We love places with double personalities. You know the ones we’re talking about, amazing in winter and summer, but completely and totally different during each season… Mont Tremblant Quebec is without a doubt one of these special places. It’s known for its epic ski hills and quaint apres’ ski atmosphere in winter, but in summer the mountains come alive and offer the avid adventurer plenty to do and see!
We took full advantage of all this beautiful region has to offer during our time there- you can check out all the action live and in color in the video here or on our Youtube Channel! If you like what you see it would mean the world if you subscribed or left us a comment- we’re new to this Youtube thing, and growing!
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Let’s start here. If you don’t already know the Mont Tremblant region is huge! Encompassing a National Canadian Park and a ski resort and village, if you don’t know where you’re going its easy to get lost- yes we’re speaking from experience! The good news is there is equal amounts of fun to be had as there is acreage to wander in. So much fun in fact, that we found it incredibly hard to choose what we wanted to do. So in our usual way, we picked one thing, and then let the locals and word of mouth tip us off on the rest!
Get High On A Mountain-
When we decided to add Mont Tremblant as a stop on “Our Great(ish) Canadian Adventure” we knew there was one thing we weren’t leaving without doing…Via Feratta.
If you’re not familiar via feratta is a strange hybrid between rock climbing, mountaineering, and sorta kinda regular old hiking. The great news about via feratta is that any able bodied person, who doesn’t possess a paralyzing fear of heights can do it- and you should, because it’s amazing!
All climbing done within the boundaries of the National Park, must be guided and are regulated and offered through the Activity Centre. Three levels are offered for Via Feratta; beginner (3 hours), intermediate (4 hours), and advanced (5 hours). There really isn’t so much a difference in the level of difficulty as there is a difference in the time commitment. Since we were short on time ( starting like a theme looking back on the summer) we opted for the intermediate, but honestly would have loved to have gone full out for the advanced. Our guide Samuel was amazing, and multilingual! Hurray, since I (Katie) was literally the only non-french speaker there.
Visit The Village of Mont Tremblant-
I don’t know about you but when I think ski town, the first thing that pops in our head is apres’ ski- thats normal right? Right. And what else goes hand in hand with apres ski better than an adorable little ski village! The good news is the Resort Village of Mont Tremblant is as charming in the summer as it is in the winter!
There are tons and tons of fun activities, from outdoor concerts, to summer mountain luging ( now we’ve got your attention, huh?), and some amazing restaurants too! Even if you’re not up for anything more than taking a stroll and popping in and out of shops, they’ve got you covered. Don’t miss riding the Cabriolet gondola from the bottom of the town to the top for some amazing views, and the best part, it’s free!
Take A Hike-
Mont Tremblant is more than an awesome ski destination, its also a Canadian National Park, so naturally getting natural seems like the thing to do, and what better way to do that than to take a hike! There are bunches of trails to chose from, just check out their trail map and see for yourself!
For our hike, we chose to traipse on down to Chutes de Diable ( Diable falls). We picked this trail for two reasons. Firstly, Samuel our Via Feratta guide said it was beautiful (he was right), and secondly for lunch we munched at a brewery ( surprise, surprise) that crafted their beer from the water of the Diable River, so it just made sense to check it out for ourselves!
Stay:
There were some niiiice looking lodging options in the village of Mont Tremblant with some pretty hefty price tags attached to them! Although, sometimes we find ourselves thinking longingly of being waited on hand and foot by room service while we lounge around in fluffy oversized robes, at the end of the day there is nothing like parking our adventure van, under a blanket of stars and cuddling up in our own cocoon of goodness.
We love to camp in parks but often that means less amenities (like electric and water) than what you might find at an RV park, when it came to camping in Mont Tremblant though, that was not the case, not even close! There are lots of camping options within the park boundaries and they are all spectacular! We parked in the la doable sector ( yes, the park is big enough they break it into sections) and we had a beautiful campsite, quiet neighbors, clean fire pit and all the electricity our modern appliance loving hearts desired, and it only cost us about $30 Canadian a night. Not too shabby, not too shabby at all!
Eat:
Fair disclaimer, there are a ton of amazing places to eat in the Village of Mont Tremblant. We weren’t sure how we were going to chose. So we did what we always do and asked a local, and the results made for a very tasty afternoon!
Microbrasserie Le Diable-
Think burgers, locally crafted brews and poutine; if that doesn’t have you drooling yet I don’t know what will. After we wrapped up our Via Feratta adventure we were hungry, and there’s just something about a giant juicy burger to ease those sore muscles and screaming stomach. At the suggestion of some locals we headed straight into the village of Mont Tremblant and Microbrasserie La Diable.
One of things that really intrigued us about this little cafe was that they brew their beer with water sourced locally from the Diable river. Naturally, we had to give it a try- the best part, they’ll give you free beer! Do we have your attention? Yes, free beer! If you buy a pint they’ll give you a sampling (2 ounce pours) of each of the beers they currently have on tap so you can decide what you want before you buy it! Winning!
Aside from their very tasty brews, their food is pretty spectacular as well. We gorged on burgers and since we were in Quebec, we couldn’t pass on the poutine- it was amazing. I’m almost certain we both could have easily ordered double orders of it and been content to eat nothing else for the whole time we were in Tremblant!
All in all we loved, loved, super loved our trip to Mont Tremblant, fingers crossed we make it back some day to enjoy it in all its wintery glory! It was the perfect spot to wrap up our epic and somewhat short Great(ish) Canadian Road Trip. What an adventure it was- from our unexpected stop in Gettysburg, our rained out day in Watkins Glen, crossing the border into Canada, and the awesomeness that was Niagara Falls- it was one hell of a ride!
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