Chandler (Quebec)

Birthplace of traditional folk singer Mary "La Bolduc" Travers and championship hockey goaltender Mathieu Garon, Chandler is one of the largest towns in the Gaspé Peninsula, a deepwater seaport and industrial centre situated near the mouth of Chaleur Bay. Although it doesn't have a wealth of tourist attractions to offer visitors, Chandler prides itself on its status as a village-rélais — a Québécois term for a small village or town that boasts a disproportionate wealth of accommodations, shopping and dining options, and other services for highway travellers.

Understand
The city of Chandler took its current form in 2001, when it absorbed the municipalities of Grand-Pabos-Ouest, Newport, Pabos, Pabos Mills, and Saint-François-de-Pabos. The enlarged city was renamed Pabos, but a year later reverted to Chandler. Though the names of these places are still in use by locals, all their attractions and other points of interest are covered in this article.



History
The Chandler area was one of the first parts of the Gaspé Peninsula to be permanently settled by Europeans: as early as 1729, it was home to a community of Basque fishermen called "Pabos", a name of uncertain origin. Though it was razed to the ground by the British in 1758, during the French and Indian War, Pabos was soon rebuilt and flourishing. Through the 19th century it was the largest town in the area, a centre of civic and religious life in the Gaspé Peninsula.

Meanwhile, 5 km (3 miles) west of Pabos, entrepreneur Percy Milton Chandler and his Québécois partner Alfred Dubuc chose the mouth of the Grand Pabos River as the site for the huge St. Lawrence Pulp and Lumber Corporation, which, in 1912, began processing lumber from the dense Gaspesian forests into pulp and paper. Chandler, the company town that grew up around the mill, soon surpassed Pabos in size and became a major regional industrial centre, a status that it retains today despite the closure of the factory in 1999. In 2011, Chandler boasted a population of about 7,700 — about 10% off its historic peak in the 1990s — and a rapidly diversifying, if still struggling, economy.

Visitor information
The official website of the City of Chandler contains a section for tourists, with information about the city and about tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants, and nightlife. Unfortunately, it's available in French only.

By car
Given its status as a village-rélais — not to mention its great distance from passenger airports of any size or importance — Chandler is especially well adapted for those arriving by car. Like most of the Gaspé Peninsula's towns, Chandler is located directly on Provincial Route 132, the main route on the south shore of the St. Lawrence.

The quickest way to Chandler from Quebec City is to take Autoroute 20 east to the end of the road in Mont-Joli; at the traffic circle, bear right (toward Amqui and New Brunswick) and continue for another 365 km (225 miles). Taking this route, the total travel time from Quebec City is roughly seven and a half to eight hours, excluding stops. However, in practice a majority of visitors to Chandler arrive from the direction of Gaspé and Percé. That route — north from the end of A-20 toward Sainte-Flavie and Matane, then eastward along Route 132 along the shore of the St. Lawrence — is by far more scenic and enjoyable than its counterpart, and it only adds another 15 minutes or so onto your travel time.

If you're coming from the Maritimes, cross the Quebec/New Brunswick border at Campbellton and take Route 132 east for around 200 kilometres (125 miles). Chandler is a little over two hours past the border.

By plane
The nearest airport with scheduled passenger service is Bonaventure Airport (Aéroport de Bonaventure), about an hour down the road in Bonaventure, with service to (Îles de la Madeleine, Montreal-Saint-Hubert, and Quebec City via Pascan Aviation. Thrifty car rental has a location just outside of the airport entrance, from which you can continue your trip to Chandler.

By bus

 * Operates daily a route between Gaspé and Rimouski including stops in Percé, Chandler, Bonaventure, Pointe-à-la-Croix (2 km from Campbellton), Amqui, and Mont-Joli. There is one daily bus that departs from Rimouski at 14:55 and arrives in Chandler at 21:26. The fare is $78.18 per passenger, including taxes and two checked bags, with a $5 upcharge for each additional checked bag up to a maximum of four total. The bus drops you off at the gas station at 519, boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest, about 2 km (a mile) west of the town centre.



