Key points
Plan 10 days to drive around the Gaspé, the peninsula in eastern Quebec, starting from Quebec City: about 1,570 km on Route 132, taking in Forillon National Park at the tip of the peninsula, the mountains of Gaspésie National Park, and the village of Percé with its famous rock. Seven days is doable, but you’ll be driving almost every day. Go between late June and mid-September.
- The loop from Quebec City to Percé (the village of the famous rock, at the eastern end of the Gaspé) and back, on coastal Route 132 and through the inland Matapédia Valley, is about 1,570 km, roughly twenty hours of driving.
- Ten days allow two nights each in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts (at the foot of Gaspésie National Park), Forillon and Percé; in seven, you give up the hikes.
- Forillon (a federal Parks Canada park at the tip of the Gaspé): C$10 per adult per day in 2026, C$19.50 per family or group; free for under-18s.
- Quebec national parks (the provincial network run by Sépaq): C$11.74 per adult per day in 2026, best bought online because daily entries are capped. One of them, Bonaventure Island (the bird sanctuary off Percé), is open from May 31 to October 12 in 2026.
- After Thanksgiving (a holiday on the second Monday of October in Canada), many hotels, restaurants and tours in the Gaspé close until spring.
Ten days gives you time to hike in the parks and take the boat to Bonaventure Island, off the village of Percé, without spending every day behind the wheel. With more than 12 days, you can carry on by ferry to the Magdalen Islands (an archipelago out in the Gulf of St. Lawrence) or to the North Shore (the river’s north bank).
The Gaspé is the peninsula that juts into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the inland sea where the river meets the Atlantic, east of Quebec City in the province of Quebec. A single road loops around it, Route 132. It runs between the St. Lawrence, a river so wide you’d take it for the sea, and the Chic-Choc Mountains, some of the highest in Quebec. It’s Quebecers’ favourite road trip, and a French visitor will find something of Brittany in it, stretched over hundreds of kilometres, with whales thrown in.
How many days do you need for the Gaspé?
The full loop takes about twenty hours of actual driving. So the length of your trip comes down to how much time you want to spend in the parks, on the trails and out on the water.
| Length | What you do | What you give up |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | The full loop, driving almost every day, one night per stop | Hikes in Gaspésie National Park (up in the mountains), a full day at Forillon (the park at the peninsula’s tip) |
| 10 days | Two nights in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts (at the foot of the mountains), Forillon and Percé, one hike per park | Nothing essential |
| 14 days | The loop at a slow pace, with car-free days | Nothing, or add the Magdalen Islands |
Whichever length you pick, book two nights wherever you want to hike. With a single night at Forillon, you arrive in the late afternoon and leave the next morning without ever seeing Cap Gaspé, the very end of the peninsula.
The 10-day itinerary, stage by stage
Drive the loop clockwise if you can. That way the north coast, the most dramatic stretch, comes first, and you head home along Chaleur Bay, the gentler south coast facing New Brunswick, and then inland.
- Quebec CityStart; pick up the car in town or at the airport
- ≈ 170 km · 2 h 20KamouraskaLunch stop by the river, old houses
- ≈ 190 km · 2 h 40Sainte-Flavie / Grand-Métis1 nightReford Gardens, the gateway to the Gaspé
- ≈ 150 km · 2 h 20Sainte-Anne-des-Monts2 nightsGaspésie National Park, Mont Albert
- ≈ 200 km · 3 h 10Forillon (Cap-des-Rosiers)2 nightsThe peninsula’s tip, seals and whales from the shore
- ≈ 110 km · 1 h 45Percé2 nightsPercé Rock, Bonaventure Island and its gannets
- ≈ 190 km · 3 hCarleton-sur-Mer1 nightChaleur Bay, Miguasha fossils
- ≈ 260 km · 4 hRimouski1 nightBack through the Matapédia Valley
- ≈ 300 km · 4 h 20Quebec CityEnd of the loop
Day 1: Quebec City to the gateway of the Gaspé
Day one is long, 360 km, but it’s easy driving: first Highway 20, which follows the south shore of the St. Lawrence, then the road that hugs the river more closely. Have lunch in Kamouraska, a waterfront village that ranks among Quebec’s prettiest, then sleep in Sainte-Flavie, the village that marks the official entrance to the Gaspé.
Days 2 and 3: the Reford Gardens and Gaspésie National Park
In the morning, visit the Reford Gardens (Jardins de Métis) in neighbouring Grand-Métis, an English-style garden created in the early 20th century, open from May 30 to October 4 in 2026, before heading on to Sainte-Anne-des-Monts for two nights.
From Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, a small town on the peninsula’s north coast, a road climbs inland to Gaspésie National Park and the Chic-Chocs. The Mont Albert hike, up one of the park’s big summits, takes a full day; the trail to Lac aux Américains, a lake in the same park, takes an hour or two. Some summits close for part of the year to protect the last caribou herd (the North American reindeer) south of the St. Lawrence: check which trails are open before you go.
