When visiting Quebec City, meet the world’s most fascinating and majestic creatures on a guided, full-day whale-watching cruise. Travel along the Saint Lawrence River to the town of Baie-Sainte-Catherine, then choose from two distinctly different boating experiences—a small, speedy zodiac or a large, 3-level observation vessel. Enjoy an exceptional view on your cruise in search of whales, seals, and belugas. Quebec City pickup/drop-off included.

Bus tour and whale-watching cruise from Quebec City
Beautiful scenery on the bus ride along the St. Lawrence River
Choose either a speedy zodiac or a large boat for whale-watching
Enjoy a cruise to spot whales, seals, and belugas
Certified naturalist-guide provides information on the wildlife

What's Included

Air-conditioned vehicle
2.5-hour or 3-hour whale-watching cruise
Certified naturalist-captain
Guided panoramic bus tour

Gratuities
Food and drink
Pick-up and drop-off from home addresses / private residences / Air B&Bs.

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

fontaine de Tourny
Québec City, QC G1A, Canada
Please arrive at 8h30 as the Bus depart at 9h00.

Start time

09:00 am

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Escape from the hustle of Quebec City and enjoy an exciting adventure on the water. This full-day whale-watching excursion begins with a pickup from several accommodations in Quebec City to Place D'Armes to meet the guide and the rest of the tour group. Hop aboard a deluxe motorcoach and travel along the Saint Lawrence River to the town of Baie-Sainte-Catherine, widely considered to be the main entrance to the most beautiful whale-watching site in the world.

Upon arrival, board either the tri-level AML Grand Fleuve observation boat or a much smaller, speedy zodiac for your whale watching adventure (option chosen at checkout). The AML Grand Fleuve is known as the best observation boat in Canada. With glassed-in panoramic decks, several terraces and an observation platform, the boat provides exceptional visibility. The upper deck is covered for protection from the sun and inclement weather. There’s even a bistro and gift shop. The Zodiac, on the other hand, provides a much closer experience with the whales and the various marine species of the St. Lawrence River. It’s smaller, speedier—a more intimate nature excursion.

Both vessels depart from the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River in the heart of the Saguenay-Saint Lawrence Marine Park and include an educational and entertaining narrative on this history and nature of this eastern Canadian region.

At the end of the cruise, the voyage ends with a return trip to Quebec City and a drop-off.

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not recommended for pregnant travellers
Not recommended for travellers with back problems
Meals are not included. Passengers on the AML Grand Fleuve cruise may purchase food on board; passengers on the zodiac cruise are recommended to bring a lunch or snacks
Please dress warmly, as it can be quite cold on the river. An insulated jacket, hat, gloves and closed-toes shoes are highly recommended.
Minimum age is 6 years for the zodiac boat
Wheelchair accessible

Stroller accessible
Near public transportation
Transportation is wheelchair accessible
Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
Most travellers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 650 travellers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires a minimum number of travellers. If it’s cancelled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveller Photos

Featured review

JessicaRichards

Fantastic tour company. They know lots of information for your ride to the site and then the company for the whale tour on the water was amazing. They all knew right where to go to see the most whales, were respectful of the whales and knew lots of facts. I highly recommend this tour.

Reviews

4.5

309 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 309 reviews

A big zero

Linda_D, May 2023

They cancelled on me with no warning. The only way I knew it was cancelled was when the night before, I contacted the company to make sure I knew where the pickup point was, and they told me the tour had been cancelled. No text. No email. I guess I would have shown up at 8:30 am, and would have just been waiting there. Messed up my whole trip itinerary. I’m still getting notices about did you enjoy it! I guess I would have, if they hadn’t cancelled. I’m going to check my credit card to see if they charged me for it.

