This was my first time going on a “snow” holiday, and I was soooo excited.
We had our flights booked with Porter, we’d never flown from Billy Bishop before and it was so much nicer (to look at, and to get to). We arrived at Mont Tremblant airport, which looked like a chalet (definitely not an airport) and a shuttle took us down to the village. The whole thing was really well organised.
When we arrived at our hotel, Ermitage du Lac, we were able to check in straight away and our room was incredibly nice. We had a king size bed and a fireplace with a view of the snow filled pool and the village. We loved the hotel, the breakfast, and especially loved being 200 metres away from the gondola. We explored the village for the afternoon, before the next 4 days of snowboarding.
The village was beautiful, incredibly similar to Whistler, but just smaller. There was loads of places to eat and our favourites were La Pizzateria (where Matt tried snails for the first time), La maison de la crepe (amazing crepes), Au Grain de Cafe (best coffee) and Cabana a sucre de la Montagne for rolled up icy maple syrup on a stick.
If 4 days of snowboarding wasn’t enough, there was also unexpected (and free) extras included for staying in the village – snow tubing, ice skating, first tracks and a valet for our snowboards. The valet was my favourite – when you are finished for the day, hand your snowboard off, and then simply pick it up next to the gondola the next morning to start the day again!
On Monday evening, after an amazing 5 days away, we were all packed and ready to head home.. but our airport shuttle didn’t show up and eventually we were advised our flight had been cancelled. Bit of a downer considering I had to be at work the next morning and we were now stranded. We booked ourselves back into our hotel, although were downgraded to a double bed and no fireplace :(.
Called up Porter to see when we would be booked back onto another flight and were advised not for another 2 weeks!!!! What!!!! Our best option to get back to Toronto was to get our flight refunded and make our own way back via taxi, bus, and train. It ended up being a very long day, but we made it back. Thank goodness for travel insurance.
All in all, despite the difficulty at the end, we had an amazing time in Mont Tremblant and I would definitely recommend it to anyone – there are so many activities, even if you don’t ski or snowboard.
The Village
The Village and Lac Tremblant
The Laurentians
Deer at breakfast
Lac Tremblant
