Hotel le Priori ★★★★

Jean Baillairgé Lived Here Before the Hotel Did

Sault-au-Matelot is one of the narrow streets of the Lower Town, stone-fronted, close enough to the river that the light comes off the water at the end of it. Number fifteen was the house of Jean Baillairgé, a name that runs through the architecture of Old Québec across three generations. It is a hotel now, small and adults only, with rooms designed one at a time rather than to a template, and loft suites that take a living room, a working fireplace and a hot tub set into the bathroom. The stone is still visible where it should be.

Why It Works

Old Québec has plenty of hotels inside old buildings. Fewer have kept the building's character while making the rooms genuinely comfortable. Le Priori has, and three things follow from it. The rooms differ from one another, so the category you book actually changes the stay. The bathrooms were taken seriously, in slate, with a claw-foot tub or a multi-jet shower depending on the room. And the house is adults only and under thirty keys, which is what lets a hotel in a district this busy feel like a retreat rather than a lobby.

Why This Location

The Old Port is the flatter half of Old Québec, and staying down here spares you a climb at the end of every evening. Place Royale and the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church are a few streets away, the Petit-Champlain quarter and its staircase just beyond, and the funicular carries you up to the Château Frontenac terrace if you would rather not walk it. The antique dealers of rue Saint-Paul are around the corner and the Marché du Vieux-Port is a short stroll along the water. Cruise passengers arrive by day and leave by evening, which is when this street is at its best.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: stone-walled, adults only, Lower Town

• Rooms: fewer than thirty in all, individually designed, slate bathrooms with either a claw-foot tub or a multi-jet shower; loft suites add a living room, a fireplace and a hot tub in the bathroom; junior suites added in 2012, one with a spa of its own

• Best For: couples, second-time visitors who want the Lower Town, anyone who would rather not climb the hill at midnight

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: that the building was Jean Baillairgé's house and the hotel has never tried to hide it

• Dining: no restaurant on site; the kitchens of rue Saint-Paul and Petit-Champlain are a few minutes on foot

• Amenities: adults only, outdoor terrace, individually designed rooms, fireplaces and hot tubs in the loft suites

• Attractions: Place Royale and Notre-Dame-des-Victoires a few streets away, Petit-Champlain and its staircase beyond, the funicular to the Château Frontenac terrace, the antique dealers of rue Saint-Paul, the Marché du Vieux-Port along the water

Rooms That Were Designed One at a Time

There is no standard room here in the usual sense. Each was worked out separately, which means the difference between categories is real rather than a matter of square footage: a queen bed and a slate bathroom at the entry level, with either a claw-foot tub or a shower built for standing under a while. The loft suites are the reason to spend more. They take a living room, a working fireplace and a hot tub set into the bathroom, which in a Québec February is not a novelty. Junior suites arrived in 2012, and one of them has a spa of its own.

The Lower Town After the Day Trippers Leave

The Lower Town runs on a daily rhythm most visitors never see, because they are part of it. Coaches and cruise passengers fill Place Royale from mid-morning, thin out through the afternoon, and by seven the streets belong to the people who live and eat here. Staying down here rather than on the terrace above buys you that hour. Walk rue Saint-Paul once the antique shops have closed and the restaurants have opened, then come back to a stone house a few doors along.