Montmorency Falls is a spectacular waterfall just east of Quebec City. Here the Montmorency River plunges down a steep cliff on its way to the St Lawerence River. At 84m high, and 30m wide, this is the largest waterfall in Quebec, a land of many spectacular waterfalls. It is also extremely easy to visit.

The falls is located just 12km east of Quebec City. The falls is clearly visible from Autoroute 440. I imagine thousands of people drive past it every day on their way to and from work. The exit for the falls is clearly marked.

There are a variety of viewing opporutunities at the falls. A bridge spans the river about 300m downstream of the falls, providing a nice head on view of the falls. On the left side of the river (facing downstream), there is a viewing platform near the base of the falls, and an enourmous series of stairs that climb up to the top. A suspension bridge spans the river at the top of the falls. On the right side you can approach the base of the falls by means of a rough utility road.

I visited the falls in mid November. On the plus side, it was free. Normally there is an admission fee. Also, there was nobody else there. On the minus side, the trail to the viewing platform and stairs on the left side of the falls were closed. Another minus was that the nearby Saint Anne Falls, and Sept Chutes were also closed.

Montmorency Falls is not the highest falls in Quebec. The remote and wild Delaney Falls, which is about 70km to the east, is nearly twice as high. The colorfully named Pissing Caribou Falls, which is about 200km to the north, is even higher still. However, neither of these falls is anywhere near as wide, and are broken up into multiple drops.

There are a lot of waterfalls in this part of the world. Dame Blanche Falls is right next door. Saint Anne Canyon, Sept Chutes, and Jean Larose Falls are all about 30km to the east. Beauport Falls is 10km to the east, and Kabir Kouba Falls is another 15km beyond that. The very large Chaudiere Falls is about 20km to the south east. Dozens of other waterfalls are within an hours drive.

Photo Gallery

	The stairs

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Last Modified: Tuesday, 27-Nov-2012 20:08:33 MST.