The town’s real gem is the Iledes-Moulins, a pre-industrial complex of living history in the middle of the Mille-Iles River, with water-powered mills for grinding grain, carding wool, and sawing lumber. One of the biggest buildings on the site is the three-floor factory that was the first large scale bakery in Canada. It was built by the Northwest Company in 1803 to make the saltless ship’s biscuits that sustained the voyageurs who paddled west every year to collect furs for the company.

Terrebonne is also the center of Quebec’s horse riding culture. Popular with locals, rodeo and ranching events take place regularly.

In 1974, Father Fernand Lindsay started the Festival International de Lanaudière, a series of summer concerts by some of the world’s best-known musicians.

The nearby town of Rawdon, 18 km (11 miles) west, has a deserved reputation as a place of great natural beauty. Trails wind away from the small town alongside the Ouareau River, leading to the picturesque, rushing Dorwin Falls.

The first colonists arrived here in 1634 from France and, although not many of the colonial dwellings remain, the city’s charming old section has a number of 18th- and 19th-century houses and shops, many of which have been recently converted into cafés and bars.

Ursuline nuns have been working in the city since 1697, and the core of the old city is the Monastère des Ursulines, a rambling complex with a central dome, a chapel, and a little garden that is now a public park. Rue des Ursulines features several little old houses with varying architectural styles.

Also here is an 18th-century manor house, the 1730 Manoir Boucher-de-Niverville, which contains the local chamber of commerce and rotates displays on the rich history of the area around the Eastern Townships.

Another great drive starts at Saint-Jean-de-Piles and has good views of the narrow Lac Wapizagonke Valley. With trout and pike in the lake, the area is an angler’s delight. Moose and bear roam wild in the park.

Built from solid stone in 1709 to replace the wooden fortifications that the original settlers set up in 1655, the fort is well preserved. A museum in Saint-Denis commemorates Quebecois patriots who fought in the failed 1837 rebellion against British rule.

Today the river flows past attractive villages surrounded by orchards and vineyards; Mont Saint-Hilaire affords fine views of Montreal, and is famed for its apple plantations. Its 19th-century church was declared a historic site in 1965 and features paintings by Canadian Ozias Leduc.

Rare plant finds include 20 red oaks estimated to be more than 250 years old. The gardens are best known, however, for cultivating blue potatoes.

Although their heritage survives in the fine old homes and gardens of Sherbrooke’s North Ward and in street names, today the city is overwhelmingly French speaking.

From the town center runs the Riverside Trail, a lovely waterfront park with 20 km (12 miles) of cycling and walking trails along the banks of the Magog River.

Lac Memphrémagog itself is long, narrow, and surrounded by mountains. It even boasts its own monster, a creature named Memphré, first spotted in 1798. The lake’s southern quarter dips into the state of Vermont, so it is no surprise that the British Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution were this region’s first settlers.

Their influence can be seen in the late 19th-century redbrick and wood-frame homes of lakeside villages such as enchanting Georgeville and Vale Perkins, and in the resort city of Magog at the northern end of the lake.

Benedictine monks from France bought one of the lake’s most beautiful sites in 1912 and established the Abbaye Saint-Benoît-du-Lac. Today the monks produce cider and a celebrated blue cheese called l’Ermite. They are also renowned for Gregorian chant, and visitors can hear them sing mass in the abbey church.

The center of the region is Quebec’s natural playground, the Laurentian Mountains, a pristine lake-filled landscape offering fine skiing on ancient mountains. Populated by native people until Europeans arrived in the 16th century, the area was fought over by the French and British until the British gained power in 1759. Today French-speakers dominate.

The Chic-Choc mountains reach heights of 1,300 m (4,000 ft) and provide some of the province’s best hiking. Shielded by the mountains, the southern coast harbors 18th-century fishing villages, inland fruit farms, exotic gardens, and wilderness national parks.

