Québec Road Trip: Whale Watching, Mountain Hikes & Lakeside Life

While it would take months, years, or even decades in order to explore all of Quebec's hidden gems and top attractions, there's a way that you can see the best of the province in just a few days, just a few hours drive away from Quebec City. In this travel guide we're going to take you to the forests of Charlevoix, to the river of Saint Lawrence in Côte-Nord, and give a taste of lakeside life at Lac Saint-Jean. The first day of our road trip began absolutely spectacularly. We got up at sunrise for a drive to our first destination of the week and on route we saw some beautiful views. We even had to stop off to see this cabin with the mist rolling by. One of the more unique stops on our route was actually part of our route, a car ferry crossing. Now the interesting thing about this ferry is that it's actually considered to be a vital part of the road and so it's completely free of charge and operates every single day of the year. A lot of people don't realize this but one of the best places in the world to go whale watching is actually in Quebec and more specifically near Tadoussac in the Saint Lawrence River. As a result this morning we're hopefully going to see some whales. We discovered that if you come to Côte-Nord then according to locals you actually have a 95% chance of seeing whales. You'll also probably get to see some other local wildlife including seals. Thanks to our guide and our captain we managed to see several different kinds of whales including the beluga whale. Other whales that we managed to spot during our expedition included the common minke whale and the fin whale. One of the more popular ways to see the whales is to take a boat tour. Now there are actually a lot of companies that offer this but when we were doing research one thing became quickly apparent and that's that the French tours are normally way cheaper than the English tours. I think they're about half the price. As a result we went with Quasier Neptune which was also recommended by some of our friends and they have this little boat called a zodiac which means you can close the window and open it anytime you want. There are other types of boats available where you're just outside and they give you this massive orange suit. Overall I really enjoyed doing the boat experience. We got to see several different types of whales, we also saw a grey seal and several other bird species. Of course I would have loved to have seen a blue whale but it's nature so you can't necessarily tell what you'll see on the day but that's part of what makes it so exciting. We've now come to a little cafe down the coastline with a lovely view onto the water. Les Esquimaux is a delightful town with a population of under 2000 residents. It lies on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence estuary but it's been frequented for thousands of years by the Innu and the Mi'kmaq who would come here during the spring to gather berries. Today you can go for a walk along the shore and admire the beauty of it all. There are a few marine interpretation centres along the coastline but we've chosen to come to the one at Cap du Bon Désir because it has a very nice lighthouse that dates back to 1941 and you have an amazing view onto the water when you go down onto the rocks below. I hope that we see even more whales when we get down to the waterfront. I know we saw some this morning but I'm really hoping to see even more especially because we're so lucky today. Oh my gosh there's a chipmunk behind you. I was going to say we're really lucky today because the water is so still that you can see everything moving. Typically it's very foggy here, it's often rainy so I can't believe how lucky we are with the weather especially for the beginning of September. This spot is honestly so nice for whale watching and one of the main reasons for that is that we're actually elevated a bit above the water and so we have a really good view onto it and when the whales will be coming up. There's also a guide here who's super informed and she'll be able to answer all of your different questions like how the whales feed, the different types of whales, things like that and each time the guide that's here will be able to help you identify the whale that you're looking at. As their name would suggest the Tadoussac sand dunes are just a short drive away from Tadoussac and boast an amazing view onto the Saint Lawrence River. This is Tadoussac and it's one of the biggest towns on the Côte-Nord. It's actually the gateway to the region from farther down in Quebec because there's a ferry that takes you over the river. It's completely free to take the ferry. Once here there's an interpretation centre, lots of colourful houses, a very famous hotel and several incredible walks. The nature here is also just stunning. Tadoussac was founded in 1599 when a captain from the French Royal Navy acquired the fur trade monopoly from Henry IV. It was actually the only colonial settlement on the Saint Lawrence River for the first 30 years of its existence and it was a really tough one because lots of the people who ended up coming here to start with died during the first winter. Today obviously the main trade here is tourism as this is a great spot from which to explore the rest of the Côte-Nord region and see all of the whales. One of the most illustrious buildings in town has to be Hotel Tadoussac. The first structure here dated back to 1864 when it was built by wealthy citizens of Montreal and Quebec City. This structure was renovated a few