Around Percé Rock by boat, then on foot to the gannet colony on Bonaventure Island

We took this trip because our kid wanted to go mackerel fishing. In Percé, we gave one day to the rock and the island: a Percé Rock boat tour in the morning, a stop at Bonaventure Island just across the water, and a walk to the northern gannet colony.

First evening: Percé Rock from the lookouts

After dropping our bags at the place we were staying, we drove into Percé before sunset. It was August, so the sky was still light after 7 p.m. We first saw the rock from the hill where Route 132 comes down into the village, and we pulled over at the roadside Belvédère de la Côte Surprise (the Côte Surprise lookout) to look at it for a long while.

In the village, we walked around the wharf, then went up to the viewing deck on Mont-Joli (Mont-Joli), a hill in town that faces the rock head-on. As the sun dropped, the rock looked redder, and across the water we could see the low outline of Bonaventure Island. A sign beside the deck explained that the rock is still crumbling bit by bit and changing shape.

We stayed two nights at Le 125 (Le 125, 125 route 132), a small place in Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé (Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé), about 15 km (9 mi) southwest of Percé on Route 132, a little over 20 minutes by car. The shared outdoor kitchen made cooking dinner easy, but if you want an early boat the next morning, staying in the village is much simpler. The cruise ticket offices, the wharf and the restaurants are all on one street in the center of the village, so you can park the car and walk.

Next morning: buying cruise tickets at the Percé wharf

When we came back down into the village around 8:30 the next morning, the rock was wrapped in light fog and the sea was calm. At the Les Croisières Julien Cloutier (Les Croisières Julien Cloutier) ticket office by the wharf, we bought tickets that included getting off on the island.

Cruise tickets and fares

Two companies run cruises around Percé Rock and Bonaventure Island. Both loop around the rock and follow the island’s cliffs, then drop you on the island if you want and pick you up on a later boat. The loop alone, without getting off, takes about an hour and a half; with an island stop, plan on half a day.

If you’re going without a car, there’s also a three-day Gaspé tour from Montreal (Expedia) that includes the cruise and island admission. It’s in the comparison table below.

Fares as of October 28, 2026, from Percé’s tourist information site and Tourisme Gaspésie.

Around Percé Rock by boat

The boat left the wharf around 9 a.m., and the rock came closer. From a distance it looks like one solid block. Up close you can see red layers and cracks running through it. At the seaward end, a large arch goes straight through.

The rock is 430–470 m (1,410–1,540 ft) long and about 88 m (289 ft) high, with an estimated weight of 5 million metric tons. It used to have two arches. On June 17, 1845, the outer one collapsed, leaving a single freestanding pillar at the end, known as the Obelisk. The rock loses about 300 metric tons a year to erosion (Percé tourist information, Québec Maritime).

The boat circled the rock slowly. From the side it looks like an enormous ship; from the end, the pillar and the arch stand side by side like a gateway. Cormorants and gulls sat along the top.

Bonaventure Island’s cliffs: seals on the rocks, gannets overhead

From the rock, the boat crossed about 3 km (2 mi) to Bonaventure Island and followed its eastern cliffs. The red sandstone rises straight out of the sea, and the higher you look, the more white dots there are. Every one of them was a northern gannet. Above the cliffs, more gannets kept flying back and forth.

Seals were lying on the rocks at the foot of the cliffs. Our kid stayed at the railing, looking for them. The gray seal, the one you usually see in these waters, has a long head shaped a bit like a horse’s, which is why it’s also called the horsehead seal.

Off the boat, and lunch first

We landed at the island’s wharf around 10 a.m. Before we got off, there was a short talk about the island, and once ashore a park employee checked our Sépaq annual pass. A sign at the wharf mapped out the island’s four trails.

Before walking, we ate at Resto des Margaulx, the restaurant right next to the wharf. Lunch at an outside table with a view of the water was good. The menu is simple: lobster sandwiches, soup and the like.

The Les Colonies trail to the gannet colony

For the walk across the island to the colony, we chose the Les Colonies trail. It runs mostly through woods, so there was plenty of shade, and fireweed bloomed along the edges. Near the trailhead, a sign warned about giant hogweed (Berce du Caucase), an invasive plant: if its sap gets on your skin and the sun hits it, you can end up with burn-like wounds. As the sign says, don’t touch the vegetation off the trail.

