The question that comes up most often at the desk: are the hotel and the casino the same building? No. Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, a five-star, 405-room smoke-free hotel, and Casino de Charlevoix, a Loto-Québec property opened on 24 June 1994, are two separate operations sitting side by side on the Pointe-au-Pic cliff. A discreet underground passage links them, which changes everything in February.
Second question: the address. The complex stands at 183 rue Richelieu, La Malbaie, G5A 1X8. The current hotel dates from 1928-1929, châteauesque in style, designed by architect John Archibald, and it replaced the 1899 building lost to fire. Guest rooms spread across five floors.
What follows deals mainly with the stay itself: where to sleep, where to eat, where to leave the car, what time to arrive. The gaming floor is part of the complex and stays open to guests aged 18 and over, but it takes up only one portion of the site.
Where the hotel sits and how to reach it
La Malbaie lies roughly 150 km east of Québec City, under 90 minutes by road from Jean-Lesage International Airport. Allow more time if you drive late on a summer afternoon: the route hugs the river and tourist traffic slows the passage through the villages.
Charlevoix Airport, in Saint-Irénée, sits 8.1 km south-southwest of La Malbaie and has long served the Manoir Richelieu and the casino. It operates from May to November depending on snow cover, which makes it a summer option only.
On parking, remember three things. Free outdoor parking exists but spaces are limited; garages P1, P2 and P3 are paid, while lots P4 through P10 are free. Valet service at the Fairmont costs $39 per night with unlimited in-and-out privileges. Electric vehicle charging stations are installed on site, and taxi service is available at any hour.
Travelling from Québec City without a car, note that a shuttle reserved for Casino Privilèges members leaves the Salon de jeux de Québec on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Reservations are taken by phone or at the Client Experience desk starting the Monday before departure, first come first served.
Room categories and what gets added to the rate
The entry category is the Fairmont room: 19 to 20 m2, or 200 to 220 sq ft, with a king bed, a queen bed or two double beds, and a view over the gardens. Above that come the Deluxe View and Deluxe View Jacuzzi rooms, larger and turned toward the landscape.
Rates swing widely with the season. One aggregator listed C$182 for a queen room, C$223 for a king and C$232 for a Deluxe: treat those figures as a snapshot, not a fixed grid.
Two amounts turn up on the bill regularly. The resort fee is $40 per room per night and covers the most requested activities on the hotel grounds. Dogs and cats are welcome in the rooms for $60 per room per night; declare the animal when you book, not on arrival.
Check-in starts at 4 p.m. and check-out is at 11 a.m. You will be asked for photo identification and a credit card at the desk, so keep both within reach rather than buried in a suitcase. Ten accessible rooms exist, some with widened doorways for wheelchairs; bath benches and raised toilet seats come from housekeeping, wheelchairs from Security.
Eating and drinking on site
The hotel restaurants are open to everyone, guests or not. Only St-Hubert Signé Casino, located on the gaming floor, requires guests to be 18 or over.
| Venue | Location | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Le Bellerive | Hotel | Breakfast 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., lunch 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m., dinner 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; evening service may be suspended depending on the season |
| Bellerive Café | Hotel | Filter coffee, pressed juices and house pastries |
| Le Saint-Laurent | Hotel | Cooking built on Charlevoix products, dining room facing the river |
| Le Point Cardinal | Hotel, golf side | Breakfast and lunch, terrace; open during the golf season |
| St-Hubert Signé Casino | Gaming floor | Rotisserie, bottomless coleslaw, takeout meals, 18 and over |
| Room service | Guest rooms | Full menu and bar service, daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
For drinks, Bar 21, inside the casino, runs DJ nights every Saturday from 9 p.m., with special programming on long weekends. Bar Le Zéphyr pours cocktails on the terrace and pool side, handy between swims. Dinner at Le Bellerive is not guaranteed year-round: check evening service before building your first night around it.
Pools, spa, golf and meeting rooms
The property holds a spa, a health club, two outdoor pools open in every season and a 27-hole golf course. Pools heated through the winter are the detail guests arriving in January mention most; pack a swimsuit even for a snowmobile trip, since the hotel offers a snowmobile package with heated parking.
For groups, the conference centre handles more than 1,000 people: 12 modular rooms, 4 of which seat 10 to 50, plus a large ballroom divisible into 3 sections, from 20 to 1,050 people.
The neighbouring gaming floor counts more than 700 slot machines, 9 tables, electronic terminals and sports betting kiosks across three levels. Hours recorded in 2021 put opening at 11 a.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, closing at 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, with seasonal and holiday adjustments. A facial recognition system is used as part of the self-exclusion programme, for people who have consented to having their features recorded.
The casino name also circulates online well beyond the complex, on sites promising bonuses and gaming accounts. The independent file Casino Charlevoix online sets out what actually operates under that name on the internet; it carries no restaurant menus and no room reviews.
How to book, step by step
1) Settle the dates first: summer is the regional high season and La Malbaie lodgings fill months ahead, at rates above the average.
2) Pick the category: a Fairmont room for a couple or a solo traveller, Deluxe View or Deluxe View Jacuzzi if the view matters more than the price.
3) Read the conditions attached to the rate you choose: some offers can be changed or cancelled free of charge until a set date, others are prepaid and non-refundable, and some require a one-night deposit forfeited on cancellation or no-show.
4) Add the resort fee of $40 per room per night to your overall budget while you are still doing the arithmetic.
5) Declare the dog or the cat at that exact moment: $60 per room per night.
6) Request an accessible room at the booking stage if you need one, rather than at the check-in desk.
7) Note check-in at 4 p.m. and check-out at 11 a.m., then set aside photo identification and a credit card.
8) Book separately anything that does not depend on the hotel, such as the via ferrata run on the grounds by Projet Vertical: payment in full at reservation, 40 percent retained on cancellation inside 14 days, Visa and MasterCard accepted.
When to come and what to expect on site
Summer opens everything: trails, whale watching, long days and a full food calendar across Charlevoix. It is also the busiest stretch, and therefore the most expensive.
Autumn remains the strongest alternative, with colour along the river road, whale watching still running and cooler temperatures that thin the crowds. Nearly every photograph of Charlevoix in red and gold was taken in this window.
December draws few visitors to La Malbaie, which makes it the cheapest month for anyone who accepts the cold. Keep in mind that several facilities follow the warm-weather calendar: Le Point Cardinal closes outside the golf season, and the gaming floor opens late in the morning. More than a few guests have queued in front of locked doors before 11 a.m.; check the day’s schedule before you walk through the tunnel.
Access to the gaming floor and the bars is restricted to those 18 and over; set a limit before you start and play in moderation.
