Start from 33 curated places around Magog, CA, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
La Memphré
A lakefront pub-restaurant on Rue Merry in a heritage Victorian house steps from the Quai MacPherson, pouring its own microbrewery beers alongside pub plates, the Rémy poutine, and duck-wing shareables. The wraparound terrace looking onto Lac Memphrémagog is the room everyone is angling for between June and September.
MÉLY Smoked Meat
A Montreal-style smoked meat counter at Place du Commerce doing hand-sliced briskets, poutines, and the standard deli sides without pretending to be anything else. It is the unfussy weekday lunch most locals end up at when they want the real thing away from the lakefront bustle.
Trails & outdoors
Mont-Chauve (Parc national du Mont-Orford)
The mid-distance summit hike in Parc national du Mont-Orford, an out-and-back climbing through hardwood forest to an open bald with one of the broadest views in the Townships. It is the headline hike for a half-day in the park and the easier alternative to the Mont-Orford summit.
Mont-Orford Summit Trail
The longer climb to the 853-metre summit of Mont-Orford, threading through boreal forest on the way up and rewarded with a broad view over the lake and the surrounding ridges from the lift-station platform at the top. The descent on foot is the slower, prettier half.
Things to do
Croisieres Memphremagog
Narrated lake cruises out of the Quai MacPherson, running from a short downtown loop to longer trips down the lake toward the Abbaye de Saint-Benoit-du-Lac and the international border. The cruise is the standard way to see the abbey from the water and to put the lake's full length in one frame.
Vignoble Le Cep d'Argent
One of the founding vineyards of the Route des Vins des Cantons-de-l'Est, a few minutes south of Magog, producing white, rose, and sparkling wines as well as fortifieds and a maple apertif. The cellar tour and tasting are the standard half-day plan from town.
Landmarks & sights
Abbaye de Saint-Benoit-du-Lac
A working Benedictine abbey on a wooded peninsula across the lake from Magog, with a 1939 Dom Bellot-designed church in pink and grey granite that is one of the most distinctive religious buildings in Quebec. The monks farm, make cider and the well-known Saint-Benoit cheeses, and sing the offices in Gregorian chant through the day.
Parc de la Pointe-Merry
The lakefront park at the north end of Lac Memphrémagog, with a long boardwalk, the Quai MacPherson, a small beach, and the open lawn that hosts most of the town's summer festivals. It is the town's natural gathering point and the easiest place to put yourself on the water without a boat.