Long day that didn't really turn out very good at all

Donetta_D, May 2023

While there were parts of this that were nice, this wasn't a good value to me and I wouldn't book it if given the chance again. There were issues throughout the whole experience that added up to making it not that great. First there was contradicting info in the details about where we were to meet. When I messaged on whatsapp to clarify, they were also contradictory with their answers. We did finally settle on where we should meet and that worked out okay but it was a lot of confusion to get there. The info says the bus trip is a guided tour with information shared in English. The tour guide was a nice lady but admitted to us before we even left that her English wasn't that great. The tour was spoken in French and she translated to English but had a hard time with some of it so it was very hard to understand. In addition to that, we were 3/4 of the way back in the bus and we couldn't really hear her very well at all so we didn't really get to learn much from the "guided tour" on this trip. We made a stop part way there where we were told we could get something for lunch if we wanted to take something with us but it was a boutique store that had mostly full size packages of meat, blocks of cheese, entire boxes of crackers, jars of sauces and such and not really anything that could just be picked up and taken for lunch like a sandwich or a salad or something. We were told there was a restaurant on the boat so we didn't worry about getting something there and decided to wait. The boat did not actually have a restaurant operating. There was a small snack bar with VERY overpriced hot dogs ($13.75!) small bags of chips ($5.95), a couple of kinds of sandwiches ($12) and that's about it for an actual meal. I can understand prices will be higher but this seemed extreme and I wouldn't call this a "restaurant" at all. We thought we'd be able to get a decent lunch and we could not. As for the actual whale watching - we understand that you never know what you'll see and they can't guarantee anything but from the advertising it sounds like there are lots of different whales you could encounter but on the boat it sounded like belugas and seals were about the norm and that's all we saw - and only from a distance and only a couple of brief times out of the 2.5 hours we were on the water. We couldn't understand exactly what they said but apparently they're not able to get close to them. So we just saw tiny blips of white in the distance and that's about it. When we got back we asked our tour guide if we would be able to make a stop again somewhere on the way back so we could get some dinner (as it was almost dinner time by this point and many of us on the tour didn't really have a good lunch and were hungry). She said absolutely not and it wasn't even considered or put to a vote with the group or anything. Then on the way back the bus overheated and broke down and we had to pull over and sit on the side of the road for 30-40 minutes before we could continue on. All in all it wasn't a horrible day as we enjoyed the scenery and the views of the mountains and the river but it wasn't a great day and definitely not a great whale watching excursion. We've done an excursion like this before and saw tons of sea life - even if it wasn't big whales or anything there were still plenty of things to see. We hardly saw anything at all the entire trip so we were pretty disappointed considering how much money we spent on this and how many hours we were gone for it. I would not recommend this - especially from Quebec City. There are other things close to town that would be much more enjoyable and time well spent.

Best Full Day Tour Experience

JessicaRichards, Sept 2022

Phenomenal trip

Angela_S, Aug 2022

Bus tour guide did great speaking in English but didn’t initially make it clear that there were two separate groups on the bus. One group was on the Zodiac boat and we were on the larger vessel. She was handing out lability release forms and told us that we were on a different cruise. I, initially, wondered if we were on the wrong but. Even though she had our name on the list. The cruise and whale watching was fantastic but it’s hard to get pics of the little buggers; they move quick. We saw several wales and dozens of gray seals 🦭. The marine park is phenomenal

Not good

Sabuhi_R, Aug 2022

I don’t know maybe it’s happened in our trip but I could see only seals. What about whales I saw just one from far distance. Bus trip is so long. Ship trip is long but it’s very difficult to see whales. Yes if you want to see nature yes you can take this trip. What about whales I don’t know….

Awesome

CarmenJ_S, Aug 2022

It was a great experience! Saw beluga whales and seals came up to our zodiac. The captain was very welcoming and very informative.

We got to see whales!

Aeron_J, Aug 2022

Tour guide was a young new guy but he did great. It is a very long tour as it takes 3 hours just to get out to the actual boat to see the whales. He did his best to try to entertain us as we drove. We did stop at a meat and cheese shop for a quick bathroom break and to pick up any snacks if we felt so inclined. (There was a bathroom on the bus if needed as well.) The boat tour provides everyone with jackets and pants to help keep you warm and dry. We did the zodiac boat. Those boats are very small and that part was disorganized. Everyone was lined up to get on but they were letting certain groups go first. We were a group of 3 and we had to wait for them to get another boat for us to go on even though we were near the front of the line. So we were very far behind the big boat and the other zodiac. That was frustrating. However, we were lucky enough to see several groups of different whales and even some dolphins. That made the whole trip worth it but of course nothing is guaranteed we were just lucky. No lunch is provided so make sure you bring snacks. Overall, would recommend.

