Rimouski is the main city of Quebec's Lower St. Lawrence, set where the river has already widened into something that feels almost like sea. It is not a postcard village; it is a working regional centre, with a university, a port, and long views across cold water. That gives it more life than many stops on Route 132.
The best reason to pause is Pointe-au-Pere Maritime Historic Site, just east of town, where a tall lighthouse, the Onondaga submarine, and the Empress of Ireland story turn the St. Lawrence into a serious piece of maritime history. In the other direction, Bic National Park protects coves, cliffs, salt marsh, and seal-haunted shoreline.
Rimouski itself is easy to like on a spare day. Walk the waterfront, take the boat to Ile Saint-Barnabe in summer, then spend an hour at the Rimouski Regional Museum if the weather turns. It works best for travellers moving slowly along the south shore of the St. Lawrence rather than racing toward the Gaspe Peninsula.