What a whale trip costs
A whale trip from Quebec City costs ~$130–183 per person, and most of the gap is the bus. One operator, Croisières AML, runs every well-reviewed trip in reach, so you are choosing between transport and boat styles more than between companies. This guide prices nine options side by side, then adds up what the listings leave out.
Nine options in one table
Three trips sit on our home page and six more turn up across these guides. Each is listed at its regular "from" price per person in US dollars, the lower of the two booking sites, and the date you pick can move it a little. Three of the extras show no price at all outside the season, so their rows say so.
| Trip | From | Length | Leaves from | What you get | Free cancellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AML full-day bus trip (our pick) | ~$183 | 11 h | Fontaine de Tourny, Quebec City | Coach both ways through Charlevoix, then the big boat or a Zodiac | 24 h |
| AML Zodiac tour | ~$130 | 2 or 2.5 h | Tadoussac or Baie-Sainte-Catherine | An open boat at water level, rain gear lent | 24 h |
| AML 3-hour boat tour | ~$130 | 3 h | Tadoussac or Baie-Sainte-Catherine | Outer decks, glazed indoor rooms, bistro, restrooms | 24 h |
| AML VIP Lounge or Upper Deck | ~$159 | 3 h | Tadoussac or Baie-Sainte-Catherine | The big boat with a private lounge, or upper-deck access only | Check the listing |
| AML whales and black bears | ~$155 | A cruise plus 2 h of bears | Either wharf, then a drive to Sacré-Coeur | A whale cruise, then bears at dusk | Check the listing |
| Unitours day trip | No price shown until the season opens | 10 h | 12 rue Sainte-Anne, Old Quebec | Coach and an estuary cruise, boat not named | 24 h |
| Moose Travel 3-day tour | No price shown until the season opens | 3 days | Montreal | Group tour with Quebec City and a Tadoussac whale cruise | Check the listing |
| Quebec VIP Tours, private 3 days | No price shown until the season opens | 3 days | Quebec City | Private car, whales, sea kayaking, bears, a wilderness cruise | Check the listing |
| AML Quebec City river cruise | ~$46 | 1.5 h | Quebec City | A sightseeing cruise below Old Quebec, no whales | Check the listing |
All three main listings refund in full up to a day ahead, and none asks for payment at booking. For the extras, read the terms on the booking page, since we could not confirm them all.
The three main trips
The full-day bus trip from Quebec City, from ~$183, is the only one that comes to you. A coach leaves the Fontaine de Tourny on Grande Allée at 9 am for the three-hour drive through Charlevoix to Baie-Sainte-Catherine, and you are back around 8 pm. Which boat you ride is settled at booking, with a 3-hour big-boat cruise and a 2.5-hour Zodiac on offer. GetYourGuide reviewers score it 4.1 out of 5 for value.
The Zodiac tour, from ~$130, and the 3-hour boat tour, from ~$130, cost about the same and sail from the same two wharves, Baie-Sainte-Catherine on the Charlevoix side and Tadoussac across the Saguenay. You get there under your own steam. The Zodiac buys two hours or two and a half at water level in a borrowed waterproof suit. The big boat buys three hours with indoor rooms and restrooms, and a bistro sells food on board. Its value score is the lowest of the three at 3.8, mostly because of crowding at the rails.
All three come with what AML calls its whale guarantee, a second boat tour when a trip turns up nothing. Per reviewers, one distant minke glimpsed through fog was enough to rule it out, so treat it as insurance against a blank day rather than money back for a poor one. Zodiac or big boat? compares the two cruises on everything except price.
One trip, two prices
The three main trips sell on GetYourGuide and on Viator, and when we compared them, GetYourGuide came out a few dollars lower each time.
- Full-day bus trip. ~$183 on GetYourGuide against about $187 on Viator, for the same AML coach and the same choice of boats;
- Zodiac tour. ~$130 on GetYourGuide against about $133 on Viator. Viator sells the Zodiac and the big boat on one AML listing, so check the option you click before paying there;
- Big boat. ~$130 on GetYourGuide, or the cruise options on that same Viator listing.
Let the bus do the driving
AML's coach leaves Quebec City at 9 am and is back around 8 pm, with the cruise of your choice in the middle, from ~$183. Both sites refund in full up to a day before. Arriving by ship? Read our port-day timing guide first.
Bus or your own car
The day trip costs about $53 more per person than the same cruise booked alone. Against that, a driver pays for fuel on a round trip of about 260 miles (420 km), paid parking near the wharf, a rental car if you came without one, and six hours or so at the wheel on the hilly road through Charlevoix. For a solo traveler without a car, the bus usually wins. For a family of four who already have a car, the $53 counts four times, and driving is likely to come out lower.
Driving lets you pick a morning or sunset Zodiac and turn the outing into a night in Tadoussac. The bus spares you the road and comes with live commentary. Bus tour or drive yourself? walks through the logistics of both.
What you pay on top
- Lunch. Bus passengers get an hour at Baie-Sainte-Catherine before boarding. Pack your own lunch or buy AML's lunchbox on arrival while they last. Outside food is not allowed on the boats;
- Drinks and snacks. The big boat has a bistro. The Zodiac sells nothing, so eat before you board;
- Parking. Drivers pay at the lots near both wharves, and day-trip passengers who drive into Quebec City pay for a lot near the fountain;
- Binoculars. Not included on any trip. Bring a pair, since the boats keep their distance from the whales, as which whales you will see explains;
- Tips. No listing includes them. In Canada tipping a guide or a driver is customary but optional;
- Payment on board. AML takes credit cards only, no cash.
Upgrades and a cheaper detour
AML's VIP Lounge or Upper Deck cruise, from ~$159, is the same 3-hour big boat with priority boarding added. Pick the Lounge and you also get a private glassed-in room where local snacks and drinks are served. The catch hides in the option name. Upper Deck means deck access and priority boarding and nothing more, with few seats and no shelter upstairs. Reviewers who booked it expecting the lounge were turned away, so read the option twice before paying.
At the other end, AML's sightseeing river cruise at Quebec City, from ~$46, is the cheapest boat trip on this site and lasts 1.5 hours. For a whale watcher its catch could not be bigger. It shows no whales at all, because they feed some three hours downstream. Book it for the skyline of Old Quebec, not as a budget whale trip.
A family of four, added up
Take two adults and two children aged 8 and 11. On the day trip the adults pay twice ~$183, and for the cruise alone twice ~$130. Viator's AML cruise listing charges the adult fare from 13 and has lower bands below that, youth for ages 5–12 and child for 2–4, so both children fall into a cheaper band. We do not quote those fares because they move with the date, and the lower youth and child rates appear on the booking page once you pick a day.
Both children are old enough for the Zodiac, which takes no one under 6. If you drive, the family pays four cruise tickets plus one tank of fuel and the parking, while the bus adds its premium four times over. Families with younger children should read whale watching with kids first, and the best months for whales shows when summer weekends fill up.