's a North American region where they speak French, but the culture, cuisine, cityscapes and of course landscapes are not French.

Still an interesting destination of course!