Island of Orleans Food and Drink Tour

My friends and I took a weekend trip to Quebec City and decided to do the lle d'Orleans food and wine tour because we enjoy trying delicious food and drinks. Pros: Our guide Simon was a delight. He was fluent in English and French, shared a lot of fun architectural and historical facts about the island, provided water for us and even umbrellas when it started raining. There were five stops on the tour including a chocolatier which was fabulous, a winery where we learned about ice wine(which is amazing), a cider mill, a nougat shop and finally a black current vineyard. The drink samples were generous (4 samples at the first one, 3 samples at the second and 2 samples at the third)and we enjoyed the picturesque scenery of the farms and vineyards. Cons: Even if you sign up for an English speaking tour it will be bilingual as many French and French Canadians also book the tour. It didn't bother us, but it's something to be aware of. You only get to sample one piece of dark chocolate at the chocolatier. I would have appreciated a milk chocolate sample as well, but it wasn't really a big deal. We bought a ton of chocolate anyway because it was fabulous. The ice cream is also a must. Finally the ice wine is not part of the free tasting. It's $2 canadian per tasting because the wine is very expensive. My friends and I spent the $2 and it was well worth it. It's amazing wine and we ended up purchasing several bottles. Personally we loved the experience, but would have loved something savory since all of the food stops were very sweet. Other than that it was quite a bargain for $34 american dollars.

It was fun, we were disappointed that it was mostly a drink tour, we were expecting more local food. We also found the bus very hot while waiting for people to get on and off. Our tour guide JF was amazing! He was entertaining knowledgeable and passionate about his city.

This tour was supposed to be in English; instead it was French and English which was distracting because the tour driver spoke fluent French and when something was interesting he only said it in French. We didn't stop in as many places as advertised; we would drive by and he'd say here's the maple syrup factory or whatever instead of stopping.

We really enjoyed our afternoon tour of the island. We had considered renting a car and driving around the island ourselves. We are glad we didn't. Our tour guide/driver was great telling us about the area and keeping us amused and there were some stops where it would have been hard finding a parking spot because of their popularity. We would have liked a stop to sample cheeses, but that wasn't on the itinerary.

Our guide was very engaging and informative. It’s was a lovely site seeing trip with just enough stops to make it interesting. I especially like the second stop at the cider place. There was a lot of good hard cider and other delicious products to purchase.

My daughter and I really enjoyed this tour. We were pleasantly surprised by all the locations and samples. This was the most relaxing tour we took while in Quebec City and the scenery on the island is absolutely beautiful. The Cider place was our favorite.

Fantastic day. Jacques our driver was interesting and knew the island well. All the stops were fun and I purchased alcohol at almost every one lol. I really liked the winery and Cider producer! A great way to spend a half day!

Even though the tour was over 3 hours, it seemed very rushed at most of the stops. Hardly any time to browse or buy products that we were tasting. Also, when I purchased these tickets on line, it said bottled water was provided. It was not, and it seemed that our bus driver/tour guide did not know what I was talking about when I asked for some. So definitely bring your own as it is not provided as advertised.

A relaxing afternoon on our last day visiting Quebec City. Enjoyed Jacques light humour and historical talk and the wine and cider tasting. Good introduction to rural living in Quebec.

There are many walking or bus tours in Quebec City but this is one I will definitely be repeating. The bus tour to the island included fantastic coffee, medal-winning iced cider, nougat, black currant wine & condiments, and finally chocolate and ice cream. All of them absolutely delicious with options to purchase items at each stop. It won't fill your stomach but your taste buds will be quite happy! Only knocking the score down a bit because while I did take a bit too long making my purchases at one stop, the driver also failed to notice I hadn't boarded the buss and drove off without me. After alerting the store staff, they called her and she came back to get me. Otherwise it was an absolutely delightful trip and regardless of the error (which I assume won't be repeated) I would gladly take this tour again.