Visit Charlevoix & Saguenay - Lac St. Jean, Canada

From the eastern edge of Québec City, the Charlevoix region stretches 200 kilometres along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River to Tadoussac at the mouth of the Saguenay Fjord.

At its heart is a vast meteorite crater, 50 kilometres across and draped in boreal forest, now listed as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

Blue whale spotting trips

Gentle valleys and tall cliffs protect impossibly pretty villages where arts and crafts thrive in a beautiful setting, along with a range of wonderful restaurants, while whale watching trips head out from Tadoussac between June and October, with the rare opportunity of sighting the mighty blue whale.

The Saguenay Fjord is one of the world’s longest inlets and stretches for over 100 kilometres inland toward Lac St. Jean, hemmed in, for much of its length, by cliffs 400 metres high. The lower half of the fjord is a marine reserve and the summer home to a colony of 1,000 beluga whales.

Lac St. Jean is a large lake in a sleepy region of dairy farms, charming villages and sandy beaches. To the south toward Québec the Laurentides Wildlife Reserve is a maze of mountains and valleys, riven by countless lakes and rivers.