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city in Quebec, Canada
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North America > Canada > Quebec > Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean > Saguenay

Saguenay is a city of 145,000 (2021) in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Québec.

Understand

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Downtown Chicoutimi

Saguenay was created on February 18, 2002 by the merger of the cities of Chicoutimi, Jonquière, La Baie and Laterrière, as well as the municipalities of Lac-Kénogami and Shipshaw and part of the township of Tremblay into one municipality named "Saguenay" for the Saguenay River.

Jonquière

Principal local industries have historically been forestry, paper (Abitibi, Price, Stone-Consolidated) and aluminium smelting (Alcan). CFB Bagotville is the local air force base. A community college (Collège de Jonquière) offers an intensive three-week immersion programme in French as a second language which has long attracted civil servants from the nation's capital and draws students from as far as New Brunswick.

Saguenay is geographically isolated, as the 2½ hours of four-lane road leading into the municipality from Québec City runs almost entirely on provincial parkland with just one opportunity to stop for fuel at the midpoint. There is cellular telephone service on the main road in, but along many other roads (such as Chicoutimi-Nord to Tadoussac), there is truly nothing.

Talk

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The region is strongly unilingual francophone, and even people who speak French as a second language and understand Montrealers or people in Quebec City fairly well may have trouble here; knowledge of the French spoken in France may not be enough, but you can survive with a mixture of some French, some English and some gestures.

Get in

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By plane

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Airport

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Airline

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  • Air Canada, ☏ +1-514-393-3333, toll-free: +1-888-247-2262. Canada's largest airline with hubs in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. It operates across Canada and services international destinations. Some flights between Toronto and Montreal involve Toronto Pearson International Airport and some involve Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. (updated Apr 2022)

Closest larger airport

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While there is some service to Bagotville, the local Royal Canadian Air Force base, the closest major airport to the region is in the Quebec City suburb of Sainte Foy.

By bus

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  • Intercar, 4511, boulevard Talbot, Chicoutimi, ☏ +1-418-547-2167, toll-free: +1-800-806-2167, . Operates bus routes within Quebec. (updated May 2022) Operates the following routes to Chicoutimi and Jonquière:
    • Between Jonquiere and Montreal with stops along the way in Chicoutimi and Quebec City. Travel time to Jonquiere from Montreal is 6.25 hours and from Quebec City is 2.75-3 hours. Travel time to Chicoutimi from Montreal is 5.75 hours and from Quebec City is 2.25-2.5 hours. Jonquiere and Chicoutimi are 20-25 minute travel from each other. Operates several days per week.
    • Between Chicoutimi and Dolbeau with stops in Jonquiere, Alma, and Val-Jalbert. Travel time to Chicoutimi from Jonquiere is 35 minutes, from Alma is 1.25 hours, and Val-Jalbert is 2.25 hours, and from Dolbeau is 3.75 hours. Operates several days per week.

By train

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See also: Rail travel in Canada
  • 2 Jonquière station, 2439 rue St-Dominique. Jonquière railway station (Q6275894) on Wikidata Jonquière station on Wikipedia (updated Aug 2023)
    • VIA Rail Canada, toll-free: +1-888-842-7245. Operates train routes across Canada. VIA Rail Canada (Q876720) on Wikidata Via Rail on Wikipedia (updated Mar 2022) Operates one round trip per week Jonquière (in the Saguenay region) and Montreal including stops in Hervey-Jonction, Shawinigan, Saint-Paulin, Saint-Justin, and Joliette. Travel time to Jonquière from Montreal is 9 hours and from Shawinigan is 6.5 hours. Route operates as a wilderness service: a request stop may be made at any point along the route for those who want to hike and kayak in the remoter regions of Quebec that the train passes through.

By boat

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Various cruise ships include the Saguenay River as one stop on a longer tour.

By car

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  • from Québec City, Route 175 is the main road through the Laurentian provincial park.
  • from Tadoussac or Saint-Siméon, a highway follows the full length of the river on each side (Route 172 on the north shore, Route 170 on the south shore). There are no villages and no services on most of this route.
  • from New Brunswick, follow the Trans-Canada Highway to Rivière-du-Loup then cross by ferry to Tadoussac
  • from Trois-Rivières, Route 155 meets the ring road (Route 169) around Lac-Saint-Jean
  • Ride share may be available through Allô-Stop in Québec City

Get around

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Map
Map of Saguenay

By public transit

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By taxi

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Taxis in Chicoutimi include:

Taxi service in Jonquière is offered by:

