Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu is the guide's wellness flagship — a grand, copper-roofed chateau on a bluff over the St. Lawrence in Charlevoix, with cliff-top pools, a full spa and the refined Casino de Charlevoix connected by a covered passage.
The Casino de Charlevoix is elegant rather than enormous — a tasteful Loto-Quebec room of table games, electronic gaming and slots, connected to the hotel by a covered walkway.
It is calm, refined and beautifully kept, in keeping with the chateau it serves — a place to play a measured evening rather than chase a big room's energy.
The chateau holds around 400 rooms and suites in classic Fairmont style, many with sweeping views over the river and the Charlevoix hills.
The wellness side is the reason to come: a full spa with treatment rooms and saunas, and cliff-top pools that look straight out over the St. Lawrence — few casino resorts anywhere can match the setting.
There are several restaurants, a celebrated 27-hole golf course and the whole Charlevoix food trail on the doorstep, with whale-watching and skiing in season.
It is a heritage grand hotel first and a casino resort second, which is exactly why it works as a retreat — there is far more to do than gamble.
The resort sits in La Malbaie, about two and a half hours downriver from Quebec City, on one of the most scenic drives in the country.
It is a splurge, but as a wellness escape with a casino attached it is unmatched in Canada — the pools, the spa and the view alone justify the trip.