By boat
Chandler is a port of call for the M/V CTMA Vacancier, a cruise ship that plies the St. Lawrence River from Montreal, taking in Quebec City, the Charlevoix, the Gaspé Peninsula, and the Îles de la Madeleine. There are fifteen departures between mid-June and late September which include both "classic cruises" and themed voyages focusing on health and wellness, Madelinot cuisine, Acadian history, and other specialties. Passengers on the Vacancier can purchase a round-trip ticket that includes two stops in Chandler (a brief one-hour call on the evening of the second day, and a full morning on Day 6 which includes shuttle service to Percé Rock), and one-way service between the different stopovers is also available. Prices are $999 round-trip; one-way service starts at $434 per cabin for the two-day Montreal-Chandler route, plus $205 per car and $25 per bike, or $730 per cabin, plus $519 per car and $50 per bike for those who want to visit the Îles de la Madeleine before disembarking at Chandler on the way back. All prices quoted here include meals and onboard activities but exclude taxes, service fees, port costs ($82 plus tax), and a $300 deposit that's refundable if cancelled at least 60 days in advance.

If you have a private boat, the marina at the  (Club nautique de Chandler) can be found at 510, rue Ernest-Whittom. The marina has 20 slips available for visitors at a rate of $1 per foot per day, $5 per foot per week and $10 per foot per 2 weeks, as well as fuel and pump-out services, showers, and wireless Internet on the docks.

Get around
As mentioned before, Chandler is a town that's built with the automobile in mind. As such, you'll need something more than just your two feet to get around town: attractions in Chandler tend to be spread out, and even downtown isn't terribly amenable to pedestrians.

By bus
RéGÎM is the public transit service for the Gaspé Peninsula, with a network that spreads over most parts of the region. There are two lines that serve Chandler:
 * Route 31 provides weekday afternoon service between Chandler and Percé, with two buses leaving Percé for Chandler at 13:00 and 17:00 and arriving at 13:56 and 17:56 respectively. Going the other way, buses depart Chandler at 11:59 and 15:59 and arrive back at Percé at 12:53 and 16:53, respectively.
 * Route 32 buses leave Paspébiac every weekday morning at 06:20, passing through downtown Chandler at 07:21 on their way to Percé. On the return leg, Paspébiac-bounded buses leave Percé at 09:00 and pass through downtown Chandler at 09:48. There are also abbreviated trips in the afternoon, with Grande-Rivière-bound buses leaving Paspébiac at 14:30 and passing through Chandler at 15:31, with westbound return trips leaving Grande-Rivière at 16:15 and passing through Chandler at 16:37. All buses on Route 32 except 06:20 departures from Paspébiac and 16:15 departures from Grande-Rivière require reservations made at least 24 hours in advance (call +1-877-521-0841).

Fare is payable in cash ($4) or with tickets ($3 apiece, available in books of ten from participating retailers or directly from the bus drivers). If you're planning on making heavy use of RéGÎM during your stay in the Gaspé Peninsula, it might be useful to buy a prepaid Access Card (available online for $5), which are good for a whole month and entitle you to the same discounted $3 fare as tickets.

Beaches


Despite its relative paucity of tourist attractions per se, one thing Chandler does have in spades is beaches. You'll find the best ones west of downtown, with (Plage du banc de Pabos) the most popular of the lot (and, in fact, renowned as one of the finest beaches in all of Quebec). Located on a narrow sand spit between Grand Pabos Bay and the larger Chaleur Bay, this is the only beach in town that's patrolled by lifeguards (Jun-Aug, 11:00-17:00). As well, there are volleyball nets, a picnic ground, a large concession stand, and free parking. On the other side of the inlet, (Parc du bourg de Pabos) in Pabos Mills also has three beaches of a more secluded character.

Further west still, in Newport, are (Plage des Beaux Sables) and  (Plage de l'Anse à Blondel), a pair of pleasant strands further off the beaten path that boast a range of services. In Chandler itself, you have (Plage du Chenal), a lovely sandy shoreline where kitesurfing is a popular pastime, as well as  (Plage de la Marina), which — as the site of a pair of wrecks including the Unisol, a Peruvian cargo ship that went down in 1983 — is popular with snorkelers and scuba divers.

