Beyond the Walls: Rue Saint-Jean, Saint-Roch, Limoilou & Le Grand Marché

While Old Quebec inside the walls is a living historical museum, step just five minutes outside Porte Saint-Jean (or ride the lift down the cliff into the St. Charles Valley) and you enter the lively, non-touristy neighbourhoods where Québécois chefs, students, artists and video-game designers actually live, drink craft beer and shop.

1. Rue Saint-Jean & Faubourg Saint-Jean-Baptiste (5 Mins West of St. John's Gate)

Walking west through Porte Saint-Jean takes you from the historic intra-muros strip of Rue Saint-Jean (closed to cars on summer afternoons and evenings) directly into the hilltop neighbourhood of Faubourg Saint-Jean-Baptiste:

• J.A. Moisan (Founded 1871, Oldest Grocery Store in North America): step through the vintage wooden doors at 699 Rue Saint-Jean into a 19th-century shop of creaking wood floors, antique scales, local Quebec cheeses, duck rillettes and artisanal terrines.
• Erico Creative Chocolate Museum, Paillard & St. Matthew's Cemetery Library: stop at Paillard (1097 Rue Saint-Jean inside the walls) for flaky French croissants, visit the free cocoa museum at Chocolaterie Erico (number 634), and peek inside Maison de la littérature (40 Rue Stanislas) and the neo-Gothic church on Rue Saint-Jean converted into a bright public library surrounded by Quebec's oldest Protestant cemetery (1772).

2. Saint-Roch (Rue Saint-Joseph), Limoilou & Le Grand Marché de Québec

1. Saint-Roch (Take the Free 'Ascenseur du Faubourg' Cliff Lift Down): located in Lower Town just north of the cliff, working-class Saint-Roch has transformed over the past fifteen years into Quebec City's tech, design and culinary hotspot. Stroll along Rue Saint-Joseph Est for top-tier farm-to-table restaurants (like L'Affaire est Ketchup, Patente et Machin, Battuto and Bête à Pain) and celebrated craft microbreweries (Noctem Artisans Brasseurs and La Barberie).
2. Limoilou (3e Avenue) & Le Grand Marché de Québec (Year-Round Indoor Farmers' Market): cross the St. Charles River to stroll tree-lined 3e Avenue in Limoilou (famous for its red-brick external spiral staircases) and visit Le Grand Marché de Québec (250 Bd Wilfrid-Hamel; reachable by RTC Bus 802), an indoor market hall where over 100 local producers sell fresh cheese curds, Île d'Orléans berries, maple products and cider year-round.