Vallée de la Matapédia

Starting at the confluence of two excellent salmonfishing rivers, the picturesque atapédia Valley is crisscrossed by covered bridges. Concealing long-established fruit farms, the valley’s elm and maple trees show stunning fall colors.

Carleton

Founded in 1766 by Acadians fleeing the Great Expulsion in Nova Scotia, Carleton today is a pleasant, relaxed resort town. Quality hotels and restaurants line the airy streets, and many visitors enjoy the mild coastal climate.

Sainte-Annedes-Montes

The entrance to Gaspé’s park and the wildlife reserves of the Chic-Chocs, this 19th- century village has fine restaurants, and good salmon fishing nearby.

Parc National du Canada Forillon

The park contains the tail end of the Appalachian Mountains, now cliffs worn into rugged formations by the sea.

Rocher Percé

Situated out to sea south of the small town of Percé, this famous pierced landmark is the result of tidal erosion. In the 1930s, Percé became a popular spot for Canadian artists and still contains many galleries.

As well as the charming ancient villages, they are home to what are reputed to be some of the most relaxing beaches in Canada, celebrated for their fine sand and sheltered position.

Featuring an ancient stone church that rears above the skyline, the old town rambles long hilly streets, and its old 18th-century cottages have an appealing French atmosphere. From the peak of the old town, views across the river valley are lovely. Other villages in this area feature unusual attractions.

Farther along the main Route 32, Trois-Pistoles boasts a history that goes back to 1580, when Basque whalers arrived. The offshore Ile-aux-Basques was a whaling station in the 16th century, and today can be visited to tour the nature preserve in its place. Toward the region’s commercial center, Rimouski, lies Parc Bic, a small preserve of 33 square km (13 square miles) dedicated to the two forest zones, deciduous and boreal, it encloses, and its varied coastal wildlife.

As well as the abundant wildlife, the islands are famous for their bizarre monoliths. Eroded over many centuries by the sea, these limestone carvings have surreal shapes. The best-known rocks look strikingly like flowerpots, with grasses sprouting from their peaks.

Visitors can book a trip to admire this unique manifestation of nature by boat. Until 1974, the Ile d’Anticosti, east of the archipelago, was private property – all 8,000 sq km (3,090 sq miles) of it. The past owner, French chocolate tycoon Henri Menier, bought the island in 1895 and stocked it with a herd of white-tailed deer for his friends to hunt.

Now numbering 120,000, the deer herd is firmly ensconced but can still be hunted. Wildlife abounds; over 150 species of bird live in the relatively unspoiled forest and on the beaches. The village of Port Menier has 300 residents and acts as the local ferry terminus and lodging center.

Now the largest town along the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Sept-Iles has turned into Canada’s second largest port as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway. A boardwalk along the waterfront offers visitors the chance to see the large ships in action, and to observe close-up the workings of a busy modern dock.

Although boasting the best of modern marine technology, the town also offers a reminder of its long-standing history. Vieux Poste near the center of the town is a fine reconstruction of a native trading post, where the original inhabitants of the area met to barter furs with French merchants.

A small museum with aboriginal art and artifacts sells native crafts. Despite its industrial importance, Sept-Iles is an area of considerable natural beauty. Miles of sandy beaches rim the nearby coastline, and the salmon-rich Moisie River flows into the Gulf of St. Lawrence just 20 km (12 miles) east of the town.

The seven rocky islands that gave the city its name make up the Sept-Iles Archipelago Park. Ideal for campers and hikers with its beaches and nature trails, one of the seven islands, Ile Grand-Basque, is a popular local camping spot. Another small island, Ile du Corossol, has been turned into a bird sanctuary that teems with gulls, terns, and puffins, and can be toured with a guide. Cruises are available for guided trips between islands.

Paper production remains a vital industry in this area, but Baie-Comeau is most important today as a gateway to the enormous Manic-Outardes hydroelectric power complex, situated along Hwy 389, from 22 km (14 miles) to 200 km (130 miles) north of town. The most spectacular example is Manic-5, 190 km (115 miles) from Baie-Comeau.

