Road trip to Quebec (plus a few landscape and food photos)
August 22, 2025
Last week, my sister and I took a road trip to Quebec City. It was a fun, relaxing trip with scenic landscapes, interesting architecture, high temperatures, and fortuitous restaurant discoveries. Below is a brief trip summary with some pictures. Delete "resized/" from the image link to view the full image.
She flew in on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning we picked up the rental car and started driving north. Our first stop was in Hooksett, NH to pick up some snacks for the car. Next, we briefly got out of the car in Lincoln, NH at the RiverWalk Resort at Loon Mountain. We were considering going for a hike, but it was way too hot, so we decided to keep driving on. Our final stop before the border was in Newport, VT to empty the tank before proceeding towards the border.
After crossing the border, we stopped in Sherbrooke for a late lunch at a vegetarian bar/restaurant called La Buvette du Centro. A Canadian friend of mine had recommended that I try poutine, so I had La Buvette's thai poutine, which ended up being a good choice. My sister had the Nashville Sandwich, which she enjoyed as well.
Finally, we powered through until Quebec City, checked into the Airbnb, and then walked to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients for the next few days (cereal, milk, pasta, toast, etc.).
Monday
On Monday, the humidex was over 100deg, wonderful for an outdoor tour of the city. We circled the Battlefields Park and then walked down the Plains of Abraham Trail towards the water. From there, we made our way to the Saint-Jean-Baptiste neighborhood, where we ate lunch at Le Bonnet d'Âne. I had a vegetable omelette ("why don't my omelettes ever look like this one") and my sister had poached eggs with English muffins.
Afterwards, we continued walking eastwards on Rue Saint-Jean towards the old town and the east side of the city, eventually passing by some historic sites including City Hall, the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac (a famous hotel), and the Cathedral-Basilica (currently closed), as well as a bunch of tourist-oriented shops and restaurants. We eventually finished our walking tour and returned to the Airbnb to relax and recharge before dinner.
For dinner, we went to Bloom Sushi, a vegan sushi restaurant located in Limoilou. My sister and I shared several creative and delectable rolls. I would go back again to explore more of the menu. Also I forgot to take pictures.
On the way back home, we stopped at Crèmerie Saint-Sauveur, a gelato place near our Airbnb. The entire neighborhood seemed to be under construction for redevelopment and renewal, and most of the roads and sidewalks had been dug up.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, we began the day with an early lunch / late breakfast back in Saint-Jean-Baptiste at Le Billig, just down the road from Le Bonnet of the previous day. There, I had a sweet crepe (topped with homemade vanilla ice cream), and my sister had a savory spinach and mushroom crepe. (I didn't take any pictures.)
We had brought the car along to lunch this time, so we continued by driving across the St Lawrence River to Levis to visit the Parc des Chutes-de-la-Chaudière and the eponymous Chaudière Falls waterfall. (I also forgot to take pictures here.) After a short, moderate hike, we obtained ice cream (seemingly a central theme of this trip) from a shop in the park's parking lot.
We returned to Saint-Jean-Baptiste for dinner at Les Mauvaises Herbes, yet another tasty vegetarian restaurant. I had the fried gnocchi, and my sister had a vegan Korean corndog.
We returned home after some more walking, watched a bit of TV, and ate more pasta, and I got some more work done as well.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, we woke up and drove to Jacques-Cartier National Park, whose proximity was one of the reasons my sister had chosen Quebec City over Montreal for this trip. The weather was substantially cooler than the previous two days, and we were excited for the opportunity to hike without overheating. The park was quite marvelous.
It started pouring about an hour in, so we packed our loose items into available pockets and walked back towards the trailhead. The trees provided reasonable cover, so we didn't get too soaked. In any case, the hike was enjoyable and worthwhile.
We drove back to Quebec City and had a late lunch in the old town at Le Don, another popular vegan restaurant in the city. I had some cashew and spinach agnolotti and some of my sister's nachos.
It was still raining, so we rushed back to the car and then drove back to the Airbnb. By the evening, the rain had subsided, so we decided to explore some of the nearby restaurants. We stumbled across a new restaurant/bar named Gisèle Buvette, which had an eclectic/quirky interior design.
We ordered a few shareable plates, which were mostly creative, savory takes on various vegetables. Overall, it was an enjoyable outing, and I'm glad we decided to venture out instead of staying in. Here's a selection of what we ordered:
Thursday
Thursday, the day of our drive home, comprised a miscellany of random activities. We decided to pass through Dartmouth on the way back, meaning we would stay on I-91 until Hanover (bypassing I-93 at the initial junction) and then take I-89 to catch I-93 just south of Concord.
However, I-91 southbound was closed from exit 16 to 15 (a few exits before Hanover), so we were temporarily rerouted onto the parallel US 5. Along the side of the road, I spotted a sign for sweet corn and was immediately enticed. I turned onto a short dirt road and quickly reached an unmanned farm stand offering ears of corn for $0.60. I left behind a dollar bill and took an ear, which I would shortly consume as we walked around Hanover. We reached Dartmouth soon after and walked around, mostly exploring the west side of campus before checking out the famous Dartmouth Green.
At this point, we were relatively hungry and decided to eat. We stopped in Nepalese restaurant called Base Camp Cafe, in the basement of the Hanover Park complex just south of campus in the downtown area. My sister and I each had a lassi and shared steamed vegetable momos, a jackfruit and mushroom tarkari, and an eggplant basil paneer dish. The food was flavorful, and the portions were quite large relative to our appetites, so this ended up doubling as both lunch and dinner.
We continued south on the highway, stopping for an hour or so in Manchester so I could get a haircut. Then, we drove home the final hour and returned the car, thus concluding our trip.
Conclusions
Overall a fantastic trip! Incredibly relaxing and scenic, with lots of good sibling bonding time.