Days 4 and 5: Forillon, the tip of the peninsula
From Sainte-Anne-des-Monts to Forillon, Route 132 hugs the cliffs for 200 km, through one fishing village after another, all the way to the tip of the peninsula. The tip itself belongs to Forillon, a park created in 1970 by Parks Canada, the federal national parks agency, that narrows to a point at Cap Gaspé. The trail out to the cape follows the water the whole way, so you often spot seals, and sometimes whales, without setting foot on a boat. Set aside a full day.
Days 6 and 7: Percé and Bonaventure Island
Percé Rock, pierced by an arch, is the emblem of the Gaspé. You see it from all over the village, but walking to its base is forbidden because of rockfalls. To see it up close, take the crossing to Bonaventure Island: private boats leave Percé wharf, circle the rock, then drop you on the island, where a trail leads in about an hour to the northern gannet colony.
The Bonaventure Island gannet colony
Tens of thousands of white, yellow-headed birds pack the cliff so tightly that you can watch them from a metre away behind the fence. You hear them before you see them, and the smell is just as hard to miss. The colony reached nearly 60,000 pairs in 2009; avian flu hit it hard in 2022, and it has been recovering since.
- Best time
- June to September, when the chicks are in the nest
- Time needed
- Half a day including the crossing
- Price
- Private boat + C$11.74 park access per adult
- Booking
- Book the crossing with Percé boat operators; buy park access online
Days 8 to 10: Chaleur Bay, then home
Past Percé, the landscape softens, and the south coast is all beaches and Acadian villages, founded by descendants of the French settlers of Acadia. In Carleton-sur-Mer, a small town on the bay, drive up Mont Saint-Joseph for the view over the bay, then make the detour to Miguasha, a national park on UNESCO’s World Heritage list for its 380-million-year-old fish fossils. That leaves 560 km back to Quebec City, which you cover in two days: through the Matapédia Valley, across the inland part of the peninsula, then via Rimouski, a town on the river.
The four parks on the loop
Two networks run the Gaspé’s parks, with separate ticketing: Parks Canada for Forillon, and Sépaq (Quebec’s public outdoor parks corporation, run by the province) for the Quebec national parks. Both call their sites “national parks,” but a pass from one isn’t valid at the other.
| Park | Run by | Adult day access (2026) | Don’t miss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forillon | Parks Canada | C$10.00 (family: C$19.50) | The Cap Gaspé trail |
| Gaspésie National Park | Sépaq | C$11.74 | Mont Albert, Lac aux Américains |
| Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé | Sépaq | C$11.74 + private boat | The gannet colony |
| Miguasha | Sépaq | C$11.74 | The fossil museum |
Both networks let under-18s in free, and at Forillon you only pay entry fees from early June to Thanksgiving, the Canadian holiday in mid-October. Sépaq, on the other hand, caps daily visitor numbers in its parks, which is why it’s best to buy access online, up to 30 days ahead. Since the loop takes you through three of its parks, compare the total day fees with the annual “Parcs nationaux du Québec” card, at C$93 per adult.
When to go to the Gaspé
The season is short. Before mid-June, many places to stay and tours haven’t opened yet, and after Thanksgiving, the second Monday of October, much of the peninsula shuts down until spring.
| Period | What you get | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| June | Everything reopens, few people, very long days | Cool nights, black flies (small biting flies) on the trails |
| July–August | High season, warmest sea, gannets on the nest | Book rooms and crossings ahead |
| September | Light, quiet, many services still open | The best compromise |
| Early October | Fall colours, peaking around the first and second weeks of October | Last Bonaventure crossings on October 12 in 2026 |
If the Gaspé is only one leg of a longer trip, plan the rest around the best time to visit each region of Canada: the dates aren’t the same everywhere.
Driving in the Gaspé: what’s different from France
- One road. Route 132 goes all the way around, and if construction or a storm closes it, the detour can take hours. Leave some slack in your schedule.
- No expressways on the peninsula. The limit is mostly 90 km/h, much like a French country road, dropping to 50 through every village: count on averaging 65 km/h.
- Fill up when you can. Gas stations are far apart on parts of the north coast and in the Matapédia, and few stay open late.
- Moose. Bigger than a horse, they cross mostly at dawn and dusk: slow down where the signs warn you and avoid driving at night.
Getting ready
Before you go
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Once your stops are set, price the rental, gas, rooms and meals for your dates in the trip budget calculator, which adds taxes and tips.
Common questions
Can you do the Gaspé without a car?
It’s hard. Intercity buses link the main towns, but rarely more than once a day, and the parks are poorly served. A car is the only way to do the loop at your own pace.
Should you start from Montreal?
You can, but Montreal, Quebec’s largest city, is 250 km from Quebec City, which adds about 3 hours each way. So start the loop in Quebec City, either by flying there directly from Paris or by taking the train from Montreal.
Can you swim in the sea?
It stays cold even in August, especially on the north coast. Sheltered, shallower Chaleur Bay is the most pleasant for a swim.
Do you see whales in the Gaspé?
Yes, especially around Forillon and Gaspé, from the shore or on a boat trip, from June to September. To see the most, though, the place to go is still Tadoussac, a village on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, closer to Quebec City.
Where should you stay in Percé?
Book early: the village is small and fills up in July–August. Forillon and Sépaq campgrounds are a good option if you travel with a tent.
