Canada Guide
Québec City
Château Frontenac
Address: Place d'Armes
Opening time: Tours May to mid-Oct daily 10am–6pm; mid-Oct to April Sat & Sun noon–5pm, call for weekday times; reservations preferable
Telephone: 418/691-2166
Website: www.toursChateau.ca
Price: $8
The ten square kilometres of Vieux-Québec's Haute-Ville, encircled by the city walls, form the Québec City of the tourist brochures. Its centre of gravity is the main square, the Place d'Armes, with benches around the central fountain serving in the summer as a resting place for weary sightseers. It was here that Champlain established his first fort in 1620, on the site now occupied by the gigantic Château Frontenac, probably Canada's most photographed building. New York architect Bruce Price drew upon the French-Canadian style of the surroundings to produce a pseudo-medieval red-brick pile crowned with a copper roof. Although the hotel he designed was inaugurated by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1893, its distinctive main tower was only added in the early 1920s – during which time the hotel never closed – resulting in an over-the-top design that makes the most of the stupendous location atop Cap Diamant. Numerous notables, including Queen Elizabeth II, have stayed here, and the hotel has hosted one pair or more of newlyweds every night since it opened. The hotel has fifty-minute guided tours departing on the hour from the lower level.