The drive from Ottawa to Mont Tremblant was very pleasant, but the first section was a bit confusing. I was unaware that route 50 north of the St Lawrence followed the same general direction at route 17 south of the river. So, I kept wondering why all the signs said I was heading back to Montreal. Eventually we came to a 270 degree roundabout where we turned north into orange birch forests, occasional red maple trees and small farms that make this part of Quebec so picturesque.
We were beyond thrilled when we arrived at the Sommet des Neiges in the Mont Tremblant Resort. I remembered prices were much lower here than in Montreal, but I’d forgotten that this led me to book a suite with a view. Our accommodation had a large bathroom, full kitchen, gas fireplace, separate bedroom and an unobstructed view of the Mont Tremblant Resort.
At night, the Sommet des Neiges was completely quiet because we were there mid week during the beginning of fall colors. Suddenly I wished I’d booked a lot more than 2 nights in Mont Tremblant. During winter ski season the price can run nearly 4 times as high.
Free Cabriolet Open Bucket Gondola (see YouTube video)
In the morning, the sunshine and clear skies continued, but the overnight temperature had dropped to near freezing. This was very different from the warm weather in Ottawa just a day before. We waited for the free Cabriolet stand-up lift to open at 9am so we could ride it down to the Columbus Cafe. I think this lift was my favorite experience at Mont Tremblant and we rode it many times. As you whip between the towers of the Marriott while enjoying views of the village and surrounding hills, it’s exhilarating. We also thoroughly enjoyed the ham and egg croissants at Columbus Cafe. We made 3 visits there in 24 hours.
After breakfast at Columbus Cafe and a ride back up the Cabriolet, we were ready to begin a Day in Mont Tremblant. First we stopped at the Activity Center and booked an afternoon cruise on Lac Tremblant, so that we ensured the lake cruise wouldn’t be sold out to a bus tour group later. Then we bought our tickets up the Panoramic Gondola. Since there was no line up, we skipped past the line-up lanes to the teller. The teller had fun teasing us that until we went through all the line-up lanes, he wouldn’t be able to sell us a ticket. Then he laughed and laughed.
The Panoramic Gondola was well worth the ticket price. On the way up, many of the maples trees along the cut line were very red. At the top, I was amazed by the expanse of untouched forest in all directions as far as the eye could see on this completely clear day. Other than the Mont Tremblant Resort below, it was hard to find any houses or roads anywhere else. I had no idea how isolated this region really is. We also hiked the short distance to the observation tower, which provided equally amazing views.
After our ride on the Panoramic Gondola, we decided to head to the Treetop Walk / Sentier des cimes Laurentides. We went into the parking garage to retrieve our rental car for the 30 minute drive, but we couldn’t find the car on parking levels S1 or S2. We knew we parked in spot F665, but the spot was vacant. So we eventually had to proceed to the front desk for help. They said there was a third parking level called P with duplicated parking stall numbers. Sure enough, our rental car was in P F665, not S1 F665. How weird was that!
We really enjoyed the Treetop Walk. It was more popular than the Panoramic Gondola, but still not really crowded. You climb the stairs of a wooden tower to a wooden walkway through the forest colors at treetop height until you reach another larger tower with an inclined circular ramp. After many circuits ascending the second tower, you reach the top at a height far above the trees. This provides 360 degree unobstructed views over the fall tree colors. So glad we did this.
We booked the last Lac Tremblant Cruise of the day at 3:15 pm for our final activitiy. We were told to walk 25 minutes to the boat, because there were only 6 free parking spots nearby and the free BMT Bus only ran about every 2 hours. The cruise was nice enough in the setting sunlight, but I forgot that this would be geared to tourists. The narrative in French and English lasted the full hour. I did learn that originally the lake was pine forest and that after the lumber industry was through with the area, the birch took over the west end of the lake with their orange colors while the east side ended up with a large portion of red maple mixed in.
For dinner on the last night of our Quebec vacation, we went to the popular La Forge Restaurant right beside the gondola station. I highly recommend this restaurant. We sat outside in the chilly air at the last table that had gas flames coming up through the middle of the table. My mocktail amaretto sour was simply amazing, but so were our salmon and our rib dinners. If you visit Mont Tremblant, don’t miss the La Forge.
In the morning we made the hectic drive back to downtown Montreal to return the rental car. Then we hopped the metro in combination with the 747-2 bus to the airport for our return flight. We had the perfect vacation during our time in Montreal, Ottawa and Mont Tremblant.
