P'tit Train du Nord Rail Trail

Overview

The P'tit Train du Nord is Québec's beloved linear park: 234km of former Canadian Pacific railbed running north from Saint-Jérôme through the Laurentian mountains to Mont-Laurier. The gradients are locomotive-flat, the surface is smooth crushed stone and tarmac, and the old railway stations have been reborn as cafés, bike shops and information stops — you ride from gare to gare, croissant to croissant, past a chain of lakes with red canoes and wooded hills that turn incandescent in late September. The sweet spot is the middle third: the river gorge sections along the Rivière du Nord, a lunch stop at Val-David's arty village market, and an overnight near Mont-Tremblant, where the trail skirts Lac Raymond with the resort's peak behind. Autumn colour week is the trip of the year — book beds well ahead, as Québecois cyclists have the same idea. Shuttles solve the linear-route problem: operators run riders and bags from Saint-Jérôme (an hour from Montréal) to Mont-Laurier so you ride back southbound with the net descent. Three days at around 78km/day is the classic itinerary; e-bikes are common and welcome. Budget around £380 with auberges, café lunches and shuttle.

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Prefilled for 1 October 2026 — the next best-season window. Search on partner sites — opens in a new tab.