Its gracefully arched Daniel Johnson Dam holds back a vast reservoir that fills a crater geophysicists believe might have been created by a meteorite several millennia ago.

The lake and its rolling green landscape fill a crater-sized basin left by advancing glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age.

Tiny rivers flow to the lake and tumble dramatically down the basin’s steep walls into the blue waters, to be reborn as the source of the Saguenay River.

Mashteuiatsh, Pointe-Bleu

This Montagnais Indian village is open to visitors who can see at first hand age-old methods of carving, hunting, weaving, and cooking.

Roberval

This little village has a charming waterfront, from which spectators can see the finish of the swimming contest to cross the lake, which has taken place each July since 1946.

Village Historique de Val-Jalbert

This outdoor museum is dominated by the 70-m (200-ft) Ouiatchouan waterfall, which once acted as power for a pulp mill here in the 1920s.

SNUG IN THE crook of mountains on the western shore of the Saguenay, Chicoutimi is one of northern Quebec’s most expansive towns, despite its modest population. The cultural and economic center of the Saguenay region, Chicoutimi’s waterfront district has now been restored. A stroll along the riverside offers good views of the surrounding mountains and the confluence of the Chicoutimi, Du-Moulin, and Saguenay rivers.

Once a center for the paper trade, Chicoutimi still features a large pulp mill, the Pulperie de Chicoutimi. Although no longer operational, the plant can be toured, and an adjacent museum shows visitors the intricacies of this long-standing Quebecois industry, which once supplied most of North America’s paper needs.

Inky waters, 300 m (985 ft) deep in places, run for 155 km (95 miles) beneath cliffs that average 450 m (1,500 ft) in height. Due to the exceptional depth, ocean liners can travel up to Chicoutimi on the river. Running from Lac St. Jean to the St. Lawrence estuary, the Saguenay is best known for its lush borderlands and the wildlife that thrives in its lower reaches. Much of the pretty Bas Saguenay, the southern half of the river, is a federal marine park.

Most visitors take a tour to view the colony of a thousand whales that live here. Beautiful views of the length of the fjord are available on the western shore at Cap Trinité, a cliff that rises 320 m (1,050 ft) over the channel, with a well-known 10-m (33-ft) statue of the Virgin Mary surveying the scenery from the lowest ledge.

In the 19th century, even while the fur trade was still a force, steamships began to transport well-heeled tourists to the village for a taste of its wilderness beauty. Justifying two centuries of tourism, the scenery here is magnificent. Backed by rocky cliffs and towering sand dunes, Tadoussac’s waterfront faces over the estuary at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Saguenay rivers.

In the town, the re-creation of the original 17th-century fur-trading post and the oldest wooden church in Canada, the Petite Chapelle built in 1747, are popular. However, the main attraction in Tadoussac lies offshore.

Whale watching tours offer trips into the estuary to see many species at close quarters. The thriving natural conditions in the estuary support a permanent colony of white beluga whales, which are joined in summer by minke, fin, and blue whales.

THE CHARLEVOIX coast runs 200 km (130 miles) along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, from Sainte-Annede-Beaupré in the west to the mouth of the Saguenay. A UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve because of its fine examples of boreal forest, the area is a slim band of flowery rural beauty on the southern edge of tundra that stretches northward.

Gentle valleys protect old towns reaching to the river, with coastal villages sheltering beneath tall cliffs. Lying in a fertile valley is the exceptionally pretty Baie-Saint-Paul, its streets lined with historic houses and inns.

Just 35 km (21 miles) north of Baie-Saint-Paul lies the Parc des Grands Jardins, a vast expanse of lakes and blackspruce taiga forest with a herd of caribou. Small mountains offer walking and hiking. Farther downstream is the tiny and tranquil island Ileaux-Coudres. The lush, green farmland here is sprinkled with historic farms and a windmill.