A magical winter wonderland!

We have just returned from what was an absolute winter paradise. Whenever you say paradise you may think of tropical beaches like the Maldives or Bora Bora, but we have just come back from Quebec in Canada where we went skiing in Mont Tremblant in the Laurentian mountains over xmas and New Year, and it was simply stunning.

This was somewhere new for us as we do tend to go back to same the places over xmas and New Year such as Lapland or Banff in the Canadian Rockies, so it was great to go somewhere different.

The flight is just a short 6-7 hour from London to Montreal and Air Canada take real good care of you. Some really great service from the cabin crew. And great inflight entertainment on the touch screen seat TVs. This was great as I had been so used to taking my own ipad, i phone etc,it was nice not to have to use that. But even if we did, all seats had usb charging points.

After landing in Montreal, it was a breeze through security unlike American airports. This was somewhat different on the way back however with a 70 minute queue through security and passport control. But it was the “holiday” season.

The transfer through to Mont-Tremblant was an hour and half, time enough for a little snooze en route.

So then we arrived at this magical winter paradise:

“They” call it the Disneyland of winter ski resorts and it is easy to tell why. The cute little buildings, the magical twinkly lights everywhere, firepits all around to warm up around the fire if you are out.  Even in comparison to Lapland Tremblant is just as magical. There is also so much to do other than ski such as hiking, dog sledding, ice skating, snow tubing, ice shoe walking, helicopter rides, snow buggys and skiddos, horse riding, high ropes, outdoor spas, and indoor activities such as laser tag and escape rooms along with a great swimming pool & leisure centre. You can head down into the town of Mont Tremblant itself [ St jovite ] a typical Quebec town, we headed there for a day shopping but was the most freezing day of my life so headed back to the hot-tub.

Temperatures averaged -33 with a windchill of -44 so it was a tad chilly, we are used to this however and always go well equipped with many layers and thermals, although even we had to invest in some Canada Goose gloves each. There were snow blizzards and white outs on the mountain and the lifts were closed for a day due to high winds. But there was always plenty to do.

Then the skiing itself, brilliant, if not a little cold, there were so many runs, and for a fairly low resort, some lovely long runs too and so much snow, we were very lucky on the snow front with this xmas being historical along with many other places in the world too.

The black runs looked somewhat terrifying so we stayed away from them!! But the blue and green runs were brilliant and lovely soft powder to ski on. You did need the full equipment here however like face masks goggles helmets. Once you go out prepared the scenery is stunning, although you can still only manage 1 run before having to go in to warm up, luckily there are warm cabins at the top pf the gondola serving hot drinks and food too.

Eating out there was so much choice, I think we managed to sample nearly all restaurants whilst there, including Bullseye, E Diable and Le Shack and Le Forge, all serving typical north American food in large portions too, so much so we would end up sharing. There is also a local supermarket in the village to stock up and the condos we stayed at were great, The Homewood suites By Hilton, the studio suite had a full kitchenette, balcony, fireplace, large bathroom, we had breakfast included mind and eat out most of the time so didnt really use the kitchen apart from heating up a tin of soup maybe.

But what was best by far about this holiday was the new year- one of the best ever!! The village puts on a display on the slopes of a torchlight parade followed by the snow grooming machines doing stunts on the slopes. It was fab, this is then followed by an open air disco in the main square and fireworks at midnight. It was one of the best new years eve we have ever had. The disco was brilliant, and even better, we had one of the best rooms in the whole of Tremblant, where our balcony over looked the village square so we partied on the balcony. It was simply the best.

Then theres the typical Canadian hospitality with a little french flair. All spoke fluent French and English.

Would I return?? Absolutely, it was amazing.

Check out the photo album here:

Mont Tremblant photo album

So heres to next xmas, I hope you all had a lovely Xmas and New Year and heres to a wonderful 2018. 🙂