Planning a May 2026 trip to tour the Eastern Townships and visit some of Louise Penny's inspiration for her Three Pines/Inspector Gamache novels. Driving up from Maine so will have a car and bicycles. Planning 4 nights mid-week. I've searched the forums and only found fairly dated posts so would love some refreshed suggestions.

Accommodations: have booked all 4 nights at Domaine Jolivent in Knowlton/Lac-Brome. We prefer two separate beds or a king so that limited choices. It doesn't seem like distances are great, but is it wise to spend all 4 nights there? Looked at places in North Hatley. Manoir Hovey is lovely but a little $$ for us. Auberge La Chocolatiere is interesting, but doesn't seem to be taking reservations. I emailed them through their website but no reply. Ripplecove in Ayer's Cliff looks nice. Should we look in other small towns? We like being in a village and walking distance to restaurants. Magog seems quite a bit bigger.

Restaurant suggestions? Both fancy and casual appreciated?

We'll be looking into wineries and breweries in the area and have some cycling information for the bike paths.

All thoughts welcome. Thanks again!

The Brome Lake Biking Path is a must if you are in the area

I did a similar trip a couple of years ago. We started in Toronto and drove to Ottawa. Enjoyed visiting the city -, did a tour of the Parliament buildings, and a trolley tour of the city. Beautiful city. Then we did the eastern townships. We stayed in Magog in Hotel Verso on the Lake Memphremagog with nice views and walking path along the lake. There was a restaurant next door which we ate at twice because food was good and nice lake views.
We did some driving around the countryside, stopped at the Abby made famous by Louise Penny and walked around- did not do the guided tour. They have a nice store with lots of wine, cheese, variety of foods. We happened to be there when the monks were in the chapel doing their chants. Walked around Knowlton and visited the book store where all of Louise Penny's books are available. They have a self drive tour where you can visit many of the sites made famous in her books.
We drove to Tadoussac to go whale watching but the water was too rough that day so trips were cancelled. We bought sweatshirts and drove back.
We spent one night in Baie St Paul which was a nice little town with cute shops and restaurants.
Drove back to Toronto. I loved that trip and seeing that part of the country.
Did not do any biking.
Hope you enjoy

Forgot to add we also spent a couple of nights in Quebec City- lovely city- so much history. Our favorite place for dinner was Aux Anciens Canadiens- It is in an historic home and serves Quebec specials like meat pie.

Thanks to both of you for the tips. I also love Montreal and Quebec City and have been to both several times so I think this trip is going to focus on the countryside. But of course if it rains we might pop up to Montreal for some indoor sightseeing - the Basilica there is wonderful! Much of the artwork devoted to women and native peoples and the cooperation. Very unusual!

As an update, I think we've decided to spend all 4 nights at Domaine Jolivent in Lac-Broome. We are two women friends traveling together and many places didn't have two twins or a king sized bed that we prefer. And we're happy to not be moving during our stay. It seems that everything we want to see is relatively close by. (We considered staying in the North Hatley area, but options were very limited.)
Thoughts? Also, recommendations on restaurants appreciated!

I think you'll find there is plenty to see and do in Knowlton, the town being quite charming. If you like Indian food, there is a good Indian restaurant close to where you'll be staying called Chez Moi Chez Toi. There is a very nice vineyard on Chemin Brome close to where you'll be staying. The ski town of Sutton is not too far off either and has plenty to offer even in the summer, breweries, restaurants, art galleries.etc. Have a nice stay in the Eastern Townships.

Staying all 4 nights in Knowlton is totally fine - it’s pretty central - but I’d maybe plan one day around North Hatley just to mix up the vibe a bit (it’s super charming).

Thank you Imasphere and duckies. We actually have decided to spend 2 nights in North Hatley at the Auberge la Choclaterie and then two nights in Knowlton. Turns out Louise is doing a book signing in Stansted/Derby Line at the famous library/opera house that straddles the border. We'll stop there on the way up, very excited! Thanks for the Indian restaurant recommendation and others. I'm sure this won't be our only trip to the area!