Funiculaire du Vieux-Québec

While in Quebec City for vacation, we walked all around looking at the historic sites which are everywhere. In front of the Frontenac Hotel, is the funicular which will take you from upper QC down to lower QC. There is also a long stair climb. Cost about $6 per person. Only holds a few people so a bit tight with all the tourists. But fun and a must do thing!

So much fun. My sister and I rode 3 times back-to-back one early morning after breakfast. We enjoyed it so much! Breathtaking views with a great, fun-filled rush of excitement. Inexpensive ride tickets. Would recommend.

A nice way to get up to upper town old Quebec City from lower town if you don’t want to take the stairs. Cost is $5 per adult and you get a nice view as you travel upwards

Alternative to taking many stairs... 6 CAD per ride, only accepts casi but there are ATMs at the place. You might wait a few minutes depending on whether there is a line. It wasn't the case for me.

It goes up and down. It's exactly as advertised 😆. As of June 2025, the cost if $5 CDN, each way. There is no round-trip fare and the ticket office is cash only. Definitely worth the ride on a hot and humid day. It takes about a minute. There isn't much of a view but it's better than climbing up the stairs. Lol

It was great! The view going down is nice you won’t get motion sickness because it is very short. Good for family and kid friendly. Staff: Amazing we just paid and they let us down easy! Funicular: Short and slow good view modern glass all around you to see! Price: The price was 5 dollars it was reasonably priced.

I ppayed CAD$ 5,00 to go up to have the experience, because it is a small scalator that is substituted by it. But is nice Who.like this kind of experience.

Place is not accessible, have to go 3 or 4 steps upstairs in the narrow and uncomfortable location also team is not helping, behaving arrogant and rude, not giving tickets and accepting cash only. Team member told to my 1 y.o. "Not to tough the glass as it is prohibited "...???? For $5 per person they not just can but must to wipe it and sanitize after each attendance! This place have to be inspected and repaired up to standards, team have to be coached or better changed to people who understand what customer service is.

Amazing way to get from Dufferin Terrace to Petit Champlain (lower town). Staff is friendly and views are great. There are steps but also elevators if one needs it.

On our trip to Quebec City we took advantage of the trip down to the lower part of the city and then back up. Fun experience!

The Old Quebec Funicular is a must-do for any visitor to Quebec City. This historic funicular railway connects the Upper Town (Haute-Ville) to the Lower Town (Basse-Ville) in just a few minutes, making it a great way to see the city without walking up the steep hill. See the St. Lawrence River and Lower Town from an interesting vantage point as you travel up or down the cliff face at a 45-degree angle. The main entrance of the funicular is in Louis Jolliet House, located at 16 rue Petit-Champlain. The funicular was built in 1879 and was originally powered by water. It was converted to electricity in 1907. The funicular has two cars, each of which can carry up to 60 people. The cars travel at a speed of 2.5 meters per second, and the ride takes about 30 seconds. What you can do - if you do not want to climb 'just 59 steps', use this [ Fee is Cash only 5 dollars, doesn't matter UDS or CAD- it is 5 dollars] and enjoy the view from Dufferin Terrace The funicular is a great way to get a bird's-eye view of Quebec City and its rich history. It is the oldest funicular in North America that is still in operation. The funicularbird' s-eye has been featured in several movies and television shows, including "The Day After Tomorrow" and "The Umbrella Academy."

The tourist in me said we must ride the funicular! I had read that they do not accept credit cards but that must have changed as we paid for 4 people with a credit card. I belive that it was 6 Canadian dollars a piece. It was an enjoyable albeit quick ride. I could not help but feel though that as a city that focuses on tourism why isn't this free. So many people, especially elderly people, have mobiity issues and it just seems that even if the reasoning is to promote tourism that this should be a free attraction. From the top of the hill just outside of the Fairmont Frontenac hotel inside the walls of old Quebec, the funicular takes you down to the Quartier Petit Champlain shopping area and back up again.

This was a fun and enjoyable touristy thing to do. The current cost is 5 CAD for the one way ride up the steep hill that separates the lower old Quebec City from the upper part of Quebec City. We were part of a city walking tour group so our fare was already paid for. At the top, you arrive at the promenade of the Fairmont le Chateau Frontenac and there are then photo ops galore with an interesting and scenic perspective of the city. You can always walk up (or down) the hill via a staircase and an inclined curved road, but this was worth doing once anyway.

