Fairmont Le Château Frontenac Christmas

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Booking to spend our Christmas at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Québec City, Canada is one of the best decisions that we ever made. This winter wonderland of a luxury hotel just oozes holiday spirit in December. What a wonderful place it was to spend my favorite holiday of the year! Read on if you’re thinking of making it a Le Château Frontenac Christmas.

Lobby Christmas Trees at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac

Why the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, you may wonder? I have wanted to stay at this hotel since I first glimpsed it in person when I was 15 years old. We were on a family cruise with Holland America Lines, originating in New York and ending in Montreal, with a few days in Québec City. The place is a castle (a real château) – it enchanted me immediately. I had to stay here someday, and that day finally came in December 2016.

A brief note about inclusivity: I’m Catholic by upbringing, I identify as Christian, and I celebrate Christmas. It’s my favorite holiday. However, I believe that if you’re an atheist, Jew, Muslim, agnostic, Hindu, Buddhist, etc., you’ll still have a wonderful time visiting the Château in late December! No shade to other ideologies here – just speaking from my own perspective as a Christmas-lover!

I was not disappointed. If anything, I had underestimated how great this hotel really was. I felt like a Christmas princess all week in this snow-covered palace! And, what better place than to stay in the most iconic symbol of the city itself – Le Château Frontenac?

White Christmas at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac

Getting There (In A Snowstorm)

Welp, driving to Québec City from New York City on Christmas Eve was not one of my BRIGHTEST ideas. To say the least.

Snowy Quebec City rooftops
Snow-covered rooftops of Québec City

We rented an SUV in NYC (from Laguardia Airport, which we were closer to than JFK) to make the drive up. I knew my Acura TL wasn’t built for snowy roads and we were going to Canada, after all. So, we rented a Nissan Murano and began our trek through upstate New York to the border.

Things were great until we hit a snowstorm around mid-Catskills! It kept snowing all the way until we reached Québec City. It took only about one hour longer than it should have, which was great. However, driving that far and long on snowy roads during a snowstorm means extremely tense shoulders and white knuckles for me.

Just a quick sidenote: drivers between Montreal and Quebec City are insane. We kept getting passed by Toyota Yarises doing 90 mph in a snowstorm. So, be warned!

Christmas Le Château Frontenac
One of the many Christmas decorations at the hotel

We arrived in town and began the meandering drive uphill toward the hotel. I was so glad we had the SUV at that point because there are some steep hills in Vieux-Québec. If you’re in doubt, rent the SUV with 4-wheel drive.

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Experiencing the Quebec City Toboggan Run

What’s it like to go down the famous toboggan run in Quebec City (Toboggan Slide au 1884), just beside the Château Frontenac at the Terrasse Dufferin? Well, see for yourself!

We captured this video with our GoPro Hero4 Session and a handy-dandy chest strap, which Luke wore as the front rider in our run.

It was exhilarating, to say the least! The queue wasn’t even that long, although there definitely was a queue. We went on Christmas day, and waited for about 15 minutes. As you can see, three toboggans go at a time, and there seem to be about 9 in all.

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