Fun time!

Christine_F, Aug 2022

Such a fun afternoon! We were able to see whales almost right away and throughout most of the ride. It was an extra bonus to be able to see seals and a pod of beluga whales which I was not expecting! I would recommend the kodiak boats!

WHALE LOVER APPROVED

Samantha_H, July 2022

This was the highlight of my trip! Our guide was so funny & knowledgeable. We stopped at a cheese shop on the way, but I’d bring lots of snacks & lunch. ABSOLUTELY take the Zodiac if you’re able, it made the experience so much more fun & we were able to get much closer to the whales. Worth every penny!!!!!!

Great experience for everyone

Samuel_L, July 2022

Super friendly. we saw a dozens of whales and it was super cool. The captain repeat the same things over and over so if you missed the info the first 10 times she'll be glad to repeat 10more tumes so that's that. The ride is a bit long from quebec (3h) to get there without brakes and can be brutal on a bus ride but fortunately, the seat were comfy just enough for it. My legs were sore though. All is all it's a great experience for the curious and the family. Finally, I suggest taking the zodiac boat as it can go faster and is more maneuverable to get to the whales but it's 10yo and up kid friendly since we have to brace ourselves frome some waves.

Don't want to

Arlene_M, July 2022

The trip was very good. I don't feel I have to say more. Why are u forcing me to write more than I want to

Bucket list checked !

ANTHONY_A, July 2022

Coming upon a group of whales feeding was such an awesome sight. It happens so quickly but it is an amazing feeling to be amongst such large and gracious creatures.

The tour was amazing and...

Viktorija_Z, July 2022

The tour was amazing and Benjamin was a great, funny and informative guide. I did a Zodiak cruise and it was amazing. I highly recommend it. Bring warm clothes as it gets chilly on the river. We were very lucky to see belugas, fin whale, humpback whale and seals. Great experience!

Amazing day tour

Heather_G, July 2022

Amazing tour! Our guide Benjamin was friendly and easy going. We seen whales on our tour as well as turtles and seals. 100% amazing. Highly recommend.

Wonderful! Definitely worth taking it!

LydiaShuoya_Z, July 2022

The commentator was amazing with beautiful scenery as well as wildlife! Just so incredible!!! Wonderful! Definitely worth taking it!

Long drive but good whale watching

Karen_K, June 2022

Long bus ride but whale watching was really good. We were concerned the cruise would get cut short but them they also showed us a beautiful waterfall, so boat ride was a good length

Whale watching excursion!

Rick C, Oct 2019

The whale watching trip was amazing! Yves, the bus driver/tour guide was funny and informative in both English and French. My husband and I decided to take the zodiac instead of the big boat and it was fantastic. Even though we got drenched, it didn't ruin our adventure. The guide on the boat was excited about the number of whales we saw. There were humpbacks, fins and minkes. The gear the tour provided kept us warm and we would have been wetter without it. My suggestion to others taking the zodiac is to dress warmly in layers and take dry clothes and shoes to change into after the tour. Would I do it again....hell yes!

Nice tour

Roger L, Oct 2019

We went on the whale watching tour yesterday. The 3 hour drive to the boats was absolutely amazing. We got to see beautiful forests in full on indian summer colors!! Also the boat that we were on was comfy and we got to see some whales and seals!!! It was literally breathtaking. A negative point was the fact that there were no safety belts in the bus which is totally dangerous as the bus was driving over 120km/h most of the time! Also my husband and I had a really hard time understanding the guide when he spoke english. I reckon that english was not his mother tongue.

Wonderful Day

Compass119106, Sept 2019

We saw Minka, Beluga and one Humpback! This was our 1st time actually seeing whales. No jumping in the air but they came close to big boat. Only thing i would say is they need not to let people stand on ladder as they block ease of going up and down.

Amazing

jessica d, Sept 2019

It's a long way from Quebec, but we highly recommend the whales watching because it's a unique experience.

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