If grandeur is the point, this is where the guide begins: a castle in all but name on a bluff over the St. Lawrence in Charlevoix, a landmark since the 1920s, with the refined Casino de Charlevoix connected under cover.
Casino de Charlevoix is elegant rather than enormous — a tasteful Loto-Quebec room of table games, electronic gaming and slots, joined to the hotel by a covered passage. It is calm, refined and beautifully kept, in keeping with the chateau above it.
The point here is not scale but setting: a night at the tables inside a heritage landmark, with the river below and the hills beyond, which no purpose-built hall can imitate.
The chateau holds around 400 rooms and suites in classic Fairmont style, many with sweeping views over the water and the Charlevoix hills. This is a grand hotel first and a casino-hotel second, and the grandeur is entirely real.
Public rooms, terraces and staircases carry the weight of a century of history, and the sense of occasion starts the moment you arrive at the copper-roofed front.
There are several restaurants, cliff-top pools, a full spa and a celebrated 27-hole course on the grounds, with skiing, whale-watching and the Charlevoix food trail nearby.
Few casino-hotels anywhere pair gaming with this much to do, and fewer still do it inside a building people travel to see for its own sake.
The resort sits in La Malbaie, about two and a half hours downriver from Quebec City — a scenic drive through Charlevoix that is part of the trip.
It is a splurge, but as a romantic or special-occasion escape with a casino attached, it is simply unmatched in the country, which is why it tops this guide.