Alpaca farms, maritime museum, treetop adventure course, whale watching: your guide to family activities in Charlevoix from La Malbaie.
Charlevoix has an advantage that parents discover quickly: the region never runs out of ideas for keeping children entertained. Between farms where you bottle-feed lambs, a maritime museum where you climb aboard real schooners, a treetop adventure course above the river and whale-watching cruises, each day fills itself without effort. Better still, most of these activities are within 45 minutes of Chalet Le Littoral in Cap-à-l'Aigle, La Malbaie, and they work as well for a four-year-old as for a teenager who is hard to impress.
Charlevoix farms: touch, feed, learn
Charlevoix has an unusual concentration of farms open to visitors, each with a distinct personality. These are not tourist-facing petting farms — they are working agricultural operations that open their doors to share their craft.
Alpagas Charlevoix, in Les Éboulements, offers guided visits of its herd and a unique regional activity: Alpa-Trekking, a walk through the farm's private land with your own alpaca. A guide explains how to interact safely with the animal, and children leave with photos they will show everyone for weeks. The breeder follows a genetics programme that produces fibre close to cashmere — parents can browse the shop while the children bond with the alpacas.
Aux Petits Moutons Tout Ronds, also known as Ferme Fritz-Philip, delivers exactly what its name promises: lambs to bottle-feed, horses to cuddle, and a pace of visit that gives children time to form attachments. This is a working sheep farm, not a zoo, and the contact with the animals is direct and barrier-free. The on-site shop sells farm products.
The Centre de l'Émeu de Charlevoix surprises everyone, adults included. The guided tour takes visitors to the heart of the operation — incubation room, barn, outdoor enclosures — to see emus up close and enter their habitat. The centre doubles as an économusée (artisan museum) for emu oil production, meaning you learn the transformation process from bird to product. Children are fascinated by these large flightless birds; parents often leave with cosmetic and gourmet products from the shop.
Ferme pédagogique Marie-Noëlle is designed specifically for children. All the farm animals share a space where kids can explore, touch and learn. From September to November, a corn maze with themed games adds to the visit — a must if you are in the region in autumn.
Musée maritime de Charlevoix: schooners, adventure course and forest trail
The Musée maritime de Charlevoix in Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive is far more than a conventional museum. The site brings together an old sawmill, a workshop and a shipyard store steeped in history, historic boats to board, the Parc des Navigateurs and the Sentier de la Forêt marine — enough for a full half-day without leaving the grounds.
The Parc des Navigateurs is a forest adventure course where children climb, swing and play among the trees. It is the activity that young visitors enjoy most, just ahead of the schooner tours. The immersive Naufrages exhibition plunges visitors into the stories of shipwrecks that shaped Charlevoix's history — spectacular and moving, it captivates children and adults alike.
For families wanting to extend their visit, the Sentier de la Forêt marine offers a four-kilometre forest walk carried by the sound of the river, with a distinctive perspective on Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive, the river and Isle-aux-Coudres. Admission is eight dollars for adults and free for ages 17 and under. A backpack escape game, playable in families or small groups, rounds out the offering for puzzle enthusiasts — allow two hours to solve the challenges.
The museum is approximately 30 minutes from the chalet, heading toward Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive.
Camp Le Manoir treetop course: a zipline above the river
Centre de plein air Le Manoir offers a treetop adventure course that appeals to children and parents equally. Fourteen play modules — rope bridge, agility net, obstacles combining strength and balance — sit among the trees in a supervised setting. The main attraction is a 200-metre zipline with a striking view over the St. Lawrence River.
It is a physical activity that channels children's energy while giving them a sense of achievement. For teenagers, the course offers enough challenge to hold their attention; for younger children, the modules are adapted to different difficulty levels. The natural setting, in a forest above the river, makes the experience far more memorable than a conventional amusement park.
Whale watching: an experience that lasts a lifetime
For many children, seeing a whale for the first time is a memory that never fades. Charlevoix is one of the best places in the world for this experience, thanks to the meeting of the Saguenay's fresh water and the St. Lawrence's salt water, which creates a natural feeding ground for whales. From Baie-Sainte-Catherine or Tadoussac, several operators offer whale-watching cruises where you can see fin whales, belugas and humpbacks in their natural habitat.
Large-vessel cruises are the most suitable option for families with young children — they are more stable and equipped with toilets. Bring warm clothing even in summer, as the temperature on the river can drop ten degrees compared to the shore. The free ferry crossing to Tadoussac from Baie-Sainte-Catherine is part of the fun — children love the boat before they have even seen a whale.
The corn maze and autumn pleasures
If you visit Charlevoix between September and November, Ferme pédagogique Marie-Noëlle adds a corn maze that delights families. Children lose themselves (and find their way out) through corridors of corn, with themed games scattered along the route. It is a simple, outdoor activity that works at every age and combines naturally with a visit to the farm and its animals.
Autumn in Charlevoix is, in fact, an exceptional season for families. The colours are spectacular, the crowds are thinner than in summer, and most activities remain open. It is the ideal time to combine farm visits, the corn maze and an easy hike — Mont Grand-Fonds, fifteen minutes from La Malbaie, has a family trail that can be done in an hour with children.
Planning your family day
The key to a good family day in Charlevoix is not to overload the schedule. One activity in the morning, a picnic or a meal on the road, and free time in the afternoon — at the chalet, by the pool or on a beach. Tired children enjoy nothing, and neither do their parents.
For a sample day, here are a few combinations that work well. A morning at Aux Petits Moutons or Alpagas Charlevoix (one to one and a half hours), then an afternoon at the Musée maritime or the Camp Le Manoir treetop course. Or a morning at the Centre de l'Émeu followed by lunch at Ferme Éboulmontaise in Les Éboulements, which runs the Épicentre Dînette Fermière — a farm-to-table lunch stop with comforting broths, charcuterie and cheese boards, and sandwiches made with the farm's own products.
For families who prefer nature and the outdoors, see our guide to hiking in Charlevoix — several trails are accessible to children. And for an overview of everything the region offers, our guide to things to do in Charlevoix covers all activity categories.
Charlevoix Chalets offers two luxury chalets in La Malbaie (Cap-à-l'Aigle): Le Littoral (pool, sauna, spa), L'Embâcle (pool, spa). Book online or call 418 476-1442.