With its fortified walls, Quebec City, one of North America’s oldest European settlements, in many ways feels frozen in time — a major draw for visitors who relish its quaint public squares and cobblestone streets, absent of skyscrapers. But while French speakers still resist the incursion of English, Quebec City is evolving. Walk down a street and you’ll find a Japanese restaurant serving up salmon poke bowls not far from a bistro offering the traditional fare of tourtière and poutine. Don’t miss the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec, home to the largest collection of Quebecois art in the world. And there’s plenty of fun to be had in even the most frigid months, when temperatures can drop to an average low of -16 Celsius (3 degrees) in February, whether you’re whizzing down the hill on a toboggan sled with a view of the St. Lawrence River, marveling at intricately carved sculptures at an ice hotel, or enjoying live music and ice canoe races at Le Carnaval de Quebec, the annual winter carnival, which runs from Feb. 7 to Feb. 16.

• The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, a hotel built by the Canadian Pacific Railway company in 1893, is Quebec City’s center of orbit.
• Roam the cobblestone streets of Le Quartier Petit Champlain, a historic commercial district in Old Quebec, a neighborhood in Quebec City, founded in 1608 by the French explorer Samuel de Champlain. Old Quebec toggles two terrains: a lower town at sea level, and an upper town on top of a rocky promontory, with steep roads and outdoor staircases connecting them.
• The Morrin Center, the site of a former jailhouse, is now home to a library with an expansive English-language book collection.
• Montmorency Falls, a roughly 15-minute drive east of Quebec, is a 272-foot-tall waterfall with several vantage points, including an observation deck and a suspension bridge.
• Quebec City’s largest art museum, the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec, will until late April host a touring art collection called “Early Days,” featuring works by Indigenous artists.