Tadoussac is where two bodies of water meet and argue: the dark, deep Saguenay fjord and the wide, cold St Lawrence. The meeting makes a rich feeding ground, and whales gather here from late spring to autumn. Belugas, minke whales, fin whales and, with luck, the occasional blue whale appear in the channel, and you can watch them from the shore or take a boat out. The village is tiny, just a few hundred year-round residents, but it is one of the oldest settlements in Canada, with a fur-trading post established here at the very beginning of the seventeenth century.
The sights are close together. The Chapelle des Indiens, a small white wooden chapel with a red roof, dates from the eighteenth century and sits right by the water. The Hôtel Tadoussac, an enormous white building with a red roof that dominates the bay, has been taking guests since the nineteenth century. Large sand dunes lie just behind the village, a reminder of the glacial deposits that built this coast, and the beach is cold enough to make swimming a brief experience. The air smells of salt, spruce and diesel from the ferry.
The ferry is part of the ride. The road along the north shore, Route 138, reaches the Saguenay at Baie-Sainte-Catherine, where a free ferry crosses the fjord in about ten minutes. In summer you may wait in a line of cars and motorcycles, so allow time, but the crossing itself, with cliffs rising on either side and the occasional whale blowing in the distance, is a highlight. Riding up from Quebec City through Charlevoix, the road follows the river with wooded hills on one side and the broad estuary on the other, with gentle bends and a number of steep little hills.
For fuel, do not count on the village itself. Sacré-Coeur is about twelve kilometres up the fjord, and Rivière-du-Loup, the nearest larger town, lies thirty-seven kilometres away across the river by ferry. Fill up in the bigger towns before you arrive. The weather is cool even in July, with fog and wind off the water, so carry a warm layer. Autumn, when the maples turn red, is spectacular, though the whale season is nearly over by then.