Saguenay

What is worth your time in Saguenay.

• La Pulperie de Chicoutimi — A regional museum and cultural centre housed in an old mill, set in a large park in the middle of the city.
• Musée du Fjord — A museum and aquarium in La Baie, in one of the areas hit hardest by the 1996 flooding.
• Pyramide des Ha! Ha! — A 21-metre aluminium pyramid clad in 3000 reflective yield signs, standing in a riverside park as a memorial to the 1996 flood.
• Pont d'aluminium d'Arvida — The first all-aluminium arch bridge in North America, built in 1950 to span the Saguenay River at Arvida.
• Saint-Jean-Vianney — An abandoned village near Shipshaw where a stone marker, a crater and damaged road remain after the 1971 landslide.

Specialities of this place.

• Tourtière — A traditional French-Canadian meat pie named for the passenger pigeon, once common in Lac-Saint-Jean and now extinct.
• Blueberries — The region's best-known food, sold in main street shops in Chicoutimi and picked on farms around Lac-Saint-Jean in August.
• Chocolate blueberries — A local confection sold in downtown Chicoutimi shops, usually cheaper where locals shop than at tourist establishments.
• Maple syrup — Another local confection named alongside chocolate blueberries, generally less expensive in main street shops.

• The region is strongly unilingual francophone; even people who follow Montreal or Quebec City French may struggle, and a mix of French, English and gestures helps.
• Downtown Chicoutimi centres on la rue Racine, though shopping malls have reduced the number of downtown businesses.
• Local confections are usually cheaper in main street shops frequented by residents than at tourist establishments.

• La fabuleuse histoire d'un royaume — Annual theatrical performance on the region's history, presented in French for 26 years, with an abridged English version now offered in fall.July–August (French), September–October (English)