Tadoussac sits where the Saguenay Fjord meets the St. Lawrence, a small village in a very large landscape. The setting is the reason to come: cold tidal water, dark cliffs, pale sand, and one of the best whale-watching areas in eastern Canada.
The village has more history than its size suggests. French traders built a post here in 1600, making Tadoussac one of the oldest surviving French settlements in North America. The little wooden chapel above the bay still gives that past a human scale.
Most visitors split the day between the water and the shore. Take a whale cruise or a kayak trip if the weather is kind, then walk the Pointe-de-l'Islet boardwalk for a clean view back into the fjord. The dunes east of town are a quieter counterpoint, with broad views over the St. Lawrence.