times before eventually being torn in 1941. The hotel you see today dates back to 1942 and has been an iconic landmark of Tadoussac ever since. It's one of the best places to stay in town because you have an amazing view onto the bay behind. The hotel sits just across the road from Tadoussac Chapel. Now this chapel was built between 1747 and 1750 making it the oldest still standing wooden church in North America. One thing that Tadoussac is pretty well known for is its many craft breweries and so we stopped off for a quick snack before heading out on the road once more. One of the nicest towns in the region can be found in the form of Baie Saint-Paul. It's actually located within the region of Charlevoix and here you can find an artistic hub. There's lots of little souvenir shops, artists and even an art museum. The most famous street of all has to be the one we're on right now. This is Rue Saint-Jean and it's full of pubs, bars, microbrasseries and independent gift shops. For our first night stay we booked a small cabin in Charlevoix and one of the most beautiful aspects of our stay had to be sunset where we enjoyed views of the endless forest that this area is so known for. One of the most interesting things about visiting Charlevoix is a chance to learn about the astroblem. This is a meteorite that would have hit the earth around 450 million years ago. It would have been between two and six kilometres in size and it would have had an impact ratio of around 50 kilometres. Though part of that is actually in the Saint Lawrence River. Today if you want to learn about this world-changing event then you can head to the Malbais Interpretation Centre. Unfortunately it's closed for the season as it's only open during the summer. In order to learn more about the astroblem we've actually come to Montagne de la Croix which is just above the town of Clermont. What's particularly great about this observation deck is that you have views onto both sides of it and so you can see one side of the mountain where you see the lakes and the forest where there's no one living and the other side you can see all the way to Malbais and the Saint Lawrence River. We've just arrived at the Parc National des Hautes Gorges de la Rivière Malbais. Here you can find lots of hiking trails. I think there are over 10 and they're all of varying difficulty. You can find waterfalls, lots and lots of wildlife and the best thing is that you can actually explore the park at your own leisure. There are a number of other activities in the park like canoeing and kayaking and I think there's some river tours but today we're just going to focus on seeing some of the highlights as we don't have a great deal of time. You do have to pay to visit the park. I think it's around $10 per person but this grants you access to explore. Because we don't have a lot of time here we asked a woman at the information desk for a short walk that we're able to do with little little time and she recommended doing this one. It's only 400 meters but apparently we're going to have a very nice view. In the summer you have to take a shuttle bus to get all the way to the driver visitor centre but luckily for us it's currently autumn and so we could just drive on up at our own pace. I think this is probably the easiest walk in the whole of the park and what I really appreciated on the way up here is that you have little signs telling you what you're looking at. The air here is so clean that there are so many different kinds of lichen that you can see as well as mushrooms. This walk has made me really want to return to the park maybe for a few days to go camping and do the Acropole de Drava which is the most difficult hike but apparently the views from the top are simply spectacular. Even this has given us a great taste of what this park has to offer. Unfortunately now we do have to leave because we're going to Saguenay which will be just as beautiful but in a different way. On the way to our accommodation for the night we stopped off at Lac de la Galette which is a peaceful lake surrounded by dense boreal forest and known for its quiet untouched beauty. We even saw someone fishing on the lake. For dinner we headed to one of Quebec's best craft breweries, La Micro Brasserie du Lac Saint-Jean. Since 2007 it's been brewing bold and innovative beers infused with local boreal flavours. We had a great meal where they had several vegetarian options on the menu and we actually enjoyed the beer so much that we ended up purchasing some to take away. Although our main goal for staying near Lac Saint-Jean was to see the lake itself we also wanted to experience Saguenay which is worth exploring in of itself if you have a few days to do so. Unfortunately we didn't have a great deal of time and so we just had time to visit La Petite Maison Blanche. In 1996 Saguenay was tragically hit by one of Canada's worst ever floods. Entire neighbourhoods were completely destroyed and homes were lost as raging water swept away thousands of houses causing billions of dollars of damage. In the middle of the chaos one tiny wooden house somehow survived thanks to the forward thinking of a couple who had reinforced the basement decades prior when the area had previously flooded. Today La Petite Maison Blanche has been transformed into a museum where you can learn about this event. Today we're going to be exploring the area around Lac Saint-Jean. Now this area is way more built up and there's a lot more farmland here. We're starting off the day in the little village of Saint-Jean d'Arc. This area is best known for the