Get Your Green Fix in Québec City!

Any time you head into Old Québec—whether via Grande Allée in Upper Town or Boulevard Champlain in Lower Town—you’ll quickly see that Québec City is chock full of green spaces. From private lots to balconies decked out with hanging planters, public squares, and major thoroughfares, everywhere you look there’s greenery, gorgeous trees, and a profusion of flowers setting off Québec City’s distinctive architecture.

I have my own personal favorite spots for jogging, picnicking, or just sitting down to have an ice cream, read a book, or simply enjoy the moment. Bois-de-Coulonge park is one such spot.

This park located on the west end of Grande Allée has a long history dating back to the 17th century. The 24 hectare space (which has changed names a few times, from châtellenie de Coulonge to Spencer Wood and then Bois-de-Coulonge) was the site of the lieutenant governor’s residence until it burned down in 1966, and has been used as a public park since 1970.

What I love about Bois-de-Coulonge is that it’s perfect for so many outdoor activities all year round. You can ski, snowshoe, or take part in sugar shack activities in winter, and take long walks to admire the tulips and many varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas in the spring. The wide open spaces are great for kicking soccer balls or throwing Frisbees with friends, while the shady paths are a real lifesaver whenever I go jogging on hot summer days. The many mature trees and the view of the river and Anse au Foulon Marina also make it a fabulous place to visit in the fall. Whether you’re into sports or enjoying the great outdoors, this park is sure to keep you coming back for more.

As a resident of Old Québec, I have a couple spots I really like going to. The first is Cavalier-du-Moulin park. It’s a hidden gem located at the end of Rue Mont-Carmel, next to the Québec conservatory for dramatic arts. I mainly go there to get away from it all in its calm and serene atmosphere. It’s the perfect spot to have a picnic, chat with friends, read, daydream, or take a quick nap. Since the space was part of the fortifications under the French Regime, its elevated position offers a unique vantage point over Old Québec and the areas around the citadelle. So I encourage you to check it out—but you might just want to keep this little secret between you and your closest friends…

My second favorite park in Old Québec is Bastion-de-la-Reine, specifically Terrasse St-Denis on the east side of the park. This park, which is part of the Plains of Abraham and borders the Citadelle of Québec’s glacis, offers a stunning view of lively Rue St-Denis in the foreground, as well as Promenade Dufferin, the St. Lawrence River all the way out to Île d’Orléans, and Château Frontenac, which  dominates the unique urban landscape. Whether it’s at sunrise, in the middle of the day, or at that magic hour as the sun goes down and the city lights flicker on, this view never ceases to amaze and move me.

I suggest coming first thing in the morning or in early evening for the most enchanting views. If you’re a photo buff and you want to capture a lasting memory of Québec City, this spot is a definite must. If you are staying at Hôtel Château Bellevue (link: https://search.iqrez.com/reservations/HotelChateauBellevue/search/?lang=en), feel free to ask our staff how to get to Terrasse St-Denis—it’s only 3 minutes from the hotel.

I know there are other parks and gardens in Québec City I could have told you about, but there’s so many it’s hard to choose! And they all have their own atmospheres and activities to meet virtually any need, whether you’re looking for a place to go on a morning jog, to take a break from touring to eat a sandwich, or to let your kids run around to burn off their excess energy. No matter where you stay or visit, don’t hesitate to ask locals where the nearest park is—they’ll be happy to point you in the right direction.

Until the next edition of our blog in August, I wish you a pleasant summer full of fun and new discoveries! Have a great summer!

Aude Lafrance-Girard

Québec City and the Art of Tea!

Québec City is home to an astonishing wealth of British architectural heritage, especially in Old Québec and downtown. For example, there’s the Holy Trinity Cathedral, the Garrison Club, the castle-like city hall and Gare du Palais train station, the Québec Armoury, and, of course, Château Frontenac. But there’s another British tradition still alive and well today in Québec City: the art of tea. Although you can order a cuppa at just about any café or restaurant in town, sometimes you want to take your tea somewhere where you can get the full experience and enjoy this special moment! So here are some of my favorite spots for tea in Québec City.

