Localization

Directions leaving Montreal: Take highway 40 to Quebec and continue along route 138 East. The closest fairy on the South shore to the Saint Lawrence River would be that of Rivière du Loup – Saint-Simeon.: info@travrdlstsim.com

Click here: geographical map

Charlevoix, world reserve of the biosphere

Portrait of the region:
Hospitable area with landscapes that allured the painters, poets, writers and musicians of the country, Charlevoix has combined in perfect harmony, both nature and culture. Covering a territory of 6000 square kilometers in the heart of the Canadian shield; the oldest land on earth, Charlevoix conceals unique attractions.

The extravagant character of the mountainous landscape of Charlevoix owes its form due to the impact caused by the fall of a meteorite of 15 billion tons, 350 million years ago. The current crater extends on 56 kilometers, West of Baie-Saint-Paul & East of La Malbaie. A guided visit by minibus to the crater is possible from Baie-Saint-Paul.

For over 200 years, Charlevoix has warmly welcomed many tourists; Charlevoix is recognized today as Quebec’s best gastronomical and tourist region.

Breathtaking nature

One finds in Charlevoix exceptional fauna and flora. On the mountain tops of the back-country, in the park of the Grands-Jardins, one finds the taiga, only 120 kilometers from the town of Quebec. The caribou, arctic faunal species, the wolf, & its predators, all live there, uncommonly coexisting at this latitude.

As a whole, the flora back-country of Charlevoix is dominated by the boreal forest. In addition, the various glaciations model the area, leaving an impressive rock formation at Les Palissades, close to Saint-Siméon. As well, there are moraine deposits at lake Nairn, close to Saint-Aimé-des-lacs.

With the confluence of the Saguenay and St. Lawrence river, in a significant part of the marine park of Saguenay-Saint-Laurent, where the fresh water and salted water mix, evolving more than six species of large migrating whales between the end of May untill the end of October.

At Baie-Saint-Catherine and Tadoussac, the many cruises make it possible to go admire the gracious water ballet done by these giants of the seas or to discover the splendors of one of the most beautiful fjords of the world, the Saguenay fjord.

With all these exceptional characteristics, in February 1989 the region of Charlevoix was granted for both nature as well as culture, the biosphere preservation status by l’UNESCO It is about one of the first preservations of the inhabited biosphere and it belongs to an international network which accounts for 350 of them, distributed in a hundred or so countries; combining development and conservation.