journey

Our journey through the province of Québec and thus through the French part of Canada begins at the international airport of Montréal. A first side trip leads us to Mont-Tremblant, the most famous ski resort in eastern Canada. The Village, a colorful, car-free and Disneyland-like settlement, even has a small cable car to overcome the height difference in town.

We continue through the Laurentian mountains to Shawinigan, the central town in the Mauricie region. Next destination is Trois-Rivières, the oldest industrial city in Canada. Besides the approximately 760 m² of frescoes depicting the city’s history, a visit to Boréalis, a modern museum about the history of the city’s paper industry, can be recommended. The first highlight of the trip is Québec City, the capital of the province. We take a whole day to explore the old town around the impressive Fairmont Le Château Frontenac.

We follow the St. Lawrence River along the northern bank, past the Parc de la Chute-Montmorency and the huge pilgrimage church of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. We add a detour to the bird paradise Cap Tourmente and the small artists’ village Baie-Saint-Paul, cross the Saguenay Fjord and finally reach Tadoussac, the center of whale watching. In Les Escoumins we take the car ferry to Trois-Pistoles on the south bank and, after a stopover in Rimouski, the only larger city on this side of the river, we reach Mont-Joli, gateway to the Gaspésie.

The route around the Gaspé Peninsula, in total about 900 kilometers, follows the southern shore of the St. Lawrence River. As the distance between the opposite shores is almost 100 kilometers the locals refer to the river just as “The Sea”. Don’t miss to check out the Centre d’Art by artist Marcel Gagnon in Sainte-Flavie; its wooden figures stick out of the water at low tide. After Matane, a local supply center, a series of nice lighthouses will follow: La Martre, Cap Madeleine, Pointe à la Renommée and finally Cap-des-Rosiers in the middle of Parc National Forillon, another highlight of this trip.