Quebec: National Parks, Hiking Trails and Starry Skies

Quebec’s national parks offer different highlights: lakes, rivers and long hiking trails at Parc national du Mont-Tremblant, seabird life at Île-Bonaventure, and a combination of mountain and sky exploration at Parc national du Mont-Mégantic. Cultural history and a fossil exhibition are also among the possible travel experiences. If you’re looking for a hotel in Quebec, asking what you’d most like to focus on can be a good starting point for your planning.

National Parks and Nature Experiences

Quebec’s national parks protect representative natural areas or exceptional natural sites and make them accessible to the public. What visitors can experience there varies from park to park. At Parc national du Mont-Tremblant, the landscape is shaped by six major rivers and 400 lakes and streams. If you’d like to make longer hikes the focus of your visit, you’ll find an 82-kilometer trail network with ten shelters. Via ferrata du Diable offers another way to discover the park’s mountains: this activity falls somewhere between hiking and climbing.

The information about the trail network and Via ferrata shows two different ways to experience Mont-Tremblant Park: longer hikes or an activity between walking and climbing. When planning, you can therefore consider which form of exercise better suits your stay, without treating the two offerings as the same.

Hiking Trails and Seabirds

More than 200,000 breeding seabirds of eleven species live in Parc national de l'Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé. The park is North America’s most important migratory bird sanctuary. The Île-Bonaventure sector has four hiking trails totaling 15 kilometers. At the same time, Île Bonaventure can only be reached by boat. Keep this access requirement in mind when planning if you’re considering a visit to the island.

Trail information also provides a concrete reference point for planning your trip: in Franceville, a sector of Parc national du Mont-Mégantic, the 20-kilometer Cimes de Franceville Trail includes the Des Escarpements Trail. From there, you can enjoy views of a mountain-stream valley and prominent peaks. The 20 kilometers refer to this trail; at Parc national du Mont-Tremblant, by contrast, 82 kilometers is the length of a trail network for longer hikes. These figures therefore refer to different things and shouldn’t be read as equivalent route options.

Mountains, Astronomy and Snowshoeing

At Parc national du Mont-Mégantic, climbing Mont Saint-Joseph or Mont Mégantic goes hand in hand with exploring the ASTROLab and the astronomical observatories. The park is at the heart of the first International Dark Sky Reserve. The mountain and the sky are therefore both central to the experience. The park also has 20 kilometers of snowshoe trails for all skill levels. This offers another clear distinction to consider when choosing: you can combine mountain and sky exploration in the park, or focus on snowshoeing.

Cultural History and Fossils

Alongside nature experiences, Quebec also offers specific reasons to visit with a focus on history or science. Artillery Park welcomes visitors from June to September to discover more than three centuries of military and social history. If you’d like to include it in your travel plans, take this seasonal visiting period into account.

At Parc national de Miguasha, an exhibition presents fossils of animals and plants and offers visitors of all ages a scientific discovery experience. Alongside trails and landscapes, military and social history and fossils are therefore distinct themes to choose from for your stay.

You can then choose your preferred starting point based on your specific travel plans, rather than treating nature, cultural history and astronomy as interchangeable reasons for the same trip.

Discover More Destinations

Discover more destinations: Le Rocher-Percé, Argenteuil, Rivière-Du-Loup, Champlain, La Jacques-Cartier, Francheville, Les Chutes-De-La-Chaudière, La Côte-De-Beaupré, Sept-Rivières--Caniapiscau, Memphrémagog, Pointe-Lebel, Sacré-Coeur-Saguenay, Le Centre-De-La-Mauricie, Communauté-Urbaine-De-Québec, Les Collines-De-L'outaouais, Beauce-Sartigan, La Mitis, Les Pays-D'en-Haut, Brome-Missisquoi, Thérèse-De Blainville, La Haute-Gaspésie, Maskinongé, Bécancour, Antoine-Labelle, La Haute-Yamaska, Le Haut-Richelieu, Arthabaska, Le Fjord-Du-Saguenay, La Rivière-Du-Nord, Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Le Domaine-Du-Roy, Lac-Saint-Jean-Est, Matawinie, Le Granit, Drummond, Charlevoix-Est, La Haute-Côte-Nord, Nicolet-Yamaska, Matane, Maria-Chapdelaine, La Côte-De-Gaspé, Desjardins, Communauté-Urbaine-De-Montréal, Kamouraska, Rouyn-Noranda, D'autray, Bonaventure, Les Laurentides, Deux-Montagnes, La Vallée-Du-Richelieu, Bellechasse, L'islet, Montmagny, Avignon, Témiscouata, Mirabel, Les Maskoutains, La Nouvelle-Beauce, Papineau, Laval, Communauté-Urbaine-De-L'outaouais, Joliette, Lajemmerais, Rimouski-Neigette, La Région-Sherbrookoise, La Vallée-De-La-Gatineau, L'assomption, Beauharnois-Salaberry, Charlevoix, Les Etchemins, Mékinac, Portneuf, Senneterre, Pontiac, L'amiante, Asbestos, Les Îles-De-La-Madeleine, Le Val-Saint-François, Rouville, Pierre-De Saurel, Lotbinière, Les Jardins-De-Napierville, Manicouagan, Minganie--Basse-Côte-Nord, Saint-Simon-De-Rimouski, Témiscamingue, Les Moulins, Robert-Cliche, Marguerite-D'youville, Roussillon, Le Bas-Richelieu, L'érable, Vallée-De-L'or, Abitibi-Ouest, Abitibi, Le Haut-Saint-Maurice, Les Basques, Le Haut-Saint-François Regional County Municipality, Nord-Du-Québec, Les Appalaches Regional County Municipality, L'île-D'orléans, La Matapédia, Coaticook, Montcalm, Acton Regional County Municipality, Saint-Léon-De-Standon, Saint-Sylvestre, Saint-Blaise-Sur-Richelieu, Val-Des-Monts, Saint-Denis-De-Brompton, Blainville, Saint-Philémon, Saint-Casimir, New Carlisle, Lotbinière, Nouvelle, La Pocatière, Le Haut-Saint-Laurent, Asbestos, Montreal

For the broader travel overview: Canada.