Just outside walls of old quarter is rest of downtown Québec City where newer high rise hotels such as Hilton and Loews are located. Along main street of Grand Allée is another section of restaurants and cafes, many of them priced a bit lower than ones within old quarter which gives visitors more dining choices. It is a very easy walk from Grand Allée to old quarter.

Still another alternative for both accommodation and dining is in Sainte Foy area which is a 10 minute drive west of downtown Québec City. In fact, Sainte Foy is actually closer to airport and is well represented by lower priced hotels such as Best Western, Travelodge, Comfort Inn and Days Inn. During high season, some of hotels in Sainte Foy offer free shuttle bus service to old quarter of Québec City. Sainte Foy also has two shopping malls side by side along main street of Laurier Boulevard.

Visitors may also want to drive 30 minutes east of Québec City to small village of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré which has one of most famous churches in North America, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Basilica. This site was built in mid 17th century and receives 1.5 million visitors per year. Along way is a 272 foot high water falls visible from highway called Chute Montmorency.

Although summer is high season, Québec City gets a fair number of visitors to its Carnaval festival in February and major ski resort Mont Sainte-Anne is busy with ski and snowboard crowds all winter. Most skiers and snowboarders going to Mont Sainte-Anne use Québec City as base for accommodations and dining. An added winter attraction during last few years has been Ice Hotel near Lac Sainte-Joseph which was modeled after one in Europe.

Québec City has become one of Canada's top tourist destinations with attractions all year round catering to both summer and winter visitors. With added old European charm, it is closest thing to being in Europe without actually leaving North America.

At moment DR still offers some of most attractive prices in Caribbean for villas, fincas and land!...Though these are set to rise over next few years as so-called ‘best kept secret of Caribbean’ becomes more widely recognised for very special place it is. People like ex (US) President Bill Clinton and his wife Hilary, Antonio Banderas, ‘J-Lo’, Julio Iglesias and many other ‘celebs’ have already staked their claim! And we haven't even mentioned tax-free trading incentives for new business ventures... which are making DR one of best places in world to ‘relocate’ your business to, or establish a new enterprise in. But I guess we’ll save that for another article... though, naturally, there is already some useful information and contacts featured on www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com that you may wish to ‘peruse’ at your leisure!

Travel to DR is becoming increasingly easy and economical, and staying there can still be one of best bargains in Caribbean. Cheap local accommodation is widely available, and DR truly offers vacationer chance to get to experience atmosphere and surroundings of true Caribbean - something smaller, and better known destinations can no longer absolutely promise. So whether you are... · ...looking for opportunity to hike through old coffee plantations and refresh yourself in a cascading waterfall in Jarabacoa...

· ...or prefer to relax with family on a safe, sheltered, beach in a lovely sea-side resort like Sosua... · ...or are looking forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with local ‘beisbol’ fanatics, and joining them screaming for some of World’s best players at one of main stadiums in Santo Domingo, or other ‘baseball crazy’ towns...

· ...or your desire is to skim waves at breathtaking speeds harnessed to a giant kite by day and dance night away doing sexy merengue with locals – in Cabarete...

· ...or you just want to laze away days in a barely discovered corner of picturesque Samana peninsula, like Las Terrenas or Las Galeras...slowly sipping a Dominican rum cocktail!

Or if you are, perhaps, thinking of a permanent relocation...and want to be able to do any of these things any day you fancy! Then DR offers something for everyone. We LOVE our truly amazing homeland - "warts and all" - and we are sure you will too!

Ruth and Esther Ramos, www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com © Copyright 2005, All rights reserved.

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