Quebec City Day Trip from Montreal: Montmorency Falls & Old Town

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Free cancellationTravelers' pickLikely to sell out

1/6

Duration13h

GroupUp to 55

LanguagesEN · FR

PickupAt your hotel

A full day in Quebec City starts before sunrise, ends after dark, and covers more ground than you'd manage alone.

You leave Montreal at dawn, spend an hour at Montmorency Falls with cable car access, then get a guided introduction to Old Quebec's main sights before three hours of free time to explore on your own. Transport, entry fees, and a professional guide are included; you're back at your hotel by 8pm.

13h

Step-by-step itinerary

Montmorency Falls and Old Quebec Tour

Pickup from Montreal hotel
Drive to Quebec City (6 hours)
Visit Montmorency Falls
Take cable car to falls bottom
Guided walking tour of Old Quebec
See Chateau Frontenac and Place Royale
Visit Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica
Explore Petit Champlain District
Free time in Old Quebec
Return to Montreal

The Experience

The pickup happens at 7am from your Montreal hotel, and then it's a straight drive east toward Quebec City — about three hours of highway that moves fast. You're heading toward Montmorency Falls first, the largest waterfall in Quebec, and when you arrive the cable car is usually running (it depends on the season and weather). You take it down to the base of the falls, which puts you right at the edge of the water with the cliff rising up behind you. The whole stop takes about an hour, and it's the kind of thing you'd skip if you were driving yourself because the detour seems small until you're standing there and realize how much bigger it is in person than in any photo.

After that, the drive into Old Quebec takes another hour or so, and your guide meets you there around noon. The walking tour is one hour — structured, paced, and the guide points out the details that make the difference between walking past something and actually seeing it. You hit the main landmarks: the Chateau Frontenac (the famous castle-like hotel that's been there since the 1890s), Place Royale with its colonial architecture, the Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral (more than 350 years old, baroque style), and Petit Champlain, one of the oldest commercial streets in North America. After the guided portion, you get three hours free to wander, eat, sit in a café, or go back to any spot that caught your attention. The old town is small enough that you won't get lost, and the streets loop back on themselves.

There's an optional river cruise that runs May through October if you want to add that on — it departs from the Port of Quebec and circles back past Château Frontenac and the falls from the water. If you're there in winter, the Ice Hotel is an option instead (January to March), though that's a separate booking. The Museum of Civilization works year-round but is officially listed as an optional add-on for the shoulder seasons. None of these are included in the base price, but they're there if the day feels short. You leave Old Quebec around 5pm and drive back to Montreal, arriving around 8pm. It's a long day — thirteen hours door-to-door — but the roundtrip transport, the cable car, the guide, and entry to Montmorency Falls are all built in. Hotel pickup and dropoff are included as long as your hotel is within 5 kilometers of the departure point.

What’s included

Your day includes hotel pickup and dropoff from Montreal (within 5km of the departure point), roundtrip transportation to Quebec City, entry to Montmorency Falls Park with a one-way cable car ride when available, a one-hour guided walking tour through Old Quebec covering Chateau Frontenac, Place Royale, Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral, and Petit Champlain, three hours of free time to explore on your own, and a professional multilingual tour guide. Taxes and consumer protection coverage are included.

Good to know

Easy physical levelPublic transport nearbyNot for pregnant travelersNot for heart conditionsNot for back problemsInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Concord Tours and Travel

Is this one for you?A good fit if you want to see both Montmorency Falls and Old Quebec in one day without arranging transport, timing the stops, or navigating the drive yourself — the fixed schedule and included guide are what make fitting both into a single day possible.