“We drove around a corner and I was hit smack bang in the face with colour. Oranges, yellows and reds, all combining together to make the perfect picture of Fall. It was exactly how I had always imagined it to be, but then somehow better. It was magic.”

If you’re looking for the ultimate Quebec fall road trip itinerary, this is it.

Quebec in the fall is honestly one of the most incredible places we’ve every visited. We spent a week road tripping from Quebec City through some of the provinces most beautiful national parks and passing rolling hills, cute towns and endless red, orange and yellow landscapes and of course staying in some seriously coy places along the way.

The thing we loved about Fall in Quebec was that it feels like such an underrated place to chase Fall colours compared to some of the most famous destinations in the USA. When we visited, we found incredible viewpoints, colourful hiking trails and entire stretches of road surrounded by Fall foliage without the huge crowds.

In this Quebec Fall road trip itinerary, I’ll take you through exactly where we went, where we stayed, the best Fall hikes and viewpoints, how to plan your trip around peak foliage and everything you need to know to recreate the trip yourself.

We spent 7 days on this road trip, but I’ve also included an optional extension if you have closer to 10 days.

Make sure you bring your camera, because by the end of this trip you’ll have a memory card full of golden forests and magical views that will make you fall in love with Autumn all over again.

7 Day Quebec Fall Road Trip Itinerary

There are SO many provincial parks in Quebec that have amazing hikes and amazing Fall colours! We explored some of the best parks in Quebec to see the Fall colours and did some amazing hikes.

We picked the following 4 parks to visit during our road trip which were all incredible in their own way. 3 of these parks are all in close proximity to each other up North and one of them (Mont Mégantic) is down South. Together, they made the perfect Fall Road Trip in Quebec.

• Parc national de Mont Mégantic
• Parc national des Hautes‑Gorges-de-la-Rivière‑Malbaie
• Parc national des Grands-Jardins
• Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier

Click here to open the map in Google Maps! The map also includes directions to show the way we took on our road trip.

Day 1-2: Parc national du Mont-Mégantic

From Quebec City to Mont-Mégantic, it is around a 3 hour drive.

Mont-Mégantic is the only park on this list which is down South. Although it was kind of out of the way for us, we found that it was the least touristy park that we visited and had some of the views all to ourselves, so the extra drive is totally worth it.

The Fall colours in Mont Mégantic were amazing and it is a park you simply have to add to your list! We do not regret the out of the way drive for this park at all!

Hikes in Mont-Mégantic

We did Sentier Des Cimes for sunset and spent sunset overlooking a sea of red and orange trees. It was absolutely magical and a great way to start our road trip! Another great hike is the Mont Mégantic Trail which is a bit longer and steeper but the views are insane from the top!

Sentier Des Cimes

Mont Mégantic Trail

Places to stay near Mont-Mégantic

We stayed in the cutest little cabin near Mont-Megantic. It was a great stay apart from the check in, which was an unfortunate situation of the hosts forgetting to send us the check instructions and door code and then us not speaking French and them not speaking English when we were trying to explain our problem. Google Translate saved us!

This is your reminder: ALWAYS remember to check that you have all the information you need to check into your accommodation as these days it is quite often a self check in. Even with the unfortunate check in mishap, we still absolutely loved our stay as the cabin was clean and had good facilities and so have recommended the cabin below.

• Domaine Des Montagnais – This is where we stayed. They have a selection of cabins ranging from lots of different sizes.
• Domaine de La Giroux-ette – Another great option near the park which includes breakfast! I took ages to choose between this one and the cabin that we booked because they both looked so amazing!

Day 3: Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier

From Mont-Megantic to Jacques Cartier it’s a 3 hour 15 minute drive. We decided not to stay here and instead we just stopped in the park to do a short hike, before continuing onto Parc national des Hautes‑Gorges which is another 2 hour 40 minute drive.

Hikes in Jacques-Cartier

If you are planning on just a quick stopover in Jacques Cartier like us, the Eperon Trail is a great choice for a short hike with a view. If you are planning on spending an entire day in the park, you might want to opt for a longer, more challenging hike such as The Wolves Trail. We found that the Eperon Trail was busy but beautiful.

L’Eperon Trail

The Wolves Trail

Day 4-5 Parc national des Hautes‑Gorges-de-la-Rivière‑Malbaie

Hautes-Gorges is one of the most popular parks in the Fall, and for good reason! This park is beautiful and it was so vibrant at the peak of Fall when we were there. It is one of the best parks for Fall colours in Quebec.

There are lots of hikes in Hautes-Gorges and also some lovely spots to relax by the water if you prefer not to hike.

There is a boat cruise which you can do along the Rivière Malbaie between Le Draveur Visitors Centre and the Équerre sector. The cruise is around an hour long and takes you 5km up the river and back again.

The bridge next to Le Draveur Visitors Centre is also really pretty and a great place to have lunch next to at the picnic tables. We enjoyed taking photos here.

TIP: Contact Sepaq with regards to whether you can drive into the park or not. We visited on a weekday and were able to drive in, however, on the weekends you may need to book a shuttle due to the popularity. To find out what the shuttle service options, you will need to contact Sepaq by phone at 418-439-1227 or ask for more information when you arrive at the park.

Hikes in Hautes-Gorges

There are some really beautiful hikes in this park. We recommend L’Acropole-des-Draveurs which is where the below photo is from. This hike takes you high up above the tree line and has some amazing views of the river and the Fall trees below.

It is the most popular hike in the park so you will not have the viewpoint to yourself, however there is not only 1, but 3 summits at the top so plenty of space to spread out and get your photos. There are some rules for this hike, such as strict cut off times to start and descend. You can find more on these rules here.

