L'Île aux Coudres — A jewel in the middle of the St. Lawrence
Reached by ferry from Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive (in the Les Éboulements area), L'Île aux Coudres is one of the finest changes of scene in the Charlevoix region. Its name goes back to September 6, 1535, when Jacques Cartier anchored his ships there and named the island for the many "couldres" (hazel trees) growing on it. The island is a genuine world apart, with its island inns, its maritime history, its mills (water and wind), its économusées, its roadside crosses and its craft cider house.
Touring the island by bike: a main road of 23 kilometres rings the island, offering spectacular views over the river and the mountains of Charlevoix. Along the way, several must-stops line the route. Here are our favourites, following the chemin des Coudriers!
Microbrasserie L'Étale
An essential address, as much for the beer as for the one-of-a-kind atmosphere. Set up in the island's former bowling alley, L'Étale has kept the traces of its past by working the bowling lanes into its decor. That unusual touch gives it a warm, easygoing feel, perfect for gatherings with family or friends. The name "L'Étale" refers to slack water, the pause between tides on the river — a nod to the island's particular rhythm, where time isn't measured the way it is on the "mainland". On the menu: microbrewery beers, generous burgers, delicious fries, a fine view of the river, and even a few frames of bowling with friends to finish the meal. The whole thing is a project of the Cidrerie et Vergers Pedneault.
Aux Fruits du Biscuitier
Located right across from the Cidrerie Pedneault, in the heart of the orchard, the bakery "Aux fruits du Biscuitier" offers a wide variety of cookies and other pastries and Charlevoix regional products, along with an ice cream counter. Cookies, pies and other sweet treats, soft serve and other frozen delights, to enjoy on the terrace or take away. Ideal at the start or the end of the day — especially to bring home a little something sweet before catching the ferry back!
Cidrerie et Vergers Pedneault
A family business opened in 1918, which welcomes us into its économusée of apple growing for a tasting of ciders flavoured with plum, pear, peach and more. The extended Pedneault family is everywhere on the island: they're the ones behind the Microbrasserie L'Étale, the Biscuiterie Aux Fruits du Biscuitier and the restaurant Le Corylus. A true Charlevoix institution, not to be missed!
Épicerie Chez Paul
An essential stop for a taste of the island's soul. Chez Paul is at once a bakery with wonderful bread fresh in the morning, a pastry shop offering a wide variety of buns, date squares, "Pets-de-sœur", pies and the popular pâté croche of L'Isle-aux-Coudres (the best on the island!!). The one you can't skip: the trout pie, an ancestral recipe the owner has been reproducing faithfully for many years. But above all it's the quality of the welcome that comes to mind when you talk about the Épicerie Chez Paul.
Bazar, Bidules et Bataclan
If retro style is your thing, this place is a real Ali Baba's cave for vintage lovers! Step into a one-of-a-kind atmosphere where the jukebox rules, where a giant gumball machine holds court, and where the banquettes invite long conversations. More than just a shop, it's a place of discovery where every object tells a story, ready to become the centrepiece of your own decor. Pure joy for bargain hunters and the nostalgic!
Le Phare — Magasin Général
Brand new and lovely! Le Phare - Magasin Général opened at L'Isle-aux-Coudres on the former "Les Traverseux" site, at 1922 chemin des Coudriers, driven by Quebec City entrepreneur Kathya Côté and her partner Patrick Tremblay. The store stays true to the marsouine culture, which looks like the island and is part of its history and its roots. On the second floor is La Costumerie du Phare, with an enormous catalogue of no fewer than 3,000 costumes. An address at once nostalgic and creative, a tribute to island character!
