Planning a Trip

Getting There

By Car -- The drive from Québec City to the island is short. Get on Autoroute 440 east, in the direction of Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré. In about 15 minutes, the Ile d'Orléans bridge will be on your right. If you'd like a guide, Maple Leaf Guide Services (tel. 418/622-3677) can provide one in your car or theirs.

While it's possible to bike over the bridge, it's not recommended: The sidewalk is narrow and precarious. But cyclists can park their cars at the tourist office for C$5 (£2.50) per day.

By Bus -- Dupont, which also goes by the name Old Québec Tours (tel. 800/267-8687or 418/664-0460; www.tourdupont.com), offers a 6-hour tour with stops at a sugar shack, an apple orchard, and a chocolaterie.

Visitor Information

After arriving on the island, follow the ? signs and turn right on Route 368 east toward Ste-Pétronille. Bureau d'Accueil Touristique (tel. 418/828-9411; www.iledorleans.com) is in the house on the right corner. Be sure to pick up the useful map that has most of the restaurants, farms, and accommodations marked. The bureau is open daily 9am to 5pm, with longer hours in summer and somewhat shorter hours in winter.

The tourist office offers a 2-hour audio tour on CD for rent, and brochures that detail a "Gourmet Route" driving tour, "Artists and Artisans" tour, and "Historic and Cultural Sites" tour.

A coast-hugging road -- Route 368, also called chemin Royal and, in a few stretches, chemin de Bout-de-l'Ile -- circles the island, which is 34km (21 miles) long and 8km (5 miles) wide; another couple of roads bisect it. Farms and picturesque houses dot its east side, and abundant apple orchards enliven the west side.

The island has six tiny villages, originally established as parishes, and each has a church as its focal point. Some are stone churches that date from the days of the French regime, and with fewer than a dozen such churches left in all of Québec province, this is a particular point of pride for the islanders.

It's possible to do a circuit of Ile d'Orléans in a half-day, but you can justify a full day if you eat a good meal, visit a sugar shack, do a little gallery hopping, or just skip stones from the beach. If you're strapped for time, loop around as far as St-Jean, and then drive across the island on route du Mitan ("middle road"). You'll get to the bridge by turning left onto Route 368 west.

The lodgings recommended for Ile d'Orléans are of the auberge type, meaning they have six or more rooms and full-service restaurants open to both guests and nonguests. But there are also many B&Bs and gîtes (homes with a room or two available to travelers), which are less expensive and less elaborate. You can see brief details about many of these offerings on the tourist office's website, www.iledorleans.com. Many lodgings also provide leaflets to the tourist office.

For much of the year, you can meander at 40kmph (25 mph), pulling over only occasionally to let a car pass. There is no bike path, which means that bikers share the narrow rural roads, so cyclists might want to visit any month but July or August. Drive with care in the busiest summer months.

Important navigational note: Street numbers on the ring road "chemin Royal" start anew in each village, so that you could pass a no. 1000 chemin Royal in one stretch and then another no. 1000 chemin Royal a few minutes later. Be sure that you know not just the number of your destination, but which village it's in as well.