The tourist in me said we must ride the funicular! And so we did! At the top of the hill just outside of the Fairmont Frontenac hotel inside the walls of old Quebec, the funicular takes you down to the Quartier Petit Champlain shopping area and back up again if you like. The cost is $4 Canadian or USD cash only for a one way trip. You get a great view of the city and St. Lawrence river. It's a quick ride and to me (the tourist), it was well worth it! Such a lovely area!

Fun. Great View. Nice back-saver by avoiding many flights (!) of stairs.. Is an odd but satisfying experience.

It's 5 dollars US or Canadian, exchange rate is 1:1. Very brief and less scenic than my hotel room

GREAT OPTION TO GET UP THE MOUNTAIN ================================= DETAILS: My husband, son and I took a ride up on the funiculaire on Thursday afternoon, August 8, 2019. We spent the day getting some serious steps in and just needed a little break. NOTE: Cash only!!! We have gotten lazy about exchanging currency and using credit while out of the U.S., but thankfully we had some. Single rate of 3,50$ CAD, taxes included, per ride. ​ The ride is free for children under 46 inches. HISTORY: Built by William Griffith, the first funicular went into operation on November 17th, 1879. SCHEDULE: Open 7 days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

We've traveled on the funiculaire many times. It is an extremely short yet convenient ride. This makes the price increase that much more irritating. That aside a recent experience was uncharacteristically disturbing. Upon descending the short flight of stairs we stopped in the small area of drinks and souvenirs to find water. Once we approached the ticket booth, placed the bottle on the counter, and as I was reaching for my money to pay for two tickets the older man at the booth starting raising his voice, yelling and berating us for not stating that we wanted two tickets. I had guessed it was assumed if we were in the funiculaire that we wanted to descend to Petit-Champlain. He continued to yell and rant about not asking quickly enough. It was truly bizarre and left us stunned. He mocked us, complained endlessly, loud, flamboyant and so exaggerated I truly thought it was an act. We eventually took the ride down but avoided it again all weekend. It left us truly disturbed for some time and ruined the afternoon. With some research we discovered this was not an isolated incident. Why this man hasn't been terminated is a mystery. We visit Quebec city often and between the unhinged elderly man and the price increase we will be avoiding the funiculaire in the future.

Riding the funicular at least once while you are in Quebec City is more than enough. It connects the upper portion of the Old City (near Fairmont Frontenac) to the lower portion (which has some shopping and dining establishments). We opted to walk down the set of stairs and take the funicular after we were done exploring the lower town. Cost is $3.50pp (cash only), so not bad but the ride is extremely short (~1 minute). It's worth doing once to take in the views and get the experience, but once is more than enough.

Funiculaire du Vieux-Québec is convenient, quick, scenic way to get to and from Old Québec. It's also a little piece of history, first opened in 1879. That's right, EIGHTEEN seventy-nine! For those who haven't experienced the unique and rare form of transport known as a funicular, let me clue you in: It's two small compartments: one going up, one going down, each car fits about as many as you can squeeze into an elevator. A funicular rides on an angled rail and is moved via a pulley system. Invented by a Swiss man in the mid-1800s, funicular can be found in sporadically around the world: In the hills and mountains of mainland Europe, the Andes of South America, a few places in England and, oddly enough, one in Pittsburgh. But as small and limited as a funicular may seem, the Funiculaire du Vieux-Québec is an amazing way to see things. If going uphill to Old Québec, you'll enter at the Louis Jolliet House, 16 rue Petit-Champlain. After getting your ticket (it took about 10 minutes on the summer afternoon we visited), you'll hop onboard. On a 45-degree angle, you'll click and clack the 5.5 meters (282 feet) up ... and arrive in a rapid minute. It's a beautiful view of the lower city and the St Lawrence River that leaves you longing for more. At the top, you'll arrive at maybe the best spot of the city: The wooden boardwalk of Terrasse Duffrin (reviewed here: https://bit.ly/2Nnhve2) . Right there is a panoramic view of the St Lawrence River, as well as sites including the Monument Samuel de Champlain (reviewed here: bit.ly/2ZkUdMd) and an up-close-and-personal view of the city's most iconic building, Château Frontenac. Yes, I do realize some of the folly of this review. Can I effect change for this p140 year-old piece of history? Probably not ... they can't make the compartments bigger, give it a better view, and they ain't gonna lower the $7 round-trip fare or make the 10-20 minute lines move quicker for what amounts to a 60-second jaunt. It's a one-of-a-kind experience that you won't get in many other places on this planet. While all too brief, Québec's little piece of history puts the "fun" in Funiculaire!

