Sainte-Catherine: Waterfront, cycling paths and art

Sainte-Catherine offers several ways to combine a trip along the St. Lawrence River with time outdoors and cultural discoveries. A 2.7-kilometre waterfront promenade, a cycling network of more than 25 kilometres and public art offer a variety of experiences. For families who like to keep their days varied, these options can help you decide which aspects of the area to focus on. When choosing a vacation rental, you can consider whether you’d like to explore Sainte-Catherine mainly from the water, by bike, or through its parks and art venues.

Waterfront and green spaces

The waterfront promenade runs along Boulevard Marie-Victorin beside the St. Lawrence Seaway and offers impressive panoramas. At 2.7 kilometres long, it provides a clear point of reference for anyone who wants to include the waterfront in their trip. The combination of views of the water and a clearly defined route gives your stay a different focus from a day devoted mainly to cycling or art.

A biodiversity corridor also shapes the municipality’s landscape. The City of Sainte-Catherine established it in 2024 beneath Hydro-Québec’s transmission line. It crosses the municipality and connects, among other areas, the Saint-Régis and de la Tortue rivers with other forests and green spaces. The corridor was created in collaboration with WWF-Canada. It offers another way to experience local nature while planning your trip, alongside the waterfront directly beside the river.

Getting around by bike

If you’d like to explore Sainte-Catherine by bike, you’ll find a cycling network of more than 25 kilometres. It includes part of Route Verte – La riveraine. The network’s size can help you decide whether cycling should be a major part of your stay. When choosing where to stay, consider whether cycling is central to your group’s trip or whether you’d prefer to spread your time across different experiences.

Parks, art and local history

The Espaces habités art trail winds through the three municipal parks of Fleur-de-Lys, Optimiste and RécréoParc. The project brought together around 40 individual works made from paper and wool to form one large collective artwork. Maison Hilaire-Guérin is also part of the area’s history: it is considered one of the last remaining testimonies to Sainte-Catherine’s pioneer era.

Another notable work is Soleil d’eau douce, a monumental public sculpture almost 25 feet high at the Histoires de pêche site. Inspired by stories told by fishermen at this location, it pays tribute to the area’s fishing heritage. It was created by the Famille Plouffe. The sculpture stands on a wooden platform reminiscent of a dock at the landscaped site, a few steps from the mouth of the Saint-Régis River, in a quiet stretch of the St. Lawrence Seaway. An identification sign with a QR code guides visitors with visual impairments to an audio description.

Waterfront recreation and park amenities

RécréoParc offers year-round access to nature, along with a wide range of outdoor recreation, sports and cultural activities. Its nautical zone stretches for three kilometres and is suitable for fishing, boating, paddling and walking. This range of options offers different ways to spend time outdoors together; which ones best suit your trip depends on whether you’d rather get out on the water or be active on land.

L’Archipel is a cultural and festive venue on the waterfront. Its amenities include a mobile stage and facilities for picnicking and recreation. If you’d like to include culture in your stay alongside nature and outdoor activities, it offers another point of interest. Parc Francis-Xavier-Fontaine, meanwhile, is the first universally accessible park in the Roussillon region. Its design placed particular emphasis on including children and families with functional limitations.

Other places: Châteauguay.

For the broader travel overview: Roussillon.