Sainte-Pétronille

The Bourgeois Resort at the Western Tip of Île d’Orléans.

Sainte-Pétronille is where the first French settlers of the island established themselves as early as 1648. A few years later, the Huron nation took refuge there before settling in Wendake, northwest of Quebec City.

By the 19th century, the microclimate at the tip of the island had attracted bourgeois from Quebec City, who turned it into a vacation spot. Often English-speaking, they gave the new village a distinctive character, with a golf course—the oldest in America—an admirably preserved Anglican chapel, and architecture unusual for the island (including the studio of painter Horatio Walker) and the sumptuous Porteous estate with its Italian gardens.

The village fans out around a rocky promontory, offering visitors a unique and grandiose panorama. To the south, commercial ships and liners glide along the Saint Lawrence River; to the west, beyond the Beauport Bay, Cape Diamond crowns the fortifications of Old Quebec; and to the north, the impressive Montmorency Falls, standing 80 meters high, is set against a backdrop of mountains.

Sainte-Pétronille is best appreciated on foot. One walk offers a panoramic and cultural interpretive circuit right in the heart of the village, while another follows a rustic trail through the boreal oak grove, the northernmost red oak forest on the continent.

A small, verdant, and shady hillside village with charming white wooden houses, Sainte-Pétronille is covered in brilliant red and gold foliage in the fall. Visitors also come for its chocolate shop, its vineyard renowned worldwide, and the Auberge La Goéliche, a favorite spot for those seeking tranquility, good food, and relaxation.