The funicular is the easiest and fastest way to get from Haute-Ville (Upper Town) to Basse-Ville (Lower Town). The main entrance of the funicular is located in the historic House Louis Jolliet, 16 Petit-Champlain Street, in Basse-Ville. The entrance in Haute-Ville is in front of Le Château Frontenac on the Terrasse Dufferin. It's open 365 days. It costs 3,50$ CAD one way and is cash only. If you don't have cash, there is an ATM (guichet automatique) in the lower station on Petit-Champlain. Is it a must-do when in Quebec City? That's debatable. It's certainly a must-see if you have never seen one before. For me, it was the quickest way to get from point A to point B.

Now in Quebec City they really have two sections - the upper city and the lower city, or Haute-ville and Basse-ville. And - you guessed it - the easiest way to go from one level to the other is by the funicular ... a little cable railway that takes you the 200 or so feet in a simple cable car ride that takes maybe 20 seconds. While there is often a line to get in and on - especially on the bottom when people don't want to walk up - the line sails through. Price was 3.50 CA per person each way...cash only. Fun to do and great views - do it at least once when visiting. The ride up drops you off on the boardwalk in front of the Chateau Frontenac ... worth it.

Quebec City in Canada offers a Funicular ride that can take you from Lower town to Upper town and vice versa in less than 5 minutes. The cost is the following: $2.25 Canadian per person per one way $2.50 American per person per one way. Personally, I prefer using the stairs to make my way between places. We just had to try the ride once, so we did. We started the ride from Lower town on Petit Champlain. At Upper town, the funiculaire ended close to the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. View is fine from the funiculaire. As others have mentioned, this is a nice option to have available for folks.

I learned a new word today! A Funicilaire is sort of the hybrid love child of an elevator and a railroad. It's about the size of an elevator car, it sits on a set of rails, and climbs up the super steep hill between lower Quebec City and the plaza behind the Chateau Frontenac. It's a great way to avoid walking up the hill, especially after a long day of tourism (be prepared to walk a lot of hills when you visit QC). The station has a gift shop at both stops. It costs $2.25 each way. The guy who manned the station on the lower Quebec side was a little grumpy.

This funicular can be found in European countries and was a chute in the original form. The entrance is the site of the home where Louis Jolliet, a native Quebecois (explorer of the Mississippi), used to live until the home burnt down. There is a memorial honoring him. You pay the cashier and he lets you into it. We walked uphill to Upper Town yesterday which isn't that bad as long as you have working legs and are in good health but decided to ride the this at least once. A musician with all his gear joined us for the ride up and he set up shop in front of the visitors office in Uptown.

Judging by the Yelp photos, I was really excited to take this ride, but it was quite shorter than I expected; maybe 30 seconds to a minute in total? Admission is $2.50. The view is allright, but it just brings you up from the bottom roads to the upper level where Chateau Frontenac is, which is also easily walked if you use the cobblestone stairs. Still a cool experience, just very very short!

A "funiculaire" is a railway that goes up the side of a mountain, pulled by a moving cable ~ & involves complex, counterbalanced movements of the cars. One trip on the line slowly travels 210 feet at a 45 degree angle. It originally opened in 1879 ~ was rebuilt after a 1945 fire ~ & has had major renovations since. For $2.50 per person each way, the ride avoids Breakneck Stairs between the Upper & Lower Towns. The main entrance of the funiculaire is in Louis Jolliet House, located at 16 rue Petit-Champlain. The upper level entrance is on Terrasse Dufferin near the Chateau Fontenac.

$2.25 per person, per ride. You get a great view of the st Lawrence river and the Levis area from the funiculaire, however you can get the same view from the boardwalk at the chateau Frontenac or from a spot closer to the water in lower town. It's a good option if you don't feel like walking up or down the hill from upper to lower town.

Let's just call it either the $2.25 tax to get a good shot of the St. Lawrence River, or the $2.25 lazy tax to go up the Funiculaire and not use the hill to the north to walk up to the Upper Town. Not that I have anything against it though. If it's your first time in Quebec City, by all means do ride it at least once, because it's just the tourist thing to do, and you get great uninterrupted photos of the river and lower town. I suggest though you ride it up, but walk back down because paying $2.25 twice simply isn't worth it. Again, the walk is not long, you'll probably be back to lower town around the same time as the Funiculaire, give or take a minute. Overall, good connection between lower and upper town, but not something you have to ride unless you're lazy, want the views, or it's winter and you just want somewhere to relax for 2 minutes.

You pay three fiddy for a ten second ride. This is listed as a must do in the tourist guides and I don't see why. I used it more for the convenience factor since I didn't want to walk the stairs down in the rain. The views are the same from the top where the entrance is.

