Day trips
Day trips from Mont-Laurier: the mountain north, the big water west, the reserve south
Mont-Laurier is the Hautes-Laurentides' base town: its own days are full, and the region's famous ground fans out from it in every direction -- each place in its own municipality, each distance computed. Here is the fan.
Day-tripping from the head of the Lievre valley
This is the one family in the guide where the neighbours take the stage -- as destinations, out of town, framed exactly that way. Attribution is by seat, never by closeness: Ferme-Neuve to the north, Lac-des-Ecorces to the south-east, Kiamika, Notre-Dame-de-Pontmain, Chute-Saint-Philippe, Notre-Dame-du-Laus and Riviere-Rouge around the other borders, and Mont-Tremblant far to the south-east are separate municipalities. Their parks, arenas, markets and main streets are theirs, named as destinations when they appear, never absorbed. The MRC d'Antoine-Labelle, seated here, and the Agglomeration de Mont-Laurier are upper layers, credited to themselves every time.
The distances in this guide are computed, not estimated: the origin is the Hotel de ville, 300, boul. Albiny-Paquette (46.548339, -75.503341 -- the registry point settled in the town's identity record); each destination is taken at its published central point; the straight-line distance is the great-circle (haversine) distance, the road estimate multiplies it by 1.35, and the driving time divides it by a 62 km/h average, rounded to five minutes. These are honest planning orders of magnitude -- the day's route itself is read on the road and on Quebec 511
The fan, in three directions
North: the mountain
14 km straight-line (computed), about 18 km by road and 20 minutes' estimated driving puts the Parc regional Montagne du Diable in reach: four summits to 783 m, its accueil at the Village des Batisseurs in FERME-NEUVE. It is a getaway FROM Mont-Laurier, seated in Ferme-Neuve -- the region's marquee hiking and winter terrain, never an in-town facility, booked with the park in its own name.
West and north-west: the big water
34 km straight-line (computed), about 46 km by road and 45 minutes' estimated driving for the Baskatong country: a vast reservoir shoreline of beaches, outfitters and forest roads, spread across its own northern municipalities and unorganized shores -- a camping and boating trip, presented as itself. The floatplane and outfitting layer of the upper valley is operator country, read with its operators -- one of its best-known names is seated in Riviere-Rouge despite its name, and is printed as that town's.
South: the reserve and the river towns
The Reserve faunique de Papineau-Labelle (Sepaq) is a short run of 77 km straight-line (computed), about 104 km by road and 100 minutes' estimated driving from town at its Val-des-Bois accueil -- a wildlife reserve of lakes and forest, Sepaq's record, entered on Sepaq's terms. Closer: the Parc regional Kiamika is a short run of 17 km straight-line (computed), about 23 km by road and 20 minutes' estimated driving, seated in Kiamika and Chute-Saint-Philippe; and Riviere-Rouge is a short run of 51 km straight-line (computed), about 69 km by road and 65 minutes' estimated driving -- its own ville, its own arena teams and its curling club, visited as itself.
The resort run, in its own name
Mont-Tremblant is a short run of 85 km straight-line (computed), about 114 km by road and 110 minutes' estimated driving south-east down Route 117 -- a closed registry town with its own guide and its own resort. From Mont-Laurier it is the full-service resort day, printed here as a destination only: nothing of Tremblant is a Mont-Laurier record, and the drive down the Lievre-side Laurentides is half the trip.
The gateway run
South on 117 is also the air run: Montreal-Trudeau (YUL) is the town's scheduled gateway, treated at premium depth on this guide's airports page -- the town's own Aeroport de Mont-Laurier (CSD4) is general aviation only, at 1260, boul. des Ruisseaux in town. No cruise exists anywhere in this fan: the Lievre is an inland river, and this guide builds no cruises page for Mont-Laurier -- river days are day trips, as themselves.
The return discipline
Every trip on this page is a there-and-back inside one day, and the discipline is printed with them: read the destination's own last entry and closing before you leave; drive the valley roads after dark at the speed forest country asks, and in winter at the speed Laurentides snow demands, with Quebec 511 checked before the run.
Common questions
What is the best day trip from Mont-Laurier?
For most visitors, Montagne du Diable -- the region's signature mountain, a short run north of 14 km straight-line (computed), about 18 km by road and 20 minutes' estimated driving, seated in Ferme-Neuve and presented as the getaway it is. For water, the Baskatong; for a reserve day, Papineau-Labelle on Sepaq's terms.
Is Montagne du Diable part of Mont-Laurier?
No. The Parc regional Montagne du Diable is seated in Ferme-Neuve, a separate municipality north of town. Mont-Laurier is its southern gateway town -- an honest and useful role, printed as itself everywhere in this guide.
Can you reach a beach from Mont-Laurier?
The town's own plage municipale on the Lac des Sources (Des Ruisseaux sector, in town) is the home swim; the Baskatong's reservoir beaches are the day-trip version, in their own municipalities' names.
More to explore in Mont-Laurier
The header images on this page are illustrations drawn for Dayfari, not photographs. No verified photograph of the Mont-Laurier places named here (licence and subject checked) could be attested for this version, so those places are illustrated or described in text only, rather than borrowed from another town.
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