See

Escalier Casse-Cou

A steep staircase between Côte de la Montagne and Rue du Petit Champlain. The name means "Breakneck Stairs", and comes from the fact that historically cattle was marched this way and often the poor animals tripped over and broke their necks.

history

Directions Suggest a nearby place

Listing from Wikivoyage: Quebec City, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Updated 28 Sept 2026. Something wrong? Tell us.

Close by

See
Quartier Petit Champlain
North America's oldest shopping quarter, in 17th-18th century buildings along Rue Petit Champlain, at the southern end of Basse Ville. Can get pretty busy during the day, so if you're not there for shopping (the selection tends to be rather touristy too), but rather to see the houses, go early in the morning or late in the evening. There's a huge mural on House 102 presenting the history of the quarter.
See
Porte Prescott
Connects the upper and lower town, and first built in 1797 and named after Robert Prescott who was the general governor of Canada then. It was dismantled in 1871 and rebuilt in 1984 but the current version looks rather different from the original version. At the gate there are stairs to the top of the wall.
See
Place-Royale
The spot where Samuel de Champlain landed in 1608 and founded the first French settlement in North America, now converted into a postcard-pretty public square. Do not miss the huge mural covering the entire side of a nearby building; the figure with a hat standing at the base of the 'street' is Champlain.
See
Église Notre-Dame-des-Victoires
Next to Place Royal, this is considered the oldest stone church in North America. The first small church was built to celebrate a victory over the British in 1690, was finished in 1723 but was destroyed in a British attack on the city in 1759. Construction of the current church started soon after, and one of the builders was the master carpenter Jean Baillargé. It was declared a historical monument in 1929.