Close to the colony, the woods ended abruptly at a hill of bleached, dead trees. We heard the birds before we saw them. Over the top of the hill, the flat ground above the cliffs was covered in white birds.

An hour and a half at the gannet colony

The gannets were much closer than we expected. Nests come right up to the fence, and the birds were neither wary of people nor afraid of them. Between the birds sitting on nests and the ones just landing back from the sea, the whole colony never stopped moving. We walked along it and watched for a long time.

Around 110,000 northern gannets gather on Bonaventure Island each year. In North America, there’s no gannet colony you can get closer to. The birds arrive in April, lay their eggs in May, raise the chicks that hatch around June through the summer, and head south between late September and early October. When we visited in early August, chicks in white down were sitting on the nests.

Next to the colony there’s a covered lookout, a tall observation tower and a snack bar, the Relais des Fous. It sells snacks, sandwiches, drinks and local beer, and the prices on the chalkboard menu are before tax.

Back along the island’s coastal trail

For the return, we took Le Chemin du Roy, which follows the island’s edge. It’s a bit longer. Down toward the shore, cormorants were drying their wings on the red rocks, and a small sandy cove showed through the trees.

Signs for a family quiz, the Rallye du corsaire Duval, stand along the trail. It’s named after Peter Duval, the Jersey-born captain who first settled the island. You answer questions about seals, cormorants and the islanders' old way of life as you walk, and an answer board waits at the end. Coming out on the west side of the island, we could see Percé Rock again across the water.

Back at the wharf, we looked around the gift shop and caught the boat to Percé around 3 p.m. A long white wake trailed behind us, and past it the rock we had circled that morning grew smaller.

One more look at Percé Rock on the last morning

On the morning we headed home, we passed through Percé once more before driving up the peninsula’s north shore. The day before had been clear; this time the sky was overcast, and the rock looked gray.

We stopped at Boutique La Mer, a souvenir shop in the village. We buy our kid one piece of clothing on every trip, and each time it gets worn later, the trip comes back. In front of Le Goéland, the souvenir shop next door, stood a row of carved wooden sea captains.

Good to know

Four island trails

Distances and times are from the Sépaq park map.

Eating on the island

When to go

The gannets stay on the island from April to late September. The chicks hatch in June and grow all summer, so if you want to see them too, July and August are the months. Les Bateliers de Percé runs five departures a day from June 24 to September 19, and the island restaurant is open June 7 to September 30. One guide suggests booking lodging four to six weeks ahead in peak summer. Julien Cloutier tickets are sold without reservations, early in the morning at the village ticket office.

Do you need to book a Percé Rock boat tour ahead?

Julien Cloutier doesn’t take reservations. Tickets are sold only at the ticket office in the village. We showed up around 8:30 a.m. and bought ours on the spot. The park entry pass for the island is a separate purchase, made ahead on the Sépaq website.

Can you take the boat without getting off at the island?

Yes. Without the island stop, the cruise is a loop of about an hour and a half around the rock and along the island cliffs. To see the gannets up close, you have to get off and walk.

Is the walk to the colony doable with a kid?

On our Gaspé Peninsula road trip, we walked the Les Colonies trail to the colony with our grade-school kid. The posted figure is 5.6 km (3.5 mi) round trip in an hour and a half. With lunch and time at the colony, we spent close to five hours on the island.

Our day at a glance

Getting there

Percé sits at the eastern tip of the Gaspé Peninsula. From Montreal, the southern route (through the Matapédia Valley and along Chaleur Bay) is about 975 km (606 mi), a little over 12 hours of driving without stops. We spent the first night at the southern entrance to the peninsula and reached Percé the evening of the second day. The nearest airport is Gaspé (YGP), about an hour away by car.

The lines are simplified and don’t follow the actual roads.

What we needed

Bookings

Sources

• Percé tourism: Julien Cloutier boat excursions
• Tourisme Gaspésie: Les Bateliers de Percé
• Québec Maritime: Parc national de l’Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé
• Québec Maritime: the island restaurant
• Percé tourism: Percé Rock
• Tourisme Gaspésie: distance table