Gaspésie
A road hugging the St. Lawrence until it becomes the sea, a pierced rock set on the horizon and 110,000 clamouring gannets: Gaspésie is the finest driving loop in the East.
Suggested stay — 5 to 6 nights
The Gaspésie tour is 885 km of Route 132 looping around the peninsula, best driven counter-clockwise to stay on the seaward side: the St. Lawrence widens village after village, the silver church spires file past, and the road ends up pinched between cliff and water north of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts — the most spectacular stretch. At the tip, Forillon National Park plunges its cliffs into the gulf: seals, black bears and porcupines along the trails, and whales visible from Cap Gaspé — fin whales and sometimes blue whales, straight from the footpath.
Percé closes the show in apotheosis: the pierced rock, monumental at low tide, and above all Bonaventure Island, home to one of the world's largest northern gannet colonies — you walk literally to the edge of 110,000 birds, sound and smell experience included. Inland, Gaspésie National Park raises the Chic-Chocs above 1,000 m: Mont Albert and its tundra plateau, and the last caribou south of the St. Lawrence, sadly few in number.
Don't miss
- Bonaventure Island and its gannet colony (boat from Percé, then a walk)
- The Land's End trail to Cap Gaspé in Forillon — whales from the clifftop
- Mont Albert and its summit tundra in the Chic-Chocs
- Route 132 between Sainte-Anne-des-Monts and Mont-Saint-Pierre, the St. Lawrence corniche
Our tips on the ground
- Drive the loop counter-clockwise (north side first): you'll be on the sea side along the corniche sections, and pull-offs are reached without crossing the road.
- Book the Sepaq campgrounds (Forillon, Gaspésie park) from winter for July-August: Quebecers book early and the best seaside pitches go first.
- Gaspesian lobster is in season from May to July: the wharf fishmongers (Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé, L'Anse-à-Beaufils) sell it cooked at gentle prices — the perfect campervan feast.
Our flagship guide — €29
Guide available“Canada on Your Own”, the complete edition, is out
10 chapters: day-by-day itineraries, driving and transport, a costed budget and checklists — the same method as our Namibia guide.
The guide is currently written in French — an English edition is in the works.
Before you go
Readers' questions about Gaspésie
How long for the Gaspésie loop?
Five nights is the honest minimum for the full loop from Québec City or Rimouski; a week adds a proper hiking day in the Chic-Chocs and one at Forillon without driving every day. With less, settle for the Sainte-Anne-des-Monts–Percé segment, the densest in scenery.
Can you still walk out to Percé Rock?
Only at low tide, with permission granted by the tides more than by people: the window lasts about two hours and the municipal boards post the safe times. Approaching the foot of the rock is sometimes restricted because of rockfall — the rock loses several hundred tonnes a year. By boat or from the Mont Joli lookout, it stays photogenic at any hour.