Lanaudière

Lanaudière is the region of Quebec between Montreal and the Mauricie. It was home to 472,000 people in 2011.

Cities and towns

• 1 Berthierville — Formula One race car driver Gilles Villeneuve grew up here
• 2 Joliette — home to the Joliette Art Museum, which has a large collection of art from the French Middle Ages
• 3 Mascouche — an off-island suburb of Montreal
• 4 Rawdon — a summer and winter tourist resort town
• 5 Repentigny — an eastern suburbs of Montreal that hosts many festivals in the summer and winter
• 6 Saint-Donat-de-Montcalm — a large inhabited natural park with hiking, biking, swimming, sailing, canoeing, and golfing
• 7 Saint-Zénon — a centre for tourism and hunting
• 8 Terrebonne — one of the richest heritage sites in Quebec: beautiful seigneury buildings, quaint bistros, historic charm and rich culture

Other destinations

• 9 Saint-Michel-des-Saints — at the north end of the region, its forests are popular for hunting, fishing, mountain biking, or snowmobile, and trapping

Understand

Countryside near Saint-Donat.

Lanaudière is generally rural, while the urban areas are generally concentrated in the south of the region, such as Repentigny, Terrebonne and Berthierville. The altitude rises as one goes northwards; it is 20 m (66 ft) near the Saint Lawrence River to almost 800 m (2,600 ft) at the top of mountains near Saint-Donat and Saint-Zénon.

Lanaudière's southern plain has cities and farming villages and includes many historical locations; the piedmont in the centre has become a vacation spot due to its numerous lakes and natural attractions; and the Laurentian Plateau in the far north in the forested country is known for its fishing and hiking.

History

The region of Lanaudière owes its name to history - it perpetuates the memory of Marie-Charlotte de Lanaudière, daughter of the lord of Lavaltrie and wife of the businessman Barthélemy Joliette, descendant of the famous explorer Louis Jolliet. The name Lanaudière evokes the lineage of the lords De Lanaudière who contributed, over seven generations, to the defence and the development of the French colonies in America, of France and of the region.

Tourist information

• Lanaudière Tourism website

Get in

From Montreal, Autoroute 40 takes you to Repentigny and across the south end of the region, while Autoroute 25/Highway 25 takes you through Terrebonne into the region's centre, near Rawdon.

The three main ports of entry for Lanaudière are all in the south: Terrebonne, Repentigny and Berthierville.

Lanaudière's road network was developed according to three north-south axes (25-125, 31-131, 347), all of which have few links with the neighbouring regions.

The nearest airport is Montreal's Pierre Trudeau International Airport, and the nearest Via Rail train station is also in Montreal.

Get around

Commuter public transit is provided by Exo through the Terminus Terrebonne.

MRC de Joliette, ☏ +1-450-756-2785. Operates regional and local bus routes, including a bus route that travels from Montreal (1.5 hours for non-express trips or 1 hour for express trips). (updated May 2022)

See

Nouvelle-Acadie: The villages of Sainte-Marie-Salomé, Saint-Liguori, Saint-Jacques and Saint-Alexis have a unique historical heritage as a refuge for Acadians deported by the British from the Maritime provinces in the late 18th century.

The Festival de Lanaudière is Canada's largest classical music festival. For five weeks in July and August, symphony orchestras to play in a natural amphitheatre in Joliette. It had a capacity of up to 8,000 people, and its outstanding acoustics makes it popular with soloists, musicians and chamber music orchestras from around the world. Some of Lanaudière’s churches are also transformed into performance halls, while the Salle Rolland-Brunelle is set up in cabaret format.

Dorwin Falls, Rawdon

Rawdon is home to the Dorwin and Manchester falls, which lie less than a kilometre from downtown and offer a public beach on the artificial Rawdon Lake.

The Joliette Art Museum's works include paintings, sculptures, paper artwork and a large collection of art from the French Middle Ages.

Do

Its road network is almost exclusively composed of secondary roads. It is well-designed for long automobile trips or for biking.

Lanaudière has two wildlife preserves, the Rouge-Matawin and the Mastigouche, as well as part of the Mont-Tremblant park. Further to the north, about an hour away from Saint-Michel-des-Saints, there is the Atikamekw First Nations (Aboriginal) Reserve of Manawan.

Lac Taureau is a 90-km² lake with regional park status. It offers 32 km of sandy beaches and lodges set in a forest of stunning natural beauty. (See article Lac-Taureau Regional Park)

Lac Maskinongé offers a myriad of water sports from the village of Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon.

The Berthier Islands has a cycling path where you can ride from island to island on the bike path. Fishing outfitters provide accommodations, and there is a museum dedicated to Canadian racecar driver Gilles Villeneuve.

Saint-Donat is a winter destination for snowmobiling, and skiing. Ski Garceau and Ski La Reserve are the two most popular resorts in the area. There are outdoor skating rinks and cross-country ski trails through the forest. Its mountains, lakes, and pleasant weather attract many tourists in the summer season for swimming, kayaking, sailing, and water-skiing on its two large lakes, Lac Archambault and Lac Ouareau.

Repentigny is home of many festivals, including the Festival of Fire and Ice in January–February, the Youth Theatre Festival in early July, and the Festival Gospel for gospel choirs in mid-August.