An awesome place to come and hang out. The views are majestic! Although very crowded, we did enjoyed the place.

According to certain guidebooks, you can either walk straight uphill towards the Chateau Frontenac (or the rest of Vieux Quebec) from the Gare du Palais or you can take a cab -this last option came highly recommended. We opted for something different. We walked down Rue Saint Paul, to Rue Sault au Matelot, down Rue Notre Dame, Rue Sous le Fort, until we reached Rue Du Petit-Champlain. We walked by cute shops, tempting restaurants, and more than a handful of landmarks along the way. This practically level and incredibly scenic route led us to the beloved Funiculaire. Though we did have to climb either two or three stairs to enter the giftshop, it was a short, but warm and beautiful ride up towards the Frontenac. I pitied the folks who arrived to this gorgeous destination via cab. Best 2$ ever spent.

I had a very troubling experience while visiting Quebec City over the past three days. We took the Funicular rail system today and when I produced cash for the trip back up to the top of the rail system when we were asked "Is this how you paid to take the trip down to the bottom?" Then he said "read the sign" at the booth. We had such a wonderful visit during this our first visit to your lovely city. My Son and I could not believe the sarcastic and very unexpected response we recieved from the toll collector at the bottom. I am not usually easily offended but the attitude we experienced was conspicuously rude, unexpected and offensive.

Old Quebec City is rife with hills and stairs. It adds to the charm but the fatigue also adds up if you're spending a few days walking. I walked up Cote de la Montagne one day and it was brutal. The Funiculaire is a unique way to avoid the wear and tear associated with such trips. Even going down the hills ends up hurting eventually. At $2 it's a bargain.

Cool experience if you're visiting and if your legs are tired from all the walking. It's only $2.25 a person one way but the view is pretty good and it's worth the experience. Yeah, it's not a long walk from upper to lower town or vice versa but you can save your legs at least. However, if you are going to be taking the funiculaire, I would suggest taking it up as you wouldn't want to be walking against gravity. At least when you're walking down, you're walking with gravity. When wanting to use the funiculaire, it can be hard to find the entrance when you're going up because it's inside the store and I was not able to find any signs leading to the funiculaire. We just had to look where the funiculaire lead to.

I didn't mind spending $2.50 per person/per ride for the VERY brief trip up the hill and back because we were able to escape the snow and bypass the slippery streets, but I did object to being verbally abused by the grumpy old guy manning the top gates who clearly hates his job. On the two trips we took today he yelled at, and scared the hell out of, my young daughter for "jumping" in the stationary cabin (she didn't jump), and he bitched and moaned when we tried to pay for four tickets with a $20 bill. Seriously? At $2.50 a pop he must have had plenty of change. When my husband quickly tried to find a smaller bill to keep the man "happy" he accidentally spilled a little of the coffee he was holding on the counter. The foul language and relentless abuse that came out of the man's mouth was unbelievable and strangely amusing at the same time. What a drama queen! Thanks for making our first day in Quebec so memorable. Merry frigging Christmas, you miserable old bastard.

All I have to say is that it's all so much fun. I went here in the beginning of February and I had so much fun I completely forgot it was cold !

Fantastic views of the city. Great alternative to lots of stairs. Rode it several times with my senior parents during a cold, wet trip to Quebec City. Well worth the price, at least for one trip.

It looked a bit cheesy but hey - it was very windy and a bit cold so we gave this a try. It was fun - a cable-like car going down a very steep angle with a very nice view of the St. Lawrence River. It was only CDN$2 one way down to Petite Champlain from the Chateau Frontenac.

Kind of cool that it is there, but it is fairly unnecessary because it is a pretty short distance and not that difficult a walk. It is steep but short. If you are going to use it, I recommend riding it up because the walk down, while steep is not difficult. it is a couple dollars and goes from the old lower town up to basically the entrance to the Hotel Frontenac. It is a nice option for children or older folks.

There is no "fun" in funiculaire. It is hot and short and smells. Don't waste your three dollars.

A bit pricey for such a short ride, but after trudging around Vieux Québec in slushy snow all day, it was completely worth it. The views on the way up are fantastic.

Agree with the review from Dallas. It's not that far of a walk! Seriously, I think I can race by foot and still get there almost at the same time. Perhaps, in the winter, it's a different story. Still a good view.

Great fun. Bring your camera for views of the lower city and the St Lawrence River. We walked down the steps but for 2.25 per person for the ride up it is well worth it.