Saguenay is the main city of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, formed from Chicoutimi, Jonquiere, La Baie, and several smaller communities along the Saguenay River. It is not a postcard town; it is a spread-out northern Quebec city with working districts, hydroelectric history, and a dramatic fjord close enough to shape the way the place feels.
The appeal is strongest when you treat Saguenay as a city on a river system rather than as a single downtown. Chicoutimi has La Pulperie de Chicoutimi, a strong regional museum in a former pulp mill. La Baie has the Musee du Fjord, the Pyramide des Ha! Ha!, and summer boat trips out on the fjord.
Saguenay is also a useful base for the wider fjord. The water, cliffs, and forested slopes become more spectacular east of the city, but staying here gives you museums, restaurants, and transport links without losing the sense that the north is right outside town.