The Gaspé Peninsula is home to many creative and passionate foodies and artisans. Meet some of them during your next vacation and take home something they’ve made as a souvenir of your trip! Here are eight places you’ll want to discover.

Arts and crafts

• In Bonaventure, at the heart of the Chaleur Bay area, artist Serge Boulanger welcomes you at La Ruelle boutique and workshop where he creates ethical clothing and accessories made with upcycled fur and other materials: coats, scarves, hats, mitts, handbags, cushions and more! The results are exclusive items you’ll enjoy wearing or displaying in your home!
• The jeweller Wazo will charm you with pieces inspired by the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms. Visit him in his boutique in Percé where you can discover his refined jewellery shaped to resemble tree branches or corals and set with pearls or stones such as gaspeite, a rare green mineral. It’s the perfect occasion to treat yourself!
• Also in Percé, Mylène Henry is a painter with a colourful style, inspired by her native Gaspésie. You can purchase original paintings as well as prints, books, cards and many other objects featuring her art. Come and meet her: she will be in her gallery all summer long!
• Nathalie Dumouchel is a ceramic artist with a boutique in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts. Her hand-turned pottery, which she decorates with colourful and fanciful illustrations, includes bowls, teapots, cheese plates, butter dishes and ginger rasps. You will undoubtedly want to feature them on your table!

Regional Flavours

• A visit to the Reford Gardens, in Grand-Métis, will give you the opportunity to admire beautiful plants and flowers, but also to taste some of them, thanks to Chef Frédérick Boucher, who cooks with edible flowers grown on site! In the boutique, you can purchase pickled daylily buds, fiddleheads or daisy buds as well as wild blueberry and lavender spread, wild strawberry and basil spread, and much more!
• Ferme Bourdages Tradition, in Bonaventure, is the largest producer of strawberries in the region! Stop to pick your own delicious berries, buy a few homemade pies and jams, or try out their alcoholic strawberry beverages! We bet their wines and liqueurs will delight your guests at home!
• Your tour of the Gaspé Peninsula would not be complete without a stop at a fish smokehouse! Visit the Atkins et Frères smokehouse, in Saint-Maxime-du-Mont-Louis, to delight your taste buds with smoked salmon, mackerel, mussels, northern shrimp, scallops, rillettes and more. You won’t be disappointed!
• Gaspésie is also home to several microbreweries, where you can enjoy relaxing with a tasty craft beer in magnificent settings. Sample their extensive selections and take a few bottles home with you!

Visit the Tourisme Gaspésie website for even more suggestions of artisans and food producers to discover during your vacation. And make sure to keep some space in your luggage for your souvenirs!

Ask your airline about restrictions on what you can pack in your carry-on and checked luggage. If you purchase a fragile souvenir, make sure you pack it carefully to avoid breakage.