Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac // Vieux Quebec, CA
Le Chateau Frontenac is located in the heart of Old Quebec City, or the part of the city that is within the old fortification walls. The Terrace Dufferin located next to the hotel provide beautiful views of the St. Lawrence River and there’s also a really great ice cream & gelato shop (the 1884!) located there too!
DINING
The Frontenac has 3 Dining Options on site.
· Champlain Restaurant – which is open for Dinner Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm to 9 pm, and for brunch on Sundays at 10 am to 1 pm. The Champlain also serves afternoon tea from 2 pm to 3:30 pm on Saturdays. Reservations Required.
· Le Bistro Sam, open from Sunday to Thursday form 11:20 to 10 pm, and Friday and Saturday 11:30 am to 11 pm. Reservations Required.
· 1608 Wine and Cheese Bar – open Monday to Thursday from 4 pm to midnight. Friday, Saturday and Sunday they are open from 2pm to 1 am. The menu is available until 10 pm. No reservations permitted.
While I’m sure the food at these options is delicious, I can’t speak definitively towards any of them, as I preferred to go walk around the city and find places to eat as I went – with the exception of the 1640, which is located right across the street from the Frontenac (I knew I wanted to go to this place, which we visited when we traveled to Quebec in 2010!)
If you ever travel to Quebec, be sure to try the delicious, traditional dish of Poutine (or, fries topped with cheese curds and gravy) I definitely wouldn’t eat it for every meal – I mean, French fries, duh– but its definitely something to try once or split with a friend! The best Poutine that I had on the trip was from a vineyard outside of Quebec, which I’ll be posting about later this week!(If you follow my Instagram, you’ve gotten a sneak peak of it!)
The most comfortable Bedding eVER.
ROOMS:
The Frontenac has 611 rooms and suites. They recently completed a multimillion-dollar restoration that enhanced the charming old features of the room, while blending them with modern features!
The beautiful double doors!
BATHROOMS:
I’m devoting an entire section to the bathrooms, because they were really everything you could want a hotel bathroom to be. I LOVED the white marble subway tiles – it made the size of the room feel larger and it was so light and airy feeling! I also really enjoyed the double doors & felt really fancy every time I went through them.
HISTORY:
Lobby from the Concierge counter
The hotel was built in the late 19th century as a railway stop for Canadian Pacific passengers, and was designed with influence from medieval and renaissance structures (which gives it its “castle-y”) look! An addition was completed in 1993, which added on a pool, fitness center, and a terrace. Famous names that have stayed at the Frontenac include: King George VI & Queen Elizabeth, Princess Grace of Monaco, Ronald Reagan, and Alfred Hitchcock.
Front of the Hotel
The hotel also had a role in WWII, when it was used in 1944 as a conference center by President Roosevelt (American President), Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister), and William Lyon Mackenzie King (Canadian Prime Minister)
View From the Citadel.
This iconic hotel can be seen from may places around the city, as well as from places across the river (we could see it from the Ile D’Orleans, where we zip-lined over a waterfall and had lunch – post on that will come later later!) and I heard that it was one of the most photographed hotels in Canada + the world.
Thanks for reading! What are some of your favorite places to travel?
Be sure to check back Wednesday!
xo, Lauren