Is Quebec City safe to walk after dark?

We are planning to have dinner at the top rated Restaurant L'Initiale on corner of Cote de la Montagne and Rue Saint Pierre during our October cruise stop in Quebec City. According to Google Map, it seems the restaurant is only about a 10/15 minute walk from the Princess ship terminal pier #22 at 84 Rue Dalhousie street. We figure by the time we get done with dinner, it'll be around 9:30/10pm. Is it safe to walk back to the ship pier at that hour after dark around that area? If not, we assume we can just flag down a cab nearby.

When we were there the tourist area seemed pretty safe at night.

I am from Montreal and both cities are pretty safe day and night.

Most Canadian cities are safer than their US counterparts in terms of violent crimes etc. If you let us know where in Illinois you are I can find some comparative police reports if you want to put some numbers on it - but in general you're very unlikely to have any problems at that time of night in that part of town, there will be plenty of folks out & about on the streets and in bars & restos; take the normal precautions for urban living and you should be just fine.

I have never had a problem walking in QC after dark.

We are planning to have dinner at the top rated Restaurant L'Initiale on corner of Cote de la Montagne and Rue Saint Pierre during our October cruise stop in Quebec City. According to Google Map, it seems the restaurant is only about a 10/15 minute walk from the Princess ship terminal pier #22 at 84 Rue Dalhousie street. We figure by the time we get done with dinner, it'll be around 9:30/10pm. Is it safe to walk back to the ship pier at that hour after dark around that area? If not, we assume we can just flag down a cab nearby.

It will be a leisurely 10-minute walk at most, only because you will need to reboard the ship via the cruise terminal; L'Initiale is just a block down from the dock proper.

The area around the dock has long since been gentrified, and I would expect the area restaurants to still be hoppin' at that hour. You should be perfectly safe.

L'Initiale is one of my fav restaurants, BTW... and your post has reminded me that it's been way too long since I was last there.

Many thanks for your extremely helpful tips and advice. We are definitely looking forward to this first and brief visit to QC. We just hope the weather in mid October will be nice free of rain. Hope our visit next time will be much longer to truly take in the beauty of this city and sample more of the local cuisine and wine.

Twickenham, do you know what the recommended evening attire is for L'Initiale? Suit/jacket and ties or business/smart casual?

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO YWW: Been to Quebec City several times. Been out at night. It is a fairly safe city. I once walked down to the ship which was on Rue Dalhousie from the top of the hill. You should be fine.

Twickenham, do you know what the recommended evening attire is for L'Initiale? Suit/jacket and ties or business/smart casual?

I've never actually been there at night (used to work in the area, so always went at lunchtime), however in general restaurants here aren't particularly formal, so I think you'll be fine with smart casual.

I have never been to Quebec City by ship since we are in New Hampshire and get up to Montreal and Quebec City for long weekends. We have never felt unsafe wandering around the city during the evening hours. We walk everywhere and as someone else said, it's well lit and there are always so many people around, so it just isn't something we tend to think about. Have a wonderful time in this beautiful walled city.

You can walk relax in Quebec City. People are working mainly for hospitals, schools, universities, federal and provincial governments. It does not come in our mind that someone could be violent or something else. We are not being wary so when we go to the US it is difficult for us to think that there is a danger.

We felt perfectly safe in the tourist area.

Keith

Our ship is berthed at Pier 30 and I was wondering about that area for traveling at night.

Our ship is berthed at Pier 30 and I was wondering about that area for traveling at night.

It's really not that far from 22 - see map - still in the same zone of the port, unlike 104. Assuming you are coming from the more-touristy parts of town after dinner, there will still be plenty of people and businesses around until you get into the port area proper - the walk up Abraham Martin/L'Estuaire inside the port probably much quieter unless there are other cruisers around.

I wouldn't imagine too many muggers sneak into the port to leap out at cruisers - they do have port security around! You're much more at risk in your home town given the relative crime rates of Pittsburgh and Quebec - QC runs about 2/3rds of the Canadian national average rate for violent crimes, while Pittsburgh consistently tracks almost double the US national average. While it's tricky to measure by exactly how much due to slightly different definitions and staggered years for most up-to-date info violent crimes in the US run anything from ~60% higher (robberies) to ~200% higher (homicides) than up here (although a bike, Truck or SUV is MUCH more likely to be stolen in Canada!)

Thanks for the information. While Quebec may be safer overall we are not familiar with the area. In Pittsburgh, we know what areas to avoid when on foot.

We learned we will be docked at Pier 30 for our Oct 19th sailing, how easy is it to get back into the city to do a little more sight seeing after we board. We are overnight until the 20th.

We walked 45 minutes to iX Bistro through town and then walked back to the ship around 9:30 with no problems whatsoever. It was in a more residential area but we never felt unsafe at any point.

Been to Quebec 4 times all in fall and winter s d never felt unsafe for after dark in upper or lower town

We were in Quebec this time last year aboard the Dawn at pier 22

Walked the city at 9pm and felt perfectly safe Lots of people still out

The only problem was that we were cold with temps in the 40's

Maybe being from Florida had something to do with it

Reagan

Many of you have stated that Quebec City at night was safe. Well, you were absolutely right because we walked around the area after dark before and after dinner and we totally felt safe despite the fact that it was very quiet likely due to most shops were closed. Actually we were surprised it was so quiet with 2 cruise ships in port we expected more shops to stay open but only the restaurants and a few souvenir shops were open at night.

We dined at the highly rated French Restaurant L'Initiale just 10-15 minutes walk from the terminal. The food and service totally blew us away. Mind you we are not newbies in fine dining so we had certain expectations of a fine French restaurant. We ordered the 9-course degustation menu plus the 7 wine pairings. The wine selected paired extremely well with the course. Our conclusion after this delightful meal was it was better than the 3 Michelin star restaurant called Grace in Chicago we dined in September.

We definitely will go back to Quebec but will drive there instead so we can spend more time enjoying the place. Thanks again for all the tips.

Thank you for posting back. It is always nice to see somebody, who asked a question on the forum, taking the time to post info. post-cruise.