Le Lièvre & la Tortue, located at the corner of 3^e Avenue and 12^e Rue in Limoilou, is well worth the detour. This café, shop, and tea room is a lovely spot to grab a mid-day snack during the week or to kick back and enjoy a leisurely Saturday or Sunday. The atmosphere is very British and I love ensconcing myself in that little room that always makes me feel a bit like “Alice in Wonderland.” They have a great selection of tea, and I can never resist the temptation of ordering a few of their sweets served on flowery plates. They serve all the standards like lemon pound cake and scones, as well as a whole lot more! And if you’re with family and friends who aren’t big tea fans, the café also serves up good coffee and lots of other gourmet items. It’s always such a treat to come back and see all the new items that regularly come in!

Do you like tea but you haven’t had the chance to explore all the different kinds? Then I know just the place for you. It’s called Camellia Sinensis, a tea room located on Rue St-Joseph Est in St-Roch. They have a huge selection: white, black, and green teas; teas from China, Japan, India, and Kenya; and even organic and aged teas. Fortunately, the knowledgeable staff is there to help you choose. In addition to enjoying a spot of tea—paired with an assortment of dark chocolates, shortbread, tea-friendly cookies, or dates—you’re sure to be impressed by the shop’s wide selection of bowls, cups, teapots, and specialty equipment. It’s the perfect place to visit if you want to treat yourself or pick up a great gift for the tea lovers in your life.

To change things up a little, my next recommendation, the Champlain restaurant at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, boasts exquisite décor, a cozy atmosphere, and a stunning view. For the ultimate tea experience at its most refined, look no further than their “Afternoon Tea,” held Saturdays between 2 and 3:15 p.m. It’s a chance to take part in an English tradition that dates back to the 19th century, when “high tea” was a full meal. You’ll see that the menu is also quite elaborate. With the extensive selection of teas, sandwiches, and savory bites, the scones with cream and a variety of jams and marmalades, and the assortment of sweet treats specially prepared by chef Stéphane Modat using high quality local ingredients, tea time has never been so delightful. And why not make it even more delightful with a glass of champagne?

If you think you might like to have high tea at Château Frontenac in the near future, I recommend booking as soon as possible to get a table at the time you want. It’ll also be an opportunity to be a part of a historic moment because our illustrious neighbor is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year with some very special programming.

And if you prefer a simpler, more relaxed experience after a long day of exploring Old Québec, you are more than welcome to take your tea in the comfort of our hotel lobby during your stay at Château Bellevue. And there’s no reason you can’t step out of our little “château” and stroll over to the big one to take part in all the anniversary festivities!

I wish you a wonderful spring and hope you’ll be back for my next blog post in June when, with any luck, summer will finally be here!

Design steeped in history, modernity, and light

When people are vacationing, they look for hotels that are centrally located and rooms that are safe and comfortable. But they also want a décor that elevates their travel experience. That’s why interior design is so important and why I love working with it as part of my job. To tell you the truth, it’s a real passion of mine.

When designing hotel rooms and common areas, there are a number of requirements to consider. The design has to meet our customers’ expectations, while providing our staff with an optimal work environment. The goal of design is to create harmony, blending ambiance, comfort, and privacy to enhance enjoyment of these spaces while ensuring a level of ergonomics that makes it easy to provide everyday services.

When describing a hotel room or lobby, people often refer to the decorative elements, but the real strengths and weaknesses often all boil down to design. Having a space that’s well organized with carefully placed furniture and amenities can facilitate movement, help reduce ambient noise, speed up breakfast service, and even encourage guests to talk to each other. A poor design will have the opposite effects.

So it’s important for a hotel to live up to its reputation and take into account the main characteristics, needs, and expectations of the guests it serves. If you’ve ever stayed at Hôtel Château Bellevue you will have undoubtedly noticed—and appreciated, I hope—how warm, cozy, and intimate the hotel is. We wanted to create an ambiance equally well suited to guests traveling alone, as a couple, or with friends. Part of this ambiance has to do with the history of the building, but it also has to do with the comfort of the modern components we’ve added. I have to say I love playing with this blend of historic-meets-modern every chance I get. For example, salvaging and updating old furniture or sprucing up our smallest rooms by pairing wood, bricks, or stone elements with wallpaper featuring modern colors, textures, or motifs is a great way to add character and breathe life into the décor. Making the most of a building with architecture as distinctive as Hôtel Château Bellevue’s comes with its fair share of challenges, but also a lot of opportunities.