By ride hailing

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  • Uber. (updated Aug 2022)
Aluminium bridge in Arvida
  • La fabuleuse histoire d'un royaume, 1831, 6e Avenue, ville de La Baie (Théâtre du Palais Municipal), ☏ +1 418-698-3333, toll-free: +1-888-873-3333. Jul-Aug (en français), Sep-Oct (in English). Theatrical performance recounting the history of the region (as "the Saguenay Kingdom") from native settlement to colonial and pioneer times onward. Presented annually in French for 26 years, an abridged English-language version is now offered in the fall. 
  • La Pulperie de Chicoutimi, 300 Dubuc, Chicoutimi, ☏ +1 418-698-3100, toll-free: +1-877-998-3100, fax: +1 418-698-3158. Mid-Jun to early Sep: daily 09:00-18:00, off-s: W-Sau 10:00-16:00. A regional museum and cultural centre. La Pulperie is an historical site in the middle of the city, surrounded by a huge park, and lodged within an old mill. Adult $15, child $7.50, senior $12.50. Arthur Villeneuve (Q2865373) on Wikidata Arthur Villeneuve on Wikipedia (updated Jul 2020)
  • Musée du Fjord, 3346, boulevard De la Grande-Baie Sud, ☏ +1 418-697-5077, toll-free: +1-866-697-5077, fax: +1 418-697-5079. Museum and aquarium in La Baie, east of Chicoutimi, in one of the areas hardest-hit by flooding in 1996. Adults $16.00, seniors (65 years or older) $12.25, students (18 years or older with ID) $11.75, children (6 to 17 years) $9.00, children (5 years or younger) free. Taxes are included in the fees. Some admission fees will be higher during this summer’s feature exhibition.. 
  • Pont d'aluminium d'Arvida, route du Pont, Arvida et Shipshaw. First all-aluminium arch bridge in North America, built 1950 by Alcan and Dominion Bridge Company to span the Saguenay River at Arvida and listed on the provincial historic register in 2004. Arvida, named for industrialist Arthur Vining Davis, was a planned community built around an aluminium factory which took advantage of plentiful hydroelectric power. Shipshaw was the second of two generating stations in-region. Both are now part of Jonquière (Saguenay). 
Pyramide des Ha! Ha!
  • 1 Pyramide des Ha! Ha!, Le parc des Ha! Ha!. 21-metre-tall aluminium pyramid covered in 3000 reflective "yield" signs, with (seasonal) live performance stage, stairs and observation deck, in riverside park. A memorial to the 1996 flood which destroyed 250 buildings and displaced 3000 people, tours available in high season from Musée du Fjord. 
  • 2 Saint-Jean-Vianney. Village near Shipshaw, abandoned after thirty-eight houses were destroyed in a landslide on May 4, 1971. A stone memorial marker, a crater and some damaged road are all that remain. 
  • Croisières du Fjord, ☏ +1 418-543-7630, toll-free: +1-800-363-7248. June-mid Oct, runs daily from June 24 to early Sep. "Marjolaine II" cruises, charter and shuttle on Saguenay river, depart from La Baie (east of Chicoutimi). 
  • LNAH hockey. The Jonquière Marquis play at Palais des Sports. (updated Nov 2021)

The main street of downtown Chicoutimi is la rue Racine; construction of shopping malls has greatly diminished the number of downtown businesses. Local confections such as maple syrup or chocolate blueberries are usually less expensive in the main street shops frequented by locals in the city than at tourist establishments... even for blueberries in Lac-Saint-Jean.

The region is known for two dishes. Tourtière, a traditional French-Canadian meat pie, is named for la tourte (the passenger pigeon), a bird which was once common in Lac-Saint-Jean but now extinct worldwide. More famous are the region's blueberries. Various farms around Lac-Saint-Jean invite you to pick your own blueberries in season (usually August, weather permitting).

Steak

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Pizza

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Asian

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European

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Drink

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The main street of Jonquière (la rue Ste. Dominique, the "Saint Do") has a fairly extensive and notorious bar strip with several bars in close proximity. Some other options include:

  • Brasserie Arvida, 1983 Davis, Jonquière, ☏ +1 418-548-8491, fax: +1 418-548-5860. Sports bar and restaurant. Steak, seafood, sandwiches. 
  • Café-Théâtre Côté-Cour, 4014, rue de la Fabrique, Jonquière, ☏ +1 418-542-1376. Cinema, music and live performance venue. 
  • [formerly dead link] La Tour à Bières, 517 rue Racine Est, ☏ +1 418-545-7272, fax: +1 418-545-2723. 16:00-20:00 (restaurant), bar closes 03:00. Microbrewery with eight local beers; a "sampling tower" offers a four-ounce taste of multiple beers on one tray. Brewery tours available for groups. Bistro with patio, live music on summer weekends. 
  • La Voie Maltée, 777, boulevard Talbot, Chicoutimi, ☏ +1 418-549-4141, fax: +1 418-549-2272. M-F 11:30-03:00, Sa Su 12:00-03:00. Microbrewery with locations in Chicoutimi, Jonquière and Québec City. 

Sleep

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Go next

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As the largest city in-region, Chicoutimi serves as a jumping-off point to Lac-Saint-Jean in the west and the Saguenay River to Tadoussac in the east:

  • Lac-Saint-Jean is famous for its blueberries, to the point where locals in the region are referred to as "les bleuets" (literally, blueberries), with a Trappist monk group manufacturing tasty chocolate-covered blueberries and other confections in Mistassini at the far end of Lac-Saint-Jean. Other key landmarks around the lake are a zoo at St. Felicien, the tourist ghost town of Val-Jalbert (near Roberval) and a good collection of cycling and snowmobile trails.
  • Tadoussac, at the eastern end of the fjord of the Saguenay River, is notable primarily for whale-watching. Both sides of the Saguenay River fjord between La Baie and Tadoussac - St. Siméon are largely parkland with no services. Boat tours of the river and fjord depart from either endpoint.
Routes through Saguenay
Shawinigan ← Hébertville-Station ←  W  E  → END
Chibougamau via ← Métabetchouan ←  W  E  → Saint-Siméon → → Rivière-du-Loup
END ← Alma ←  W  E  → Sacré-Coeur → Tadoussac
END ←   N  S  → Laurentides Wildlife Reserve → Quebec City


This city travel guide to Saguenay is a usable article. It has information on how to get there and on restaurants and hotels. An adventurous person could use this article, but please feel free to improve it by editing the page.
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