Quartier Petit Champlain - Shops Beneath the Cliff

Quartier Petit Champlain - Shops Beneath the Cliff

Photo: Wilfredor, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Old Quebec City Walking Tour, a free self-guided tour.

Squeezed between the cliff and the old shoreline, Rue du Petit-Champlain is a narrow pedestrian lane of boutiques, galleries and cafes in centuries-old stone houses. The neighbourhood bills itself as the oldest commercial district in North America, a claim rooted in the trading that began here soon after Champlain arrived.

Life in Lower Town was never easy. Rockfalls from the cliff above, fires and the bombardment of 1759 all battered these streets. By the 20th century the area had become run down, and its revival as a shopping street came with the restoration of Lower Town from the 1970s.

Walk to the south end to find a huge painted mural on the side of a house. It shows the story of the quarter, from early settlers to the shelling of 1759 and the disasters that followed, painted in trompe-l'oeil style so the scene seems to open into the wall. Look for the small details hidden in the windows.

Getting here: Walk back past the foot of the Breakneck Stairs and stroll south along Rue du Petit-Champlain.

Did you know?: The trompe-l'oeil mural on the house at number 102 covers about 100 square metres.

Photo op: Look back up the lane from the middle of the street to catch the Chateau Frontenac peeking over the cliff above the shop signs.

More on Wikipedia: Rue du Petit-Champlain · Petit Champlain

Stops on this tour

  1. Dufferin Terrace - A Boardwalk on the Cliff
  2. Rue du Tresor - The Artists' Alley
  3. Notre-Dame de Quebec - Mother Church of New France
  4. Seminaire de Quebec - Where a University Began
  5. Breakneck Stairs - The Steep Way Down
  6. Place Royale - Where Quebec Began
  7. Quartier Petit Champlain - Shops Beneath the Cliff
  8. Old Quebec Funicular - The Easy Way Up
  9. Governors' Garden - One Monument, Two Generals
  10. The Citadelle - Star Fort on Cap Diamant
  11. Plains of Abraham - Thirty Minutes That Changed a Continent
  12. Parliament Building - Je Me Souviens
  13. Porte Saint-Louis - Gateway Through the Walls