Visitors who attend one of the largest winter festivals in the world, Québec Winter Carnival, Le Carnaval de Québec, will celebrate its 71st anniversary during the coldest month of the year, February 7-16, 2025. Activities include crossing the huge St. Lawrence River by canoeing through ice and parading at night when the temperature drops below minus 20 degrees. Be it Celsius or Fahrenheit, it’s cold. Not surprisingly, the carnival mascot is a snowman.

One of the many highlights of the week is the canoe race, two miles back and forth across the ice-laden St. Lawrence River from Québec City to Lévis. Teams push and row across a stretch of water, slush and chunks of ice, celebrating a long-standing tradition. Winds and currents make this a dangerous sport. A winter race going back to 1894, it predates the festival and is a trademark event of what is referred to in both English and French as Carnaval.

Activities requiring love of the cold include attending one of the two evening parades and having a snow bath, where carnival-goers frolic in a water fountain filled with snow. Should you miss the snow bath, taking place only on the final day of Carnaval, you might want to try the Strøm Spa. This will allow you to try the Nordic spa experience that’s popular across the province of Québec. Bathers first experience the extreme heat of a dry or wet sauna and then a dip into a pool of almost frozen water. Physical stress melts away as endorphins are released and muscles relaxed. Your immune system will thank you.

A centerpiece to the festival is the Ice Hotel, a structure made from ice and snow, which brings visitors from across the globe to stay overnight where interior temperatures are kept between 23 to 26 degrees Fahrenheit. The hotel is rebuilt each year for Carnaval and welcomes guests with drinks served in glasses made of ice and sculpted on site, and with beds made from slabs of ice. Another Carnaval tradition is the Quebec International Pee-Wee hockey tournament, going strong since 1960.

It is almost impossible to visit the old section of Québec City without strolling past the Fairmont Château Frontenac, the city’s best-known landmark and considered to be one of the most photographed hotel in the world.

At the Château Frontenac, a vestige of the grand hotels from the railway era, visitors can enjoy some of the finest dining in Québec City. High tea is served at its Place Dufferin restaurant overlooking The Dufferin Terrace and walkway. The hotel’s Champlain Restaurant serves local cuisine along with a magnificent view of the St. Lawrence River. On the same terrace are kiosks for maple sugar treats, a standard among local desserts. To balance the fine dining, try the toboggan run next to the Château Frontenac, in use since 1884.

The oldest parts of town are found at the foot of the Château Frontenac—the historic Lower Town and the Place Royale. The Place Royale, par of the original fortified area of New France, is now surrounded by cafes, restaurants, antique shops and art galleries

Winter sports activities abound within the city: Cross-country skiing, skating, snowshoeing, walking, running and tobogganing bring crowds of sport-loving locals to the Plains of Abraham, a short walk from the Old Town. After working up an appetite, enjoy culinary creativity from some of the top chefs in Canada. Experience the renowned 15-20 course menu at La Tanière³, served in a subterranean chef’s counter cellar, offering a direct contact with the chef and his team.

The Distillerie Arsenal & Co. includes tours of its historic setting in an old munitions factory. In addition to serving dinner and brunch, it houses a conceptual economuseum wherein visitors leave with an education about distilling.

Experience Québec City and Le Carnaval de Québec in winter and find the spirit Québeckers are known for: a warm joie de vivre.