red covered bridge behind me which dates all the way back to 1936. Of course it's pretty cool that you can drive through this bridge but the most amazing thing of all has to be when you visit during the autumn as you'll get to see the bridge surrounded by the full foliage. A little way down the road there's also a historic windmill which has since been turned into a small museum. The mill is pretty amazing to visit as it is a well-preserved example of an early 20th century mill and in times gone by some 200 such mills would have been in operation in the area. Something that's worth noting about the region we're in now which is in the north of Lac Saint-Jean is it is the wild blueberry capital of the world and so all around you can find places selling blueberries. We've actually just come to this lady's house on the side of the road which is why it's a bit noisy. We're right next to the road here and she makes all of the blueberry products in her kitchen and so we've picked up some little choux pastries which are full of blueberries. I can't believe this was only three dollars. The lady was so nice and we were telling her about our trip and I explained that we really wanted to go to the Gaspé Peninsula because that's where my family's from but we didn't really have time in just a few days. In any case she wished us a good trip and to enjoy our dessert. So I think it's choux pastry filled with blueberry cream and then blueberries on top. Hopefully we'll be able to eat it before it starts pouring on us. That's really good and really worth three dollars. We ended up having to move into the car but luckily this is so tasty it doesn't matter where you eat it. I started getting interested in dairy milk so I started making products out of soap. People had a lot of interest in my products so I decided to create a touristic site four years ago to give people a taste for it, to learn more about the animals because it's such a nice animal. It's an animal that people don't know much about. So you told me earlier that you made the choice to leave for your studies or to work and then you made the choice to come back here. Why did you choose to come back to Lac-Saint-Jean? When I had my son I kind of had the call of the countryside so that he could basically have a small community to be around him and then I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I've always wanted to create my own business so living in the countryside also allowed me to be able to have animals and live my passion in the countryside. I've never seen the soap made with Anesse milk. How did you learn how to do that? I just simply watched on YouTube. I also took courses in soap, craft soap, finally to succeed with a recipe that I like a lot, that the clientele likes a lot. In Europe, Anesse milk is called the white gold of cosmetics. Anesse doesn't give a lot of milk. Anesse milk in soaps and other types of products is really good for the skin, very nutritious for people's skin. There's a legend that says that when Mary, the mother of Jesus, fled Egypt, she was on the back of a man and to thank him, she blessed him by making the gesture of the cross. I decided to call this little man Nestor because the lamb that carried Mary out of Jerusalem was called Nestor, so it's the legend of the Lamb of Jerusalem. And how can people come to visit you? I have a website, it's www.laidanesse.ca and I'm open every weekend of the summer, no need to book, just to introduce you. Perfect, thank you very much. Thank you. If you want to learn more about the history of wild blueberries, then you can come to the Here, you can learn the difference between Bleuets, which is the wild blueberries, and the Matis, which is the cultivated version that we usually find in Europe. You can learn all about it at a small museum inside, and we even picked up a souvenir, which is a wild blueberry jam. We've just arrived at Petit Thieu d'Alos, this is a set of wrappers which pours into the Lac Saint-Jean, which we'll hopefully see in a bit. I realise that we've been here for a few hours now, we still haven't seen it, but that's our next stop after this. We're continuing our drive down the river in order to reach Lac Saint-Jean. On the way, we've stopped at the delightful village of Saint-Félicien, which is known for the Parc du Sacré-Cœur. This park dates back to the late 1920s and there's all sorts of different historical artefacts in it. What's also interesting about this park is that there's a daily night show, which is completely free to visit. Lac Saint-Jean is absolutely immense. It's a freshwater shallow lake that covers around a thousand square kilometres, and to get a good idea of its size, we've come to Marina Robertval. This is a delightful spot to visit around golden hour because of the way that the light hits the water. Even though we were close to quite a big town, I was surprised at the number of wildlife we could spot, including the local common loon. For sunset, we've decided to come to the Saint-Antoine Tower. Here, you have an amazing view over two different lakes. There's a lot of information panels telling you about the boreal forest and the timber that we're stood on now was actually constructed from wood from the forest here. Unfortunately, we haven't seen any of these animals. I really, really had high hopes that we would see a beaver because we saw several nests, but it just means that we'll have to come back again maybe next year to explore more of Quebec. Thank you so much for watching and don't forget to like and subscribe for more travel content. See you next week.