Another feature I love to play with is light. In an old building, light is often a challenge because it’s hard to change the building’s structure to bring in more natural light. There are so many key factors to keep in mind when you want to amplify and diffuse each ray or beam of light—everything from selecting and positioning light fixtures to deciding on wall and furniture colors, and picking textures that absorb or reflect ambient light.

As an operator of a small and independent hotel, we need to be very careful not to fall back on déjà vu, while always being aware of the impact and costs of making updates. That’s why at Hôtel Château Bellevue, we try to renovate three or four rooms and freshen up one common area every year. You have to be creative and avoid jumping on hot new trends that can quickly fall out of favor or turn off guests who choose Hôtel Château Bellevue for a special reason: because its location and signature style elevate the overall experience of visiting Old Québec.

For me the best way to stay inspired and on-trend is to travel. It’s a way for me to continuously rethink my understanding of guests’ needs and discover original and creative new ways to meet these needs. I encourage you to take a look at a hotel I recently visited that blew me away with a design that’s both simple and mindful of the building’s history. It’s called Hôtel Baudon de Mauny and is located in the heart of Montpelier in the south of France. Built in the 18th century, this tiny hotel underwent a major overhaul so that today it can provide guests a high quality experience comparable to what you’d get at a contemporary hotel, with modern amenities and services enhanced by the distinctive charm that comes from the historic ambiance and architectural details.

If you’re a design fan like me and know about other hotels that take an original approach to blending history and modernity, I’d love to hear about them in a comment.

Enjoy the rest of your winter. I’ll be back with a new blog post in April!

Aude Lafrance-Girard

How to improve the Château Bellevue guest experience

As you know, my father Alain Girard has a blog on Hôtel Château Laurier Québec. I contributed a few posts to it and wound up catching the bug. So now I’m starting a blog of my own here on the site of our gem, Hôtel Château Bellevue.

For this first post, I decided I’d tell you about what we’re doing to improve the guest experience at Château Bellevue, our cozy 47-room hotel with a beautiful view (just like the name says) out over the St. Lawrence River on the edge of Parc des Gouverneurs in the heart of Old Québec.

At our hotels, we strive to make continuous improvements and provide service in the most authentic, personalized way we can. But how do you create an even closer connection between staff and guests at an already small hotel like Château Bellevue?

Working closely with our employees, we have identified a few points that may seem like small details, but will surely help us do an even better job expressing the distinctive personality and warm welcome our guests love.

The actions suggested so far have to do with everything from the hotel layout to the choice of music and how we write notes to our guests. The main goal of these steps is to better support our employees and improve the quality of all interactions with and between guests. For instance, the breakfast area will be redesigned to be friendlier and more conducive to conversations between guests. We’re going to add a bench along the bay window in the front of the hotel so guests can take full advantage of the gorgeous view. Although all employees are required to be in uniform, they can always accessorize to add a personal touch.

For the changes we’ve already made and those still to come, it takes everybody’s cooperation to incorporate them into day-to-day operations. That’s why our ongoing efforts to improve the guest experience are done as a team. The employees involved participate on a voluntary basis, which shows how interested and engaged they are in the process. Getting a good mix of people onboard is also important, because having different points of view fosters creativity. The members of the team come from various departments at Château Bellevue, and we even have two people from outside who work at our sister hotel, Hôtel Château Laurier Québec.

The guest experience influences the perception customers will have of us before, during, and after their stay. Although there’s no way to guarantee all our guests will always be completely satisfied, we believe that continuously watching, listening, assessing, and improving is the best way to succeed and to make Château Bellevue a place where people want to be. If you stay at the Château Bellevue, feel free to share your impressions about your guest experience with me! Your suggestions are important to us.

Until next time,

Aude Lafrance-Girard