Old Port (Lower Town)

Auberge Saint-Antoine

★★★★★

Auberge Saint-Antoine is the connoisseur’s choice in Québec City, a small luxury hotel in the Lower Town that doubles as a museum of the ground it stands on. Before it was built, archaeologists excavated the site and found thousands of objects from the French and English colonial eras; the hotel kept them, and today more than 5,000 artefacts are displayed throughout its corridors and common areas, with each room showing its own piece behind glass. The setting is just as historic: the hotel faces Place des Canotiers and the St. Lawrence at 8 Rue Saint-Antoine, below the fortifications, a few minutes’ walk from Place Royale, the Musée de la civilisation and Petit-Champlain. It is a member of Relais and Châteaux. Its restaurant, Chez Muffy, occupies a former maritime warehouse built in 1822, with stone walls and old wooden beams, holds a four-diamond rating and cooks with produce from the hotel’s own garden on Île d’Orléans. Bar Artéfact, where remains of the Dauphine battery and a French-regime gun are on display, hosts live music evenings. The 95 rooms and suites run from Comfort rooms of about 30 square metres to Luxe rooms with river views, private terraces and fireplaces, and on to junior suites, suites and a top-floor Panoramic Suite with a huge private balcony. An expansion is under way that will add 25 rooms and a spa in the historic vaults, with completion expected by mid-2027.

What sets the Auberge apart is that its history is not a theme but a fact under your feet. The artefacts on display — ceramics, tools, buttons, pipes — came out of this very ground, and the hotel’s design blends old stone walls and beams with warm, contemporary interiors so that the past feels lived-in rather than staged. Service is personal and knowledgeable in the Relais and Châteaux tradition, and the Lower Town location is quieter at night than the Upper Town’s main streets while being steps from the river and the Old Port.

Choosing a room: the Luxe River View rooms are the sweet spot for most couples, and the Luxe Terrace and Terrace Fireplace categories add private outdoor space — magical in summer, cosy in winter. Suite bathrooms have heated floors and deep soaking tubs. Book dinner at Chez Muffy when you book the room; it is one of the city’s finest tables, and the garden-to-plate cooking is at its peak in late summer and autumn.

Honest notes: with the expansion under way until mid-2027, ask about construction when booking and request a room away from the works; the spa is not yet open. The Lower Town location means a climb or a funicular ride to reach the Upper Town, and rates sit at the top of the market. For travellers who love history, food and a quieter, more personal luxury than the big castle on the hill, it is the city’s best address.