The falls are located on the boundary between the borough of Beauport, and Boischatel, about 12 km (7.5 mi) from the heart of old Quebec City. The area surrounding the falls is protected within the Montmorency Falls Park. The falls are at the mouth of the Montmorency River where it drops over the cliff shore into the Saint Lawrence River, opposite the western end of the Île d'Orleans. The waterfalls are 83 m (272') tall, a full 30 m (99') higher than Niagara Falls.

There are staircases that allow visitors to view the falls from several different perspectives. A suspension bridge over the crest of the falls provides access to both sides of the park. There is also a funitel that carries passengers between the base and the top of the falls. In the summer the park hosts an international fireworks competition with the falls as a backdrop.

The Falls were the site of a key scene between the lead actors in the 1947 film Whispering City, which was filmed on location.

In his poem "Sleep and Poetry" (1816), John Keats says that human life is "a poor Indian's sleep / While his boat hastens to the monstrous steep / Of Montmorency." Recreational sleighing on the frozen falls is recorded in Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poem The Montmorency Waterfall and Cone of 1835.