A Roadtrip in Quebec

Montreal, the Eastern Townships and Charlevoix

by Robin Esrock

 

A few years ago, I took my two kids on a memorable summer road trip to the Lanaudière region in Quebec. It was a carbon-neutral experiment, offsetting our flights and exploring this underrated part of the province in an electric car. In truth, an electric Mustang feels less like a car and more like a rocket ship. The result was a cool story for Canadian Geographic; you should check it out.

This month, I’ve brought my kids back to Quebec for a different kind of road trip. Our plan is to explore the sizzling summer vibe of Montreal, then hit the road for good times in the Eastern Townships and onto Charlevoix, a region I’ve yet to explore. What can I say? Quebec is big, Canada is bigger. There are still countless destinations and attractions waiting to be ticked off The Great Canadian Bucket List, and 13 years since my book’s first edition was published, I’m still at it.

We flew into Montreal after spending a few days exploring Aruba, because that’s the kind of thing globetrotting travel writers tend to do. There are few cities in the world with the vibe of Montreal in summer. Dozens of festivals take place each summer, including the famous International Jazz Fest and Comedy Fest, both the largest of their kind on the planet. The weather was hot and sunny, with tourists from Canada and around the world out in force.  That said, at no point did the city feel touristy like some other cities.  Montreal endures a long, cold winter. When summer finally arrives, locals relish it with intensity.

Our first stop was the production studio of Moment Factory, where we learned about one of the most exciting, and easily the most creative, companies in Canada. Fascinated with their Lumina night walks, I wrote a story about Moment Factory a few months back, interviewing one of the founders, which left me blown away at the scale, vision and execution of their light, laser and music shows. Their colourful Montreal ‘factory’ looks like one heck of a place to work, dripping with innovation and fun. We’d get to see their work in action twice this week, kicking off inside the Notre-Dame Basilica for a spectacular nightly show called AURA. It’s jaw-dropping stuff. As an attraction that brings people of all faiths into spiritual spaces, I’m surprised more cathedrals, grand mosques, temples and synagogues don’t follow their example.

A few days later, we visited Parc de la Gorge in Coaticook, a town in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. Lumina Foresta was Moment Factory’s first night-walk, inviting us into a world of fairies, devils, dancers, and illuminated magic. It’s all about storytelling, nature, and bringing people together in a state of wonder. There are Lumina experiences in Whistler, Wendake, Mont-Tremblant, Kingston, as well as France, Japan, the USA and Singapore. If you’re anywhere near one, book a ticket, because they all belong on your bucket list.

Back in Montreal, we explored Mile End and the Old Port, caught a super-entertaining act called Choir! Choir! Choir! at the Quartier des Spectacles downtown, and got soaked jet boating the Lachine Rapids. It’s something of a travesty that this particularly thrilling jet boat experience has escaped my Canadian Bucket List until now. I did feature a jet boat ride in the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick’s Saint John, but this hour-long experience surpasses it in its insanity. Raging class 5 rapids adjacent to a major city smash into a jet boat packed with tourists as it rocks and rolls through the cold waves of the St. Lawrence. My daughter loved it; my son less so, even though he wisely opted for the waterproof poncho and extra warmth layer. Saute-Moutons Jet Boating has been in operation for decades, and I’m drenched and elated to finally add it to The Great Canadian Bucket List.

We rented a car to head into the Eastern Townships towards Sutton, which I visited last fall for a speaking event at the Knowlton Literary Festival, and to research a story about inspiring people who left the city to reinvent themselves in the country. Driving a country road, I hit the brakes when I saw a sign for the Brebis de Bromont Fromagerie, a family farm I profiled last year. Besides being lovely people, their products are sensational, and while my kids’ culinary tastes fall on different spectrums, they’ve fortunately inherited their parents’ love of cheese. I rarely get the opportunity to revisit destinations after a story, so it was a delight to surprise Nadya and Matvey Kravchenko in their busy store. She showed my kids the sheep barn, fuelled them up on award-winning sheep cheese, and graciously sent us on our way with honeycomb, a cheese plate and delicious pistachio cannoli. It was inspiring to see Brebis de Bromont busy as ever, and a hardworking immigrant family grow from strength to strength.

