Fun facts about Quebec City
• The Château Frontenac holds the Guinness World Record as the most photographed hotel in the world.
• Québec City is the only remaining fortified city north of Mexico, with 4.6 kilometers of walls, gates, and the Citadelle dating from the 17th to 19th centuries enclosing Old Québec. On December 3, 1985, UNESCO designated its historic district a World Heritage Site—the first urban area north of Mexico to receive this honor.
• By 1872, the city’s fortifications had fallen into disrepair, and demolition had begun to make way for urban expansion and improved traffic flow. Lord Dufferin intervened, recognizing them as a “jewel,” and championed a preservation plan that successfully blended heritage conservation with modern civic development.
• The Montmorency Falls lie about 10 km from Old Québec and can be seen from Dufferin Terrace. At approximately 82 meters high, they are about 30 meters taller than Niagara Falls.
• In 1842, Charles Dickens nicknamed Québec City the “Gibraltar of North America” because of its dramatic cliff-top fortifications.
• In winter, visitors can stay at the Hôtel de Glace, North America’s only ice hotel, rebuilt each year using about 30,000 tons of snow and 500 tons of ice—warm socks highly recommended.
• Completed in 1917, the Quebec Bridge remains the longest cantilever bridge in the world.
• The real-life inspiration for the boy in Le Petit Prince was Thomas De Koninck, an emeritus professor of philosophy at Université Laval, who passed away in February 2026. In 1942, Saint-Exupéry visited Quebec City, where he stayed with his friend Charles De Koninck, Thomas’s father. After dinner one evening, he spent time playing with the De Koninck children, making paper airplanes. Thomas, the eldest—a blond, keenly inquisitive boy—stood out for his boundless curiosity, engaging the famed aviator in a stream of thoughtful, unending questions. The book Le Petit Prince was published a year later.
Quebec City is recognized as the birthplace of French civilization and culture in North America. This said, did you know that:
- The Anglican cathedral Holy Trinity is the first built outside the British Isles
- The Morrin Center library is the oldest English-speaking public library in Canada.
- La Citadelle de Québec is the largest British fortification built in North America and one of the official residences of the Governor General of Canada.
- The Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph, founded in 1764, is the oldest running newspaper in North America. Nowadays, it is published online: https://www.qctonline.com/.
• If you pass by the address 83, Saint-Louis St. in Old Quebec, you will see the house where Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier wrote his famous poem Ô Canada. His poem later became the lyrics of Canada’s National Anthem. Sir Routhier was a judge and a professor of law at Universtié Laval.
• In July 1782, a 24-year-old Horatio Nelson—later Admiral Nelson, victor of the Battle of Trafalgar and commemorated by the column in London’s Trafalgar Square—was in command of HMS Albemarle when he fell in love with 16-year-old Mary Simpson in Quebec City. Nelson was reportedly so enamoured that he even considered abandoning his duties in the Royal Navy. A close friend and fellow officer ultimately persuaded him against a hasty marriage, and Nelson returned to England, heartbroken.
• The “Red Door” at 68–71 Rue du Petit-Champlain in Québec City became a popular landmark after appearing in the South Korean drama Goblin: The Lonely and Great God. Often called the “Goblin’s Door,” it is depicted in the series as a magical portal linking Korea to Canada. Following the massive popularity of the show (2.9 billion views) and its filming in Quebec City in 2016, the door became a major tourist spot, particularly for Asian tourists visiting Petit Champlain district.
