Île d'Orléans on the Montmorency Falls Tour

On the Montmorency Falls and Île d’Orléans half-day tour, the island gets about 45 minutes: the coach crosses the bridge from the falls, drives a stretch of the island with the guide’s commentary and stops at the island chocolate shop. It is a taste of the island rather than a farm tour, and that suits a first visit with the falls and the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré basilica in the same afternoon. The tour is Unitours’, rated 4.4 from 2,835 reviews and from US$72 a person (checked October 2026).

What the island stop is

The island gets about 45 minutes: a guided scenic drive and a stop at the island chocolate shop. Guests describe the same: the drive with the guide’s commentary, then the chocolate shop, where they bought chocolate, ice cream and sandwiches. Several of the newest 350 reviews, read on 30 October 2026, wished the island stop were longer; a few called it rushed because the chocolate shop was crowded when two coaches arrived together.

So book the half-day for the three sights together. If the island itself is the reason for your trip, the tours below spend longer there.

The island in numbers

Île d’Orléans lies downstream from Québec City in the St. Lawrence, about 34 km long and 8 km wide. The Chemin Royal runs around it and links its six municipalities: Sainte-Pétronille, Saint-Pierre, Sainte-Famille, Saint-François, Saint-Jean and Saint-Laurent. Nearly 7,000 people live there year round, and farmland covers almost 95% of it: dairy, fruit, vegetables and maple products. The island was declared a heritage site in 1970, and the island’s tourist office counts about 3,600 buildings on it, 19 of them listed heritage buildings (all from the Île d’Orléans tourist office, October 2026).

The 300 families from France who settled the island in the 17th century now have more than 100,000 descendants in North America, the tourist office writes. The tourist information centre is at 490 Côte du Pont in Saint-Pierre, at the island end of the bridge.

The loop road

We measured the Chemin Royal at 71.6 km from the bridge, around the island through the six villages and back, along the roads. The half-day tour drives a part of it. A full loop with stops of your own choosing takes a car, or the private tour below, which spends 75 minutes on the island.

Stops on the island

The island’s tourist office lists dozens of farm shops, cellars and galleries along the Chemin Royal. Four of them, in the two villages nearest the bridge:

• Chocolaterie de l’Île d’Orléans, Sainte-Pétronille: handmade chocolates and a dairy bar.
• Cassis Monna & Filles, Saint-Pierre: the Monna family grows black currants and makes its products from them, with tastings and a terrace.
• Cidrerie Verger Bilodeau, Saint-Pierre: ice ciders and apple and maple products, with tastings.
• Polyculture Plante, Sainte-Pétronille: a farm stand for fruit, vegetables and bread, on a site facing Montmorency Falls.

The half-day tour stops only at a chocolate shop; the others take a car of your own or a private tour.

Which one should you book?

Pick by how much of the island you want:

Prices, ratings and review counts from GetYourGuide (checked October 2026); operators use seasonal pricing, so treat them as the shape of the market, not a quote. The private tour’s price is for the whole group of up to six.

The private tour by Lenny Expeditions picks you up anywhere in Québec City, visits the upper and lower viewpoints at the falls with the entry included, and spends 75 minutes on the island with free tastings and fresh seasonal fruit; paid tastings such as wine or cider, and the cable car, are not included.

Tour timings, inclusions and prices from the GetYourGuide listings, read in US dollars on 30 October 2026; guests’ comments from the newest 350 reviews of the half-day tour. The island’s size, villages, population, farmland and heritage status, and the island stops, from the Île d’Orléans tourist office, read in October 2026. The loop road measured by us along the roads.