Province / Territory: Québec

Walk down the streets of Old Montréal, tossing your scarf with the nonchalance of a Québecker. Practice your French phrases—even “bonjour” will do—ordering café au lait at a sidewalk bistro. Earn appreciative smiles from the francophone locals in return. People-watching from the patio, you can’t help but absorb some of the stylish élan of this glamorous, European-like city.

Step back four centuries as you stroll the cobblestone streets of picturesque Québec City. You can sense history’s battles at the rampart—the last standing fortified city walls in North America. But there’s a fresh wind blowing through this 400-year old city, too. You’ll find it in international celebrations like Carnaval de Québec and Les Fêtes de la Nouvelle France, which bring local legends alive through collective and public works of art. You’ll discover it in the city’s cafés, museums and parks, and in the lobby of the landmark Le Château Frontenac, which bustles with visitors from around the globe.

Food defines much of what is extraordinary about Québec’s French-Canadian culture. Taste maple taffy on snow, or dine on traditional pea soup, tourtière and sugar pie at a romantic sugar shack. Blaze a culinary trail through the countryside on the famed La Route des Saveurs de Charlevoix. In Québec’s urban centers, gastronomic excellence is a point of pride. Québécois chefs are famous for their obsessive devotion to cooking with the region’s freshest, finest home-grown products. Bon appétit!