Le Champlain, Saint Pierre & Miquelon to the St Lawrence ex Saint Pierre to Toro – 01 Sep 2021

8 Night cruise departing from Saint Pierre to Toronto onboard Le Champlain.

PONANT brings you a 9-day itinerary to Canadian lands, aboard Le Champlain. You’ll embark on an cruise sailing along the Saint Lawrence River, between natural sites and urban landscapes.

A little piece of France located off the coast of Canada, the Saint Pierre and Miquelon archipelago has many charms. You will board your ship on the lively island of Saint Pierre, with its small houses with coloured facades and its natural harbour which sheltered many fishing boats in the past.

Further on, you will reach Percé, one of the most scenic villages of Quebec, close to a National Park famed for its natural, historical and geological heritage.

Your ship will then sail into the Saint Lawrence river, a prodigious waterway home to exceptionally beautiful nature, before you reach Tadoussac. This National Park is also an unmissable site for whale watching as the mammals gather to feed before winter.

You will also call at two emblematic cities in the province of Quebec: Quebec City, for its historic district listed with UNESCO, home to ramparts and churches, and Montreal for its liveliness and its cultural vibrancy. s

To round off your cruise, you will sail along the shimmering waters of Lake Ontario before making your way to the cosmopolitan city of Toronto, where you will disembark.

Highlights of this cruise:

SAINT PIERRE ISLAND, SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON
Off the Canadian coast, discover Saint Pierre Island, one of the two main islands of the Saint Pierre and Miquelon archipelago, the only French territory in North America. Endowed with a natural harbour, the island, whose name is a reference to the patron saint of fishermen, developed around the fishing industry and still has many traces of its past today. Whale hunting, cod fishing, alcohol smuggling during the Prohibition: all of these memories are still very much alive in the capital, Saint-Pierre. The island is also renowned for the observation of exceptional fauna including, among others, whales, fin whales, dolphins, seals, puffins and petrels.

MIQUELON ISLAND, SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON
At the entrance of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, not far from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Miquelon is one of the two main islands of the Saint Pierre and Miquelon archipelago and will delight those with a love of wide open space. Made up of three peninsulas connected by long sand spits, this wild land, famous for being home to France’s only boreal forest, has sublime scenery of hills, dotted with ponds, woods and bogs, and ringed by lagoons and steep cliffs. The rich and varied wildlife is the promise of fine encounters, whether inland, populated with white-tailed deer, snowy owls and bald eagles, or on the coast, home to many sea birds and grey seals.

PERCÉ
If you appreciate the beauty of scenery and geological phenomena, you will fall under the irresistible spell of Percé, one of the most beautiful villages in Quebec. Apart from the attractions of the town itself, Percé owes its reputation to its proximity to the famous rock of the same name that rises opposite it in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Along with the neighbouring Bonaventure Island, this rocky outcrop forms a national park famed for its natural, historical and geological heritage. With a choice of hiking, underwater exploration and cultural activities, you’ll never be short of things to do in this fascinating region.

TADOUSSAC
The Quebec village of Tadoussac stands at the confluence of the Saguenay River and the Gulf of Saint-Lawrence, in south-east Canada. The village is bright with multicoloured houses nestling in an emerald-green pine forest. From the waterfront, it’s easy to spy out Tadoussac Chapel, thanks to its bright red roof. Not far from this church built of wood, one of the oldest in North America, stands a century-old village holiday resort, Hotel Tadoussac. Treat yourself to tea on the terrace overlooking the shoreline. In addition, at the marine mammal interpretation centre, you can hone your knowledge of the cetaceans that regularly frequent Tadoussac bay.

QUÉBEC
The capital of ﾓLa Belle Provinceﾔ sits at the confluence of the St Charles River and the Gulf of St Lawrence in south-east Canada. Founded in the 17th century, the city still has an encircling wall ﾖ a historic civil engineering work and the only one of its kind remaining in North America. You will love the postcard-perfect stone houses of Old Quebec, the historic district listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Shopping is a pleasure in pedestrian streets such as Petit-Champlain Street, or you can relax over a spruce beer, seasoned with pine buds. Dufferin Boardwalk, an esplanade near the emblematic Château Frontenac, is the perfect place for views of the river and old city.

MONTREAL
Famous for its gentle way of life, Montreal, Canada’s second-largest city, is a warm and cosmopolitan metropolis. Situated on the eponymous river island, it is home to a multitude of districts, each as unique as the other. Set off to discover Old Montreal, most of which is declared a historic area, Little Italy, where you’ll be able to stroll around the largest open-air market in North America, or the Golden Square Mile, the luxurious district located on one of the hills of Mount Royal and which has sumptuous Victorian-style residences. Simultaneously marked by the influences of the Old Continent and North-American gigantism, Montreal will never cease to amaze you.

SAILING RIVER SAINT LAWRENCE AND GOING THROUGH ITS LOCKS
Linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes region inland, the Saint Lawrence Seaway was inaugurated in 1959, more than 250 years after the initial construction aiming to avoid the rapids obstructing navigation in these parts. This large engineering project, which required four years of huge work, offers a unique sailing experience, punctuated by the passage of the different locks marking out this corridor, which is almost 4,000 km long.

TORONTO
The largest city in Canada and capital of the province of Ontario, Toronto fascinates as much by its incredible diversity as by its size. Make sure you visit the CN Tower, the tallest tower in the western hemisphere, as well as the St. Lawrence Market whose stalls reflect the multicultural wealth of this city known as the global city. Not far from there, the historic Distillery District unveils its brick-paved streets imbued with romantic charm and its myriad of small restaurants, cafés, boutiques, theatres and art galleries. The Royal Ontario Museum and its impressive collections devoted to the world’s natural and cultural history will also be an unmissable stop during this port of call.