We’d call it the most beautiful coastal drive in Canada — the Gaspé loop, where the St. Lawrence widens to meet the Atlantic. Sea cliffs, lighthouses, and the unmistakable wall of Percé Rock rising out of the water.
A scenic, lower-stakes shakedown that still racked up the kind of long coastal days the big trip is full of.
At a glance
- Loop
- ~885 km around the peninsula
- Region
- Québec, Gulf of St. Lawrence
- Icon
- Percé Rock
- Also
- Forillon NP · lighthouses · gannets
- Season
- Summer
Watch
The loop where the river meets the sea
The Gaspé is the rugged thumb of land where the St. Lawrence stops being a river and becomes the Atlantic. Route 132 traces the whole coastline — close to 900 km of cliffs, fishing villages, and lighthouses, with the Chic-Choc mountains rising inland.
At the eastern tip, Forillon National Park stacks sheer headlands straight into the gulf, and the road is the kind that makes you stop every few minutes for one more view. We weren’t exaggerating calling it the most beautiful coastal drive in Canada.
Percé Rock
The star is Percé Rock — a vast limestone wall standing alone in the sea, pierced by a natural arch, glowing at sunrise and sunset. Just offshore, Bonaventure Island holds one of the world’s largest northern gannet colonies.
For a build heading into far harder country, the Gaspé was the easy, joyful kind of shakedown: long coastal days, simple nights by the water, and a reminder of why we’re doing any of this.
Highlights
- Percé Rock and its sea arch
- Forillon’s headland cliffs
- Lighthouses around the whole loop
- The gannet colony on Bonaventure Island