Montmorency Falls: Cable Car, Zipline & Tickets 2026

Montmorency Falls drops 83 metres just outside Quebec City, and getting to the base of it, the top of it, or across it costs three different amounts depending on what you actually want to do. Walking in and looking at the falls from the marked viewpoints costs a daily access fee of C$10.42 to C$13.90 for an adult, depending on season - except during two stretches every winter when Sepaq waives it entirely because the site runs no services. Riding the cable car up the cliff is C$14.95 round trip. The 300-metre zipline across the gorge is C$33.50 on top of daily access. All three numbers come straight from Sepaq, the operator, checked in August 2026 - and all three are things earlier coverage of this waterfall couldn’t confirm, because the same official page kept returning an error to automated checks.

That’s not a small caveat. Search for this waterfall and you’ll find the cable car quoted at four or five different prices depending on which reseller wrote the page. The numbers below are what Sepaq itself charges.

What it actually costs

The general daily access fee - what most visitors will pay just to walk in and see the falls from the marked viewpoints - runs C$10.42 per adult in the low season (April and the stretch from November to March) and C$13.90 in the high season (mid-May to early November). Seniors pay C$9.38 / C$12.52, and everyone 17 and under gets in free regardless of season. Two groups pay less: Quebec residents get a reduced rate with proof of address, and residents of the Communauté métropolitaine de Québec specifically get in free with the same proof - not all Quebec residents, just that metro area. There’s a third way in for free that has nothing to do with residency: during the two stretches every winter when the site stays open but Sepaq runs no services (2 November-18 December and 4 January-5 February), the daily access fee doesn’t apply to anyone, visitor or resident.

The cable car is a separate ticket on top of that, and it’s the one most people actually come for: a short, steep ride up the cliff face beside the falls, with a family of two adults and children coming in at C$43.06 round trip.

One thing Sepaq’s own pricing page doesn’t mention anywhere is parking. No separate parking fee is published, which is worth knowing before you assume you’re missing a line item - you aren’t.

The zipline, if you want the adrenaline version

Sepaq sells this simply as the Zipline, a 300-metre run across the gorge, priced at C$33.50 for an adult and C$25.00 for a child on the “double zipline” option - on top of the daily access fee to the grounds, the same way the cable car works. Budget 30 to 45 minutes for the whole thing once you count check-in and registration, and turn up 30 minutes before your booked slot at the Boischatel-sector registration point - they mean it, and a late arrival can cost you your spot. There are weight limits either side: a minimum of 41 kg (90 lb) and a maximum of 100 kg (220 lb), which can shift slightly with weather conditions on the day.

It only runs in the warmer months, and not every day even then. From 16 May to 19 June it’s weekends only (plus the Monday of the May long weekend), 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. From 20 June to 7 September it runs daily, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. From 8 September to 12 October it drops back to weekends, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. If the zipline is the reason you’re coming, check that your date falls inside one of those windows before you build a day around it.

What’s already included once you’re in

This is where the daily access fee earns its keep, because a surprising amount is covered by that one ticket and doesn’t need the cable car at all.

The suspension bridge crosses the river directly above the crest of the falls, close enough that you feel the roar through the deck. From the Manoir’s terrace, a boardwalk runs along the cliff to reach it, passing the La Baronne lookout on the way. Below that, a panoramic staircase of 487 steps clings to the cliff face down to a concrete viewing promontory at the bottom, where the spray reaches you directly - it’s a serious set of stairs, and Sepaq’s own copy notes that athletes train on it, so pace yourself on the way back up. Further down the valley, a wide footbridge crosses the river on the site of a former railway crossing, with platforms at different levels for sitting and watching the water from below rather than above.

There’s history here too, and it predates the tourist infrastructure by a couple of centuries. The Orchard, a picnic area near the top, was the site of a battle on 31 July 1759 - a month and a half before the more famous fight on the Plains of Abraham - and remnants of Wolfe’s redoubt are still there, along with a farmhouse known as Wolfe House. It looks older than it is: built around 1818, a good 60 years after the fighting rather than in its immediate aftermath, its mix of French and English construction techniques among the details that date it that late.

Manoir Montmorency, the white building at the top of the cliff, holds a restaurant and the park’s reception - it’s worth a look even if you don’t eat there, since the view from its terrace is one of the better free ones in the park.

Getting there from Quebec City

The falls sit about 15 minutes east of Old Quebec, which is why most visitors treat this as a half-day add-on to a city trip rather than a destination in its own right - and that’s a reasonable read of it. If you’re driving, it’s a straightforward stop on the way toward Ile d’Orleans and the Cote-de-Beaupre, both covered in our Quebec City guide as the rest of that loop. If you don’t want to rent a car for one short drive, tour operators run the falls as a half-day trip out of the old town, usually bundled with the island or the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre basilica.

When to go

Summer gives you the longest hours, the zipline, and the fullest visitor experience, but it also brings the biggest crowds to the cable car queue and the staircase. Winter drops the falls into a genuinely different shape - the spray freezes into a growing ice cone at the base that draws its own crowd of ice climbers most years - but the cable car and the La Manufacture information centre close entirely for two stretches (2 November-18 December and 4 January-5 February) - the Manoir stays open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. through both, with its boutique Thursday-Sunday from 19 November, so it is not shorter hours; the grounds themselves stay open and free through both closures, simply without any services running. Whichever season, check Sepaq’s live hours before you drive out, because the calendar shifts every few weeks and the version printed here is a snapshot from checking day.

If you’ve only got one day in Quebec City and are trying to decide whether the falls earn a slot in it, the honest answer is that the included half of the park - the suspension bridge, the staircase, the lookout - is worth the trip on its own. The paid cable car and zipline are upgrades, not the reason to come.

Read also

• The city these falls sit fifteen minutes from: Quebec City
• A walking order for the old town itself, and how to time it: Old Quebec in a day
• Where to base yourself for both: where to stay in Quebec City
• The province around it: Quebec travel guide