Hotels

Staying in one of the small hotels within or below the walls of Vieux-Québec can be one of your trip's most memorable experiences. It's important, though, to keep in mind that standards of amenities fluctuate wildly from one small hotel to another -- even from room to room within a single establishment. From rooms with private bathrooms, luxury bedding, flatscreen TVs, and free Wi-Fi, to walk-up accommodations with linoleum floors and shared toilets down the hall, Québec City has a wide enough variety of lodgings to suit most tastes and budgets.

With the less expensive hotels, even with an advance reservation, always ask to see two or three rooms before making a decision to stay there.

If cost is a prime consideration, note that prices drop significantly from November to May, with the exception of the Christmas holiday and winter Carnaval de Québec in February. Many hotels offer special deals through their websites or offer AAA discounts.

Unless otherwise noted, all rooms in the lodgings listed below have private bathrooms -- en suite, as they say in Canada. Note that some properties use the word "spa" to mean an outdoor hot tub; in this book, it means an indoor facility offering massages and other therapeutic treatments. Also, many of the hotels listed here are completely nonsmoking; if you smoke, check before booking.

Vieux-Québec has about a dozen bed-and-breakfasts. With rates mostly in the C$80-to-C$120 (£40-£60) range, they don't represent substantial savings over the small hotels, but do give you the opportunity to get to know some of the city dwellers. Many will post signs that say COMPLET, meaning full, or VACANT, which means that rooms are available.

When calling to make arrangements at a B&B, be very clear about your needs and requirements. A deposit is often required, as are minimum stays of 2 nights. Credit cards may not be accepted.

The Official Accommodation Guide put out by Québec City Tourism and revised annually is helpful in this regard. Available at tourist offices, it lists every member of the Greater Québec Area Tourism and Convention Bureau, from B&Bs to five-star hotels, and provides details about number of rooms, prices, and facilities.

If you prefer the conveniences that large chain hotels can provide, the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac is your most central option. High-rise hotels outside the ancient walls in the younger part of town, Parliament Hill, are within walking distance or a quick taxi ride away from the Old City's attractions. The clutch of upscale boutique hotels in Lower Town has greatly enhanced the lodging stock, too.

Important note: The prices in the listings represent rack rates for a double-occupancy room in high season (which includes the warm months, Christmastime, and Carnaval).

St-Roch -- Until about 2000, there were few reasons for travelers to include Québec's St-Roch neighborhood in their plans, but that's changing. Young restaurateurs, artists, and media techies have settled in and dubbed the area "Le Nouvo St-Roch" (proper spelling would be too traditional).

Québec's Ice Hotel: The Coldest Reception in Town

For C$15 (£7.50) you can visit, but for C$299 (£150) per person (and way up) you can have dinner and spend the night. Tempted? Québec's Ice Hotel (tel. 877/505-0423; www.icehotel-canada.com) is built each winter at the Station touristique Duchesnay, a woodsy resort a half-hour outside of Québec City.

It's crafted from 500 tons of ice, and nearly everything is clear or white, from the ice chandelier in the 5.4m (18-ft.) vaulted main hall to the thick, square ice shot glasses in which vodka is served to the pillars and arches and furniture. That includes the frozen slabs they call beds; deer skins and sleeping bags provide insulation.

Nighttime guests get their rooms after the last tours at 8pm and have to clear out before the next day's arrivals at 10am. Some rooms are themed and vaguely grand: The chess room, for instance, features solid-ice chess pieces the size of small children at each corner of the bed. Other rooms bring the words "monastic" or "cell block" to mind.

Bear in mind that except for in the hot tub, temperatures everywhere hover between 23° and 28°F (-5° to -2°C); refrigerators are used not to keep sodas cold but to keep them from freezing. And to whomever dreamed up the luxury suite with a real fireplace that somehow emits no heat: There is a special circle in hell for you.

In 2008, the hotel had 36 rooms and suites, a wedding chapel, two small art galleries, and a disco where guests could shake the chill from their booties. Open each January, the Hôtel de Glace takes guests until late March or the first thaw, whichever comes first -- at that point, it's destroyed.

Locals have a bemused reaction to all the fuss. A waitress down the road told one guest, "I would have charged you half as much and let you sleep in a snowbank behind the pub."