For golfers who want the setting to match the round, Le Manoir Richelieu is hard to top — a grand chateau on a bluff over the St. Lawrence with 27 holes on the grounds and the refined Casino de Charlevoix linked by a covered passage.
Casino de Charlevoix is elegant rather than large — a tasteful Loto-Quebec room of table games, electronic gaming and slots, connected to the hotel under cover. After a round it feels like the calm end to the day, in keeping with the chateau it serves.
The chateau holds around 400 rooms and suites in classic Fairmont style, many looking out over the river and the hills. This is a heritage grand hotel first, and the golf and gaming are the trimmings on a genuinely special stay.
There are several restaurants, cliff-top pools and a full spa, but for this guide the 27-hole course on the grounds is the draw — rolling, scenic holes with the St. Lawrence as a backdrop, and skiing and whale-watching nearby out of season.
La Malbaie is about two and a half hours downriver from Quebec City, a scenic drive in itself. It is a splurge, but as a golf-and-gaming escape with this much grandeur, it is worth the drive and the price.