Have you ever wondered why so many people enjoy road trips? Why travelers are excited when heading to the Côte-Nord? It's because many know they'll be driving for hours on one of the most beautiful roads in the world! Like an endless art gallery, the road reveals itself to you if you open your eyes and stay attentive to every kilometer!

Attention! It goes without saying that the driver must first focus on the road, rather than on the panoramas for safety reasons. We'll forgive them for this time. It's the passengers who will have the chance to discover the beauties of the Côte-Nord.

For the driver, if they're even slightly interested in driving, they'll appreciate Highway 138 as a road that keeps you gripped to the asphalt at every turn. Sometimes long and calm like the river alongside it, sometimes winding and aggressive like the rock on which it was built, it changes with the rhythm of the landscape, skirting the bays, scaling the mountains, traversing the plains, and cutting through the forest, for over 844 kilometers.

Highway 138 is a Quebec national road and one of the oldest roads in Canada, stretching from west to east, mostly on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence, from Montérégie, passing through Montreal, Quebec City, to the Côte-Nord.

Here, on the North Shore, it's called the Whale Route for a very obvious reason. The geography and hydrography of the Saint Lawrence River, particularly the Laurentian Channel, favor the presence of marine mammals, due to the presence of colder water and greater nautical depth, promoting the growth of phytoplankton: the food of whales.

It's also for this reason that Tadoussac Bay is designated as the best whale-watching site in Canada! The observation of 13 species is possible along the shores of the Côte-Nord, and therefore along the road during your journey. Highway 138 offers hundreds of observation points along the route. You just need to stop for a moment and admire the breathtaking landscapes, wave after wave.

This road that sustains communities is the vital link of the Côte-Nord, but that's not all, it's also alive! Alive with its animals, alive with its rivers, alive with its forests, alive with its villages. You hit the road, stress-free, ready for your journey... If you look up at the right moment, you might see a bald eagle... if you look to your left, a porcupine might appear at the top of a branch... to the right towards the river, the back of a whale in the distance...