You might have begun to understand why I’ve had to divvy up this little outing into two parts. There is a lot to see and do in this 215 km stretch.
Part two kicks off with a visit to the largest town in the region, Baie-Saint-Paul. If you wanted to explore the various locations I talk about in this series from a central base, this would be a good place to park yourself and radiate out from. It is very much the heart of the Charlevoix region.
After we have had a look at all that there is on offer in Baie-Saint-Paul and the surrounding Charlevoix area we will meander down out of the highlands to the banks of the St. Lawrence River. From there we will wander off towards Quebec City making a couple of interesting stops along the way. Finally, we will wrap up this little expedition with a quick look at an important area of the old town in Quebec City that I did not to speak to in my last series of travel posts.
Again, I have used a few photos from local tourism sites in this post. I could not find the name of the photographer for many of them, so I have just posted all of them without crediting where they came from. I would like to think the tourism sites will be happy for the additional promotion of the places they represent. 🙂
Hopefully for the last time … the photos in this post, and others in this series, are best enjoyed on a desktop/laptop or in horizontal view on your iPad. There is an issue looking at them on cellphones which the tech department is working hard at fixing. I have made the photos smaller in this post to see if that helps.
I am including the map again in Part two so you can refer to it when looking for the places that I write about. Further below, I will be talking about a ferry that crosses the Saint Lawrence between Rivière-du-Loup and Saint-Siméon. It is shown in one of the alternate routes on the map to get to Tadoussac from Quebec City.
Baie-Saint-Paul is an amazing little town in a beautiful setting in the Charlevoix. You can probably tell from this photo that the streets are awash in interesting boutiques and places to eat.
This is my own photo shot of one of the main streets. You can see the difference between it and the previous one, which was done by a professional – I didn’t wait for proper lighting, and everything is in shadows. 🙂
There is no end to the number of attractive small inns in town. This is the last one we stayed in.
The town I compare Baie-Saint-Paulto most frequently when chatting it up with friends is that it reminds me a lot of Niagara-on-the-Lake – for a couple of reasons. First, is the fact that Niagara-on-the-Lake is known as a theatre destination. Baie-Saint-Paul is also a cultural destination. It is all about the viewing and purchasing of visual art. You may or may not like the piece that I have included here – it’s the only good shot I have inside a retail gallery 🙂 – but there is lots of stylistic variety in the art to be found in town. During your stay, you might want to check out the Musée d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul, the local public contemporary art gallery.
The second reason I compare the town to Niagara-on-the-Lake is because, on the outskirts of NOTL there are dozens of wineries to visit, where you can sample and buy their wines. The area surrounding Baie-Saint-Paul is awash in artisanal farms and boutiques, formally known as the Route des Saveurs (Flavour Trail). These stops offer a variety of local products including cheeses, charcuterie, pate, craft beer and cider, foie gras, breads, emu meat and related products, and a whole range of other farm offerings.
And, if you’re nice to your innkeeper, he or she may allow you to make a meal in their lounge of all the delicacies you have picked up as you followed the “Route.” Ours was even gracious enough to light a fire for us.
Don’t want to eat your gastronomic treasures right away? Not to worry, there are lots of fun restaurants in town.
It is worth mentioning that this area is just as interesting to visit in the winter as it is in the summer. For the skiers amongst you – I am not one – one of Québec’s most impressive ski destinations is situated just outside of Baie-Saint-Paul, Le Massif.
When you leave the Charlevoix area you descend along the main highway to a much flatter area on the home stretch to Quebec City. If you look very closely on the horizon at the end of the Saint Lawrence River in this photo, you can make out the towers of Quebec City.
There are a couple of great stops you can make on this part of the route. The first is at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. The basilica is reputed to be a place in which miracles occur
The present-day Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré was built in 1926. The construction of the earliest chapel on this spot took place after a local farmer donated the site to the Catholic church in 1658.
Several canes, crutches, and other assistive devices are on display as you enter the building. These have been left by pilgrims who claimed that they were healed at the basilica. If I had known that I would need a cane a few years after I took this photo, I might’ve grabbed one. 🙂 There’s no sign saying you can’t.
The other stop along the route to Quebec City is Montmorency Falls. You can see it from the highway, so you don’t really have to go out of your way to make a visit. Apparently, it is approximately 100 feet higher than Niagara Falls.
If you would like to tour the area by rail, rather than driving, a privately operated train starts near Montmorency Falls and travels as far east as La Malbaie. I am not certain if it runs year-round, or only in the summer.
And finally, we arrive at Quebec City – my favourite city in the entire country.
I recently posted some photos from Quebec taken while on route to Nova Scotia this past fall. What I failed to show you in that post were shots from the interesting part of the city below the escarpment, Le Petit-Champlain. This photo is taken about 2/3 of the way down a flight of stairs from the upper level. There are a couple of restaurants at this point, and it is fun to sit on the outdoor patio and watch the city’s visitors roll by as you have a beverage or a bite. As you can probably tell, this photo was taken before Covid.
This was a particularly busy day in the city because a cruise ship was docked at the port just a few hundred metres away.
There are a gazillion interesting shops to browse, of course. Though, I would caution you against buying any goofy looking headwear that looks kind of interesting on the rack – but not so much on your head. 🙂
Both the upper old town and Le Petit-Champlain have a special feel at night. Always a good time to go out and explore the city. The cruise ship folks have all left and lots of other people just don’t bother to go out.
A lovely little restaurant patio on which to spend a summer’s evening. This photo was taken at the end of September, so no patio diners on this night. 🙂
If you are thinking you might like to visit this area and you are coming from eastern Canada you might not be thrilled with the idea of having to drive from Rivière-du-Loup – where the TransCanada Highway pours out of New Brunswick – down to Quebec City and then have to work your way back up on the other side of the river, not to worry. There is a car ferry that runs between Rivière-du-Loup and Saint-Siméon in the Charlevoix area. You can see the route marked on the included map. It only takes about an hour to get across. On nice days it is a good idea to pass that time out on the deck. The last time we made this crossing we saw a large pod of Beluga whales.
Doing this piece has got me thinking about other places that I have visited and love in the province of Quebec. One of those is definitely the Gaspé Peninsula – the Gaspésie. I took this photo from a cottage we rented a few years ago at Percé
There you go, an easily accessible great place to visit in eastern Canada. Put it on your list for next spring, summer, or fall – or this winter if you are a skier :-).
