We are planning a trip to the Quebec City area this summer and are looking for any recommended campgrounds in that general area. We are trying to find something with some privacy within an hour or so of the city but reviews are very scarce. We are travelling with children so anyone who knows of a nice family campground in the area with decent services would be appreciated. We will be travelling with a tent trailer.
QUOTE(Inniswhe @ Jul 9 2006, 07:58 PM) [snapback]4564[/snapback] We are planning a trip to the Quebec City area this summer and are looking for any recommended campgrounds in that general area. We are trying to find something with some privacy within an hour or so of the city but reviews are very scarce. We are travelling with children so anyone who knows of a nice family campground in the area with decent services would be appreciated. We will be travelling with a tent trailer. We are currently camped about an hour north of Quebec City in a nice family friendly campground. From what I can tell the campground is called Camping Des Aulnailes. I think the city is Saint Roch des Aulnaies, but I'm not real sure. Everything is in french, even the people, and it's been a long long time since I used any of my French. The lady at check-in called an english speaking teenage girl to come up and help with check-in. This place has about 400 sites, nice paved road for bike riding, 2 playgrounds, mini-golf, nice swimming pool, and tons of kids. We are headed back home and decided to venture through Quebec, and happened upon this campground last night when I was tired of driving. When at the playground with the kids, I did find a few couples that could speak a little english, and one was staying a week with their 3 kids, and the other just a few nights on the way to PEI. One other was staying here all summer, he said the food in this area was excellent and keeps him here. If your planning on arriving on a weekend, make reservations. They do have full hookups and 50 amp service, and we were able to get our 42' big rig in here. I'll post a review as soon as I nail down the particulars on the city and campground name. If you have a gps, the lat/lon is: GPS Longitude 70.21147W° GPS Latitude 47.27784N°
You might want to check this link (http://campingquebec.com/cdcq/en/cdcqgeo.shtml) It will bring you to a map of Québec where you get the official info on each campground in the province. Areas 04 and 05 should be of interest for you. As you do not indicate the ages and interests of your kids, I'm not certain this will help you, but there is a campground a little over 30 min. from Québec City in Valcartier that is part of a gigantic Water Park. I have never bee there myself, but from what I have heard it is good. (http://campingquebec.com/valcartier/indexeng.shtml) Another option would be to go to the South Shore of Québec City to camp and take the ferry from Lévis to Québec to visit. You get a beautiful view of the Old Town and the Chateau Frontenac from the water, and as you can leave your car on the Lévis side, you have no problem parking. Most of the attractions are within easy walking distance from the ferry terminal, especially if you take the Funicular to get up the hill. On the south shore I like to go to the municipal campground of Beaumont, but there are several others in the general area. (http://campingquebec.com/cdcq/en/fiche_camping.asp?no_cdcq=63) Yet another option is the campground at Mont Ste Anne, about 45 min. past Québec City near the slopes of the well known Ski resort. If you have at least one day to spare, you might want to drive about 3 hours past Québec to Tadoussac, where you have Whale watching excursions. Seeing at least a few whales is practically guaranteed. I have even seen whales from two of the campgrounds nearby, using binoculars. The first one, (http://campingquebec.com/cdcq/en/fiche_camping.asp?no_cdcq=323), also has a neat view over the village and port of Tadoussac. The other one is a few km further and more nature oriented. (http://campingquebec.com/cdcq/en/fiche_camping.asp?no_cdcq=320) Most people in the tourist industry will have least a little knowledge of English, but still it is always useful to know at least a few words of French, Quebecers see this as a token of respect for their language if you can at least say "Bonjour" or "Merci". Have fun!
WPRIGGE, Do you have any firsthand knowledge of the Mont St. Ann campground ? I have been searching the campingquebec website you mention but it is hard to find independant reviews. The campground at Mont St. Ann sounds nice, with lots of mountain biking etc so we are thinking of booking that spot but website has few pictures. We also looked at the Valcartier Water Park. That will probably get a day visit but the campground looked like a pretty tight park with little privacy. We are trying to find something with nice wooded sites , biking trails, near hiking sites,privacy, etc. We are two families travelling together with 5 kids from 2-1/2 years up to 11 years. We are from PEI so we are really quite spoiled here with many great campgrounds c/w white sand beaches , roomy sites etc. and figured it will be difficult to find something on par with what we typically have around here. I really appreciate everyone's input and comment
Yes, I did camp at that park, but it is about 12 years ago. It looked like vone of the many provincial campgrounds that were sold and/or handed over to local interests in the 70'. I think it was managed by the municipality. At the time the campground had large, fairly private spots that needed a bit of leveling. The sanitary facilities were clean, but a bit older than they should be. As for mountain biking, you should like the place, the municipality of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges is one of the training centers of the national mountain biking and cross country ski teams. As you are from PEI, you might find the last few km up there a little steep, but there are no dangerous curves in the road. Sorry I can't be of more help for this campground, but there might be another one you could check out. It's about the same distance from Québec City, going towards the Lac Saint Jean area. It's called the Jacques-Cartier provincial park. (http://campingquebec.com/cdcq/en/fiche_camping.asp?no_cdcq=1075) or (http://www.sepaq.com/pq/jac/en/) Don't be mislead, it is a provincial park although the documentation says national park. Our politicians in their infinite wisdom decided to call our provincial parks "national" parks a few years back. If you want to go there you will have to reserve soon.
WPrigge, Thanks for the Info . I was looking at the Jacques Cartier Park as well but availability is tight. I think we will end up booking a few nights a Valcartier and then a couple nights at the main campground at Jacques Cartier as that is all that is available. The JC Park looks very nice from the website.