Fishing
Though they fly under the radar compared to some other rivers of the region, the three Pabos Rivers (the Petit Pabos, the Grand Pabos Ouest, and the Grand Pabos Nord) boast some of the best salmon fishing in all of Quebec, thanks to stringent management of the fishery by the provincial government to aid in the recovery of this once-declining species. The three Pabos Rivers make up the Pabok Controlled Harvesting Zone (Zone d'exploitation contrôlée Pabok) and boast 50 km (31 miles) of fishable waters between them; salmon season is June 15-September 30 and is subject to licensing restrictions (licences can be purchased at various locations around town) and daily catch limits. Unique among Quebec's salmon-fishing rivers, salmon caught in the Pabos Rivers that measure more than 63 cm (25 inches) long must be thrown back — this is in order to aid continuing conservation efforts. The Pabos Rivers are also a great place to catch brook trout, three-spined stickleback, Atlantic tomcod, and rainbow smelt. For more information, check out the Three Pabos Rivers website , in French only.

Buy
Despite its village-rélais status, Chandler is by no means a retail destination. If a day of shopping is an itch you simply have to scratch, your best bet is, a shopping plaza located in the northern part of Chandler at 500, avenue Daigneault. Place du Havre boasts about a dozen stores and restaurants including locations of Hart department store, Studio fashion boutique, Uniprix drugstore, Super C supermarket, and Dollarama, as well as a magazine shop/tobacconist, an SAQ provincial liquor outlet, a McDonald's, and a Chinese takeout.

Eat
Chandler's dining scene is remarkable not for its great diversity of cuisines, but for the surprising number of restaurants, cafés and snack bars to choose from in a town this size. The bread and butter here is fast-food establishments and chains — travellers along Route 132 can avail themselves of, , , and other roadside rest-stop favourites — but Chandler has its share of locally-owned operations as well, some of which are listed below.



Gîtes
For a more unique and charming experience, you might consider spending the night at a gîte — the Québécois term for a bed & breakfast.



Connect
Chandler, along with the rest of the Gaspé Peninsula, is served by area codes 418 and 581. Ten-digit dialling is mandatory for local calls, so to reach a number within Chandler or the immediate vicinity, it's still necessary to dial the area code first. To call long-distance within Canada or to the United States, dial 1, then the area code, then the number. For international calls, dial 011, then the country code, then the city code (if applicable), then the number.

The large is downtown at 75, boulevard René-Lévesque. Newport and Pabos also have post offices, and the convenience store in Pabos Mills offers limited postal services as well.

Media
Le Pharillon is a free weekly newspaper covering local news, culture, sports, and events in Chandler and the neighbouring cities and towns of Gaspé, Percé, and Grande-Vallée.

Health care
(Centre hôpitalier de Chandler) is just outside of downtown at 451, rue Monseigneur-Ross Est.



Go next

 * If you're following the Route 132 circuit south and west from the direction of Gaspé and Percé, Chandler is the gateway to the Chaleur Bay region — and a quite different side of the Gaspé Peninsula than you've seen thus far, with flat, lush farmland sandwiched between the low foothills of the Chic-Choc Mountains and the bay that gives the area its name.
 * The first town you'll pass through when heading west is Paspébiac, which, like Chandler, is one of the oldest settlements in the region — the lagoon that gave the town its name (derived from the Mi'kmaq word papgeg ispegiag) once teemed with cod, around which coalesced a motley settlement of Norman French, Basques, Jèrriais, and above all, Acadians. Today, the restored Charles Robin Company warehouses are open to the public as the Paspébiac Fishing Bank National Historic Site, and there are also some pretty good beaches there.
 * Further west, Acadian heritage also abounds in Bonaventure, founded in 1760 by some of the first wave of refugees who fled the expulsion of the Acadians (Grand dérangement) from the Maritime Provinces. Don't be fooled by its sleepy appearance, though: thanks to the gargantuan Quebec Acadian Museum (Musée acadien du Québec), a huge complex featuring everything from historical artifacts to traditional art to reconstructed artisans' workshops to living history displays, and the Gaspé Biopark (Bioparc de la Gaspésie), where a few dozen species of native animals are displayed, Bonaventure is one of the most important tourist towns in the Chaleur Bay region.
 * If you're heading in the other direction, you'll soon come to Percé, home to the Gaspé Peninsula's two marquee tourist attractions, which together make up Bonaventure Island and Percé Rock National Park (Parc national de l'Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé). If elbowing your way through a bustling souvenir shop or people-watching from the terrace of a nice restaurant sounds like the perfect antidote to the solitary tranquility of the rest of the Gaspé Peninsula, Percé is the place for you — but if you're hungry for more quietude, there's also secluded beaches in places like Coin-du-Banc, sea kayaking in off-the-beaten-path Pointe-Saint-Pierre, and long hiking trails through the mountains.