Anticosti is a large, thin island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, far off Quebec's North Shore. It is over 160 km long, but has only one real settlement, Port-Menier, and long stretches where forest, limestone river canyons and white coastal cliffs do most of the talking.
This is not a casual add-on to Quebec City or Montreal. Getting here takes planning, and French is the everyday language. The reward is a place that feels properly remote, with deer on the roads, fossil-bearing cliffs, salmon rivers, sea birds and waterfalls hidden deep in the island.
Anticosti became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023 for its fossil record of the first global mass extinction of animal life. For travellers, the science is part of the attraction, but the day-to-day pleasure is simpler: hiking to Vauréal Falls, exploring the national park, and standing on a coast that feels much farther from the mainland than it looks on a map.