L’Acropole-des-Draveurs Stats

Places to stay near Hautes-Gorges

If you want to stay close to the park entrance, you need to make sure you book well in advance as this is the accommodation that gets booked up first. Some great options near to the park are:

• The Hautes Gorges Relay – this is where we stayed and we loved it! It is only a 15 minute drive from the park and they do the BEST breakfasts! Probably the best pancakes either of us have ever had! Don’t wait to book this hotel because it sells out fast during Fall!
• Chez Les Bergeron – about 25 minutes drive from the park with a beautiful garden, hot tub and yummy continental breakfast!

Day 6-7: Parc national des Grands-Jardins

Grand Jardins is located in the Charlevoix Regional County Municipality, only an hour away from Hautes Gorges and the colours were absolutely stunning!

You could definitely visit this park while staying in one of the accommodations closer to Hautes-Gorges if you prefer not to have to move. We ended up staying in Baie-Saint-Paul in this motel which was simple but worked well.

From our motel, it was only 20 minutes to the Grand Jardins park entrance. Baie-Saint-Paul is the closest town to the park and it is so cute! There are some really nice shops and places to eat. It really made us feel as though we were in Europe!

Hikes in Grand-Jardins

This park is a gold mine of awesome hikes! We recommend the ones listed below but if you only have time for one hike, our favourite was Mont Du Dome (pictured below), which is technically located outside of the park in a separate recreation area called ZEC des Martres, however it is still in the located along the same road as the other hikes. Personally I think this is the best Fall hike in Quebec so if you choose one, pick this one!

Another hike with amazing views is Mont du Lac-des-Cygnes Trail which has some of the most impressive views of the Fall foliage from the top and is a must do and also Monts du Lac à l’Empêche which has insane views during most of the hike as you are continuously hiking up and over the summits.

Mont du Lac-des-Cygnes Trail

Monts du Lac à l’Empêche

Sentier du Mont du Dôme

Places to stay near Grand-Jardins

• Maison Chez Laurent – this is where we stayed. It was a pretty basic motel but very clean and the staff, although could not speak English were super friendly.
• Hôtel & Spa Le Germain Charlevoix – This place looks amazing and is about a 30 minute drive to the park!

To get back to Quebec City from Gran Jardins, it’s a beautiful 2 hour drive.

Chasing Fall Colours in Quebec: Everything You Need to Know

LNT (Leave no Trace)

Whenever you are enjoying the beautiful nature that our world has to offer, remember to leave no trace (LNT)! Respect the beautiful places that make our world beautiful and take out everything that you take in, take only photos and respect the wildlife and other people.

You can read more on the 7 LNT principles here.

How to get to Quebec for this itinerary

This guide includes the best places to see the Fall colours near Quebec City and is based on a road trip beginning in Quebec City and driving out to the surrounding National Parks. The best way to get to Quebec City is to fly into Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport.

We flew from Vancouver to Quebec City return and rented a car from the airport which was actually amazing because our car got upgraded to a Jeep so we finally got to live out our Jeep dreams on our road trip in Quebec. From Vancouver, we had to fly to Calgary, where we got a connecting flight to Quebec City.

Quebec National Parks Pass

If you are visiting the National Parks in Quebec, you will need a parks pass. There are a few different options for passes depending on how many days you plan on spending in the parks. You can purchase your pass here or at the entrance of the park.

Where to Stay in Quebec for Fall

I have listed accommodation recommendations under each national park section in this blog post but you can also use the below interactive map to see current available accommodation around each of the parks and Quebec City.

How to find the best Fall colours in Quebec

You might be asking, “but when is the best time to see the Fall colours in Quebec?”

The Fall colours only last a couple of weeks, with the peak colour time window being even smaller. Every year, the dates of the colour changes change a little so it’s quite hard to predict. However, there is a way to help with planning your trip. You can still book your trip in advance and choose the places you want to go, but leave your trip open to slight changes.

There is a Fall Foliage Map available which shows each national park in Quebec with a colour coding chart showing what stage the leaves are at. The map is not updated until the leaves start to change colours, but when it starts, it becomes a lot easier to predict where and when the peak leaf peeping will occur.

🍁 Our experience in planning our trip around the peak foliage times
We pre-planned our trip to Quebec quite a few months in advance. We booked our road trip from the 2nd October – 8th October 2022 and had to just cross our fingers leading up to the trip. About 1 week out from the 2nd October, I checked the map and saw that the places that we were going to be visiting were at mid-point which is the stage prior to near peak. A couple of days prior to our trip, they were near peak which seemed to work out perfectly!

Are the Fall colours in Quebec worth it?

The Fall colours in Quebec were the best colours we have ever seen! We were absolutely blown away by how many of the trees were either red, yellow or orange and by how vibrant they were!

If you are looking for somewhere in Canada to see the best Fall colours, Quebec is definitely the place to go.

If you are planning a trip to Quebec in the Fall, you might also find these guides useful:

• Mont Du Dome: One of Quebec’s Best Fall Hikes
• How to Spend 1 Incredible Day in Quebec City
• Mont du Lac à l’Empêche – Beautiful Fall Hike in Quebec
• Where to Stay in Quebec City
• Best Fall Hikes in Quebec
• Fun Things to do in Banff in Fall
• Amazing Things to do in Vancouver in Fall
• A Magical 4 Day Banff Fall Road Trip Itinerary
• Beautiful Fall Hikes in Banff
• Larch Valley and Sentinel Pass: Best Fall Hike in Banff

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