It was time to release some pent-up road energy at Uplå, an innovative trampoline park built in the forest canopy. Kids of all ages bounce around on the ropes, play dodgeball, swing, duck, dive and tumble high above the ground. Uplå has a few locations in Quebec, and we popped into the one at Mont-Saint-Grégoire for a fun bounce. I’m always amazed how people think these things up, and then have the ingenuity to make it a reality. It’s a similar story with the Vélo Volant at a terrific eco-destination called Au Diable Vert. Located close to the Vermont border and within a Dark Sky Preserve, Au Diable Vert is an all-season property with treehouses and cabins, a lazy tubing river, 14 kilometres of hiking and cross-country trails, kayaking, a working farm, and Canada’s first Dark Sky International Approved Lodging Experience. I featured its unique tree-top Vélo Volant in previous editions of my book, and have written about it as one of the most unique rides in the country. The world’s highest suspended bicycle ride lets you pedal off a platform and into the canopy of a maple and pine forest, 30 metres above the ground. It’s fun stuff, as was tubing down a calm, shallow river on a hot summer day, and making a campfire – a rarity these days for us on the West Coast – for s’mores. We counted plenty of satellites that evening, and slept soundly in a tree house overlooking the fields.

Our road trip included delicious stops in Magog, Sherbrooke, Sutton and Bromont, visiting some outstanding microbreweries where I could indulge in the improving evolution of non-alcoholic craft beer. We watched Brazil crash out of the World Cup, and always found time for ice cream.

This was my first trip to Charlevoix, long overdue, with an opportunity to get wet going down and dry going up. Based out of the Hôtel Domaine Belle Plage in Baie-Saint-Paul, we kicked off with a canyoning adventure down a creek at Le Massif. It had been over a decade since my previous outing with Canyoning Quebec, when Marc Tremblay took me ice-climbing at Mont-Sainte-Anne. I was sad to learn that Marc has since passed away due to illness, but his legacy of outdoor adventure continues.

Our guide Clara kitted us out in wetsuits and harnesses, and took us into the creek. Canyoning involves climbing, swimming, sliding and abseiling, and while my daughter would have loved a challenging all-day adventure, her younger brother was satisfied with the three-hour introductory experience. When you travel with different personalities, it’s all about finding a balance. We changed into dry clothes and rode the gondola back up at Le Massif for an easy hike called Le Buton, which led to a stunning view over the St. Lawrence. A warm-up for our next adventure: the Lynx Via Ferrata at Les Palissades de Charlevoix.

A beautiful drive along the coast, passing small villages along the way, reminded me of Cape Breton. It feels like people live very well here, although I can’t speak to the winter months. Located about ten kilometres from the village of Saint-Siméon on Route 170, Les Palissades is centred around a towering 400-metre-high, 4-kilometre-wide granite cliff. There are several via ferrata routes, dual zip lines across a warm lake, suspension bridges, rock climbing, bouldering, and various wilderness lodging options. Here we met our guide Marie, and as with Clara, I loved that my daughter could learn and be inspired from such strong, adventurous young women. Marie harnessed us up and led us to the rock face. Via ferrata is climbing without the danger, since you’re safely clipped into a line. This one led us up with a view over the lake and mountains that kept getting better and better. I look forward to writing a full report on how to tackle these two great Charlevoix adventures in Canadian Geographic.

We spent our final night at the Hôtel au Petit Berger in La Malbaie, and visited the Musée maritime de Charlevoix (located in a 1946 schooner shipyard) on our way to the airport in Quebec City for our evening flight home. The rich maritime history of the St. Lawrence was brought to life by our enthusiastic guide Gabrielle. We explored some historic ships, learned about the legacy of the region’s shipbuilding, and had a hands-on education in a different way of life.

We’d covered a lot of ground on this road trip, from the urban buzz of Montreal to the sweeping farmland of the Eastern Townships and the coastal mountains of Charlevoix. There’s so much to see and do in Quebec, a province full of surprises, whatever route you take, and whatever age you happen to be.