Winter wonderland in Quebec

My country is not a country. It is winter," sang Quebec folk singer Gilles Vigneault of a region where even the mighty St Lawrence river is stilled by the cold in places and lies white and frozen into the shape of a ripple or a wave.

Quebec City's answer to such dramatic conditions is to throw a winter carnival and celebrate the whole frigid business. Most carnival events are spread over three weekends in late January and early February. They keep the Christmas trees and lights on for the carnival and the city is decorated by ice sculptures in courtyards and doorways throughout the old town.

And what an old town it is. The turrets, ramparts, courtyards and cobbled streets have doubled for France in more than one Hollywood film. In Steven Spieberg's Catch me if you can, Tom Hanks's FBI agent arrested conman, Leonardo di Caprio, in this stand-in for provincial France.

Many winter carnival events take place on the Plains of Abraham — once the battleground for dominion over Quebec between Britain and France but these days a vast park behind the parliament buildings and alongside the city walls — this is the only walled city in North America.

There are sleigh-rides, snow-rafting and snowmobile rides. A visitor can warm up with fresh salmon soup or a "queue de castor" — a "beaver tail" or flattened donut dipped in maple syrup or sugar and lemon.

Many winter activities extend beyond the carnival weekends. Locals skate in front of historic Palais Montcalm surrounded by 17th and 18th century buildings straight out of a French fairy tale. A toboggan run whisks visitors almost to the door of the Fairmont's fabled Château Frontenac. Don't just slide past this landmark, drop into its Bar Le Saint-Laurent with its views of the frozen St Lawrence, and treat yourself to a Louis de Baude — a mix of hot chocolate and Amaretto.

There's been an ice hotel near Quebec City for a decade now but it has been gradually creeping closer — next January it will open in a park just seven minutes from the city. Sleep on ice covered by thick pelts and build a typical Quebecois type of igloo — the Queenzy. For a sense of the "True North" that is Canada, a visitor to the city need only travel 30 minutes for dog-sledding, cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing in the Zhivago-esque forests around Duchesnay.

Where Quebec City provides time travel to 18th century France, chic, cosmopolitan Montreal, a few hours away, is a happy 21st century marriage between old Europe and the New World. And its popular ski resort, Mont Tremblant retains a touch of French charm but is a bold, vibrant, state-of-the-art, North American ski resort owned by the same company that owns Whistler of Winter Olympic Fame. Mont Tremblant resort and Mont Tremblant village are separate communities, 13 kilometres apart.

The resort has 95 runs serviced by 14 lifts — not to mention 18 acres of ramps, rails and jumps. It gets colder than out west — this is true Canadian winter. But the vast indoor, underground shopping world of Montreal is 45 minutes away.

Montreal's city beneath a city allows winter visitors to shop, eat, see a film or attend opera and ballet or depart on a train without ever stepping outside.