Parc du Bout d'en Bas
At the far eastern tip of the island, the Parc du Bout d'en Bas is the dream place to stop, breathe the open air and take in the river as far as the eye can see. The trail leads to the famous Madone, the emblematic statue at the island's end that watches over the sailors of the St. Lawrence. The municipality is in fact about to invest more than a million dollars in this site so dear to islanders. A peaceful place, almost mystical…
Boutique Le 1603
On the chemin des Coudriers, this charming shop — part candy store, part soap maker — offers summer candles, artisanal shampoo bars, scented mists and plenty of other small treasures for the nose and the sweet tooth. A fine address for finding original gifts and souvenirs to take home.
Les Moulins de l'Isle-aux-Coudres
To finish in style, a trip back in time! This fascinating économusée brings together on one site a water mill and a windmill, both still working. The shop carries freshly milled wheat, buckwheat and rye flour in various sizes and at various prices, along with a range of varied, good-quality products: souvenirs, clothing, regional food products, books and creations by artists and artisans from the area. An absorbing dive into the know-how of the millers of old — and a nice thumbing of the nose at modernity, right in the middle of an island that knows how to keep its heritage.
St-Joseph de la Rive
Papeterie Saint-Gilles
Right next to the ferry wharf for L'Île aux Coudres, in Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive, hides a real little heritage gem: the Papeterie Saint-Gilles. Created in 1965 by Mgr Félix-Antoine Savard with the help of Mark Donohue, this first économusée in Quebec has been making cotton-based handmade paper for nearly 60 years, using a method inherited from the 17th century. Set up in the former elementary school of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive, the paper mill lets visitors watch the artisans at work: you see local flower petals worked into the pulp and the internationally recognized Saint-Gilles watermark. A genuine step back in time. The shop offers high-quality writing papers, cards, bindings, jewellery and an impressive collection of silkscreen art reproductions — ideal for bringing home a unique gift full of history. A perfect stop before or after the ferry to L'Île aux Coudres!
Pointe-au-Pic
Since the 19th century, La Malbaie, and Pointe-au-Pic in particular, has been a resort destination for the Canadian and American upper class. Pointe-au-Pic is in fact the birthplace of the resort tradition in Canada. The stately silhouette of the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, a 405-room hotel perched on the Pointe-au-Pic cliff above the St. Lawrence and next door to the Casino de Charlevoix, is a reminder of that prestigious past.
The Charlevoix astrobleme
Did you know the whole Charlevoix region was born… of a falling meteorite? The Charlevoix astrobleme, or Charlevoix crater, is a meteorite impact crater 105 km northeast of Quebec City. Half of this 56 km-wide crater lies on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, the other half beneath the river. It's one of the only inhabited meteorite craters IN THE WORLD, and it's so old — between 350 and 400 million years — that it's now called an astrobleme: the name given to an old wound left on the Earth by a meteorite. The impact produced a colossal shock wave and temperatures went extreme for hundreds of kilometres around. The rock liquefied or vaporized. The meteorite itself disintegrated completely. It all happened in a matter of seconds. The energy released was hundreds of millions of times that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima! To make sense of this spectacular story, the Observatoire de l'Astroblème de Charlevoix, in La Malbaie, runs a small and fascinating science museum — with models, meteorite fragments and absorbing explanations. Not to be missed by the curious and by science lovers!
Saint-Irénée
Pêcheries Charlevoix
In Saint-Irénée, in the L'Anse-au-Sac area, stands one of the last keepers of an ancestral St. Lawrence craft: Pêcheries Charlevoix. Weir fishing — do you know it? Pêcheries Charlevoix offers choice local products from an artisanal tradition that has become rare. The ingenious industry of this fixed net trap developed over the centuries between high and low tide. Behind the business is Julie Gauthier, among the very few artisans still fishing with weirs, the way it was once done on the St. Lawrence. In 1871, there were 1,369 fixed fisheries counted in Quebec; today only three families keep this centuries-old technique alive, now listed as Quebec intangible heritage. On the menu: capelin, herring, sardine, smelt, tomcod, lake whitefish and eel, sold fresh on site, or prepared frozen, marinated or smoked. An essential visit for anyone who wants to taste the real maritime terroir of Quebec and support a tradition on its way out
