Michel-Pouliot Gaspe Airport (YGP) is a small regional airport serving the town of Gaspe at the tip of Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula, and car rental here is essentially the only practical way to see this dramatic corner of eastern Canada, where the appeal is the drive itself as much as any single destination. Pickup is handled through a compact counter near the small terminal, and visitors are typically on Route 132, the peninsula's famous coastal loop, within minutes of landing.
From Gaspe, Route 132 runs both directions along the coast, hugging cliffs and fishing villages in a way that rewards unhurried driving over speed. Perce and its iconic offshore rock formation are roughly forty-five minutes to an hour southeast, while Forillon National Park, with its whale-watching cliffs and hiking trails, sits about twenty-five to thirty minutes northeast of the airport. Completing the full peninsula loop back toward Sainte-Anne-des-Monts or Matane on the north shore is a full day's drive of several hours, best split across more than one day given the frequent, worthwhile stops along the way. Canada drives on the right, and Route 132 itself carries no tolls, consistent with rural Quebec generally.
Most foreign visitors can drive on a home-country license for a temporary stay, though an International Driving Permit is a useful backup for licenses not in English or French, and helpful if a roadside check occurs in a remote area with limited connectivity to verify documents otherwise. The peninsula's defining seasonal fact is a genuinely harsh winter: Quebec provincial law requires winter tires on passenger vehicles during the designated winter period, and rental fleets serving Gaspe are fitted accordingly, but snow, wind off the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and reduced daylight all call for a slower pace and extra time built into any winter itinerary. Summer and early autumn are the easiest seasons for the coastal loop, with long daylight hours suited to the leisurely pace this drive deserves.