Whether you are planning a trip to Quebec or are currently living in Quebec, Mont Tremblant can make from a great weekend getaway. Mont Tremblant is a really cute town in the Canadian province of Québec set within the Laurentian Mountains. It’s 2 hours away from Montréal (80 miles) and 4 hours away from Quebec City (230 miles).
Mont Tremblant was actually one of our favorite getaway when we spend 7 weeks in Quebec City as we’ve got plenty of nature time there! So let’s go explore Mont Tremblant for one weekend!
Note: Unless specified otherwise, prices are in USD as of December 2018 and include taxes. When prices are converted from CAD to USD, we used a 0.77 USD to CAD ratio. (so 1 CAD = 0.77 USD).
How much time to spend in Mont Tremblant?
It depends on where you are based. If you are in Montreal, you can probably take a regular weekend to explore and get a good sense of the place. For us, because we stayed in Quebec City, we decided to take a 4 day weekend and stopped by Montreal on the way in/out. If you want to do a 2 day getaway, just follow our day 2 and day 3.
What did we do?
Here is the daily summary of our weekend:
| Day | What did we do? |
| 1 (Saturday) | We picked up our car in the morning and drove to Montreal for lunch and enjoyed the nice weather. We then drove to our AirBnB and spent the evening to explore the town. |
| 2 (Sunday) | We spent the day hiking in Parc de Mont Tremblant, one of the major parks listed in the Parcs Quebec network and features camping, canoe-camping, well-maintained hiking trails, canoe rental. |
| 3 (Monday) | We spent the day hiking in Mont Tremblant Ski Resort and exploring the village with its shops and great restaurants. |
| 4 (Tuesday) | We left our apartment after a nice breakfast in our apartment and stopped again by Montreal to enjoy some AYCE Sushi. We then drove back to Quebec City and returned our car in the evening. |
Day 1 – Driving with some quality time in Montreal
Since we left from Quebec City, we decided to make a small detour by Montreal, to enjoy their lovely farmer’s market (At Water) and get some great food there for lunch. We then drove to our AirBnB, made a stop at a grocery store to pack our food for the week, visit the Old town of Mont Tremblant, cook dinner at our AirBnB and got a good night of sleep before our first day of hiking.
Day 2 – Hiking Parc de Mont Tremblant
After breakfast, we took our car to head towards Parc de Mont Tremblant (45 minutes drive). After paying the entrance fee ($6.5 USD / person), we decided to head towards the trailhead for the hike called “Le Centenaire”.
This peak our attention since this hike was created for the park’s 100th anniversary. This trail offered a string of spectacular views of the meanders of Rivière du Diable and of the La Boulé forests. The trail is about 9 miles long and took us 5+ hours. There is an abbreviated version of the trail, but you need to walk a few miles on the road, which we were not really excited about. The trail was pretty long but we got rewarded with a nice lunch spot and a view on a pretty large lake.
For more information about the hiking trails and other activities provided by the park, check out the parc’s free discovery guide PDF.
We then got back home to enjoy a relaxing time in the heated pool of our apartment complex.
Day 3 – Hiking Mont Tremblant Ski Resort
On our third day we decided to explore the village of Mont Tremblant. So we drove to the resort (10 minutes drive) and then decided to hike all the way to the top of the mountain.
We took the “Le Caps” trails which go from the base to the summit. It took us 2 hours to hike to the top and got rewarded by great view of the town. Keep in mind that this is pretty steep with a total elevation of 2,800 feet. Once at the top, the weather wasn’t looking good anymore, so we took the gondola to get down ($5.5 USD / person).
For more information about all the hiking trails available, check out the resort free hiking trail map. There are definitely more friendly options. You could also took the Gondola to the top to enjoy the view and get down.
We then spent time in the lovely village of Mont Tremblant by enjoying a nice stroll through shops and restaurants. For people that have been in California, the village of Mont Tremblant reminded me of Northstar California Resort (in the Lake Tahoe area). It definitely feels like a really warm, nice and relaxing place.
Day 4 – AYCE Sushi & drive back home
For our last day, we enjoyed a nice breakfast at our AirBnB and then headed towards Montreal. Because we spent 4 weeks in Montreal this summer, we knew they had some amazing All You Can Eat Sushi (AYCE), so we went back to our favorite spot: L’Asie Resto Bar.
By far the best AYCE (All You Can Eat) Sushi in Montreal and we can safely say that after trying a few of them! (Yeah, we are a bit of sushi fanatics!). This place has high quality fish and the plating of everything we ordered was wonderful. Try to go there for dinner. It’s a bit pricier but the selection is way better.
L’Asie Resto Bar
We then drove back to Quebec City while listening to our favorite podcasts, refilled gas in the car and dropped our car off before heading back to our home in Quebec City.
What else to do in Mont Tremblant?
Here are also alternative options that we had on our list but we did not have a chance to try out! If you do, please come back and leave us a comment about it!
Scandinave Spa Mont-Tremblant (website)
This place is really highly recommended & reviewed..It is located on the side of a hill on a river in a forest. There are several steam rooms, saunas, relaxation rooms, hot soaks, cold soaks, and fireplaces. You can even go in the river for a cold soak! There are lots of chairs to relax in through out the facility and along the river’s edge. Of course, they offer massages. Just be aware that if you go there during the peak season you might not have the best experience due to how busy the place usually is during that time.
Where to stay?
As always, we used AirBnb to find a place to stay! The apartment we found (listing) was located 5 minutes drive from the old Tremblant village. We had a balcony with great views of the mountains, a heated pool, a spa and a well equipped kitchen, which was great since we love cooking some yummy & nutritious meals. The unit also has Netflix which was a nice treat! (you can use our AirBnB referral link if you want to get a 40 USD credit on your first rental when you sign-up).
Alternatively, Mont Tremblant Resort will have more upscale options if you prefer to be right in the village, but since we had a car, we did not mind being a few minutes away. Plus having our own pool/spa for pretty much ourselves was nice.
How to get there?
The best way to get to Mont Tremblant is by car so you can explore the area at your own pace/schedule. We rented our car using Turo, which provided us with great booking flexibility at a cost which was lower than most car rental companies.
There is also a bus to go from Montreal to Mont Tremblant in 3 hours (vs 2 hours by car). The cost is 36.22 CAD one way (or 65.20 CAD for a return ticket) with departures six times daily. For specific schedule, latest pricing and to book your trip, please check out the Groupe Galland bus company booking website which operates the primary service.
How much did we spend?
TL;DR; As a couple we spent 61 USD (or 80.5 CAD) per person and per day. Note: this budget is as a couple so if you travel solo, your budget might differ.
| Category | Cost in CAD (per person) | Cost in USD (per person) | Comments |
| Accommodation | $23 / night | $17 / night | This is basically covering cost for our AirBnB apartment for the weekend. |
| Transportation | $40 / day | $30.5 / night | This includes car rental cost + gas. If you make the trip from Montreal, you would definitely have a much lower gas expense. |
| Groceries | $3.5 / day | $2.5 / day | This covered our breakfast, lunch and dinner for our 2nd and 3rd days. |
| Eating Out | $10 / day | $8 / day | We spent time in the Montreal market on our first day to enjoy some nice farmer’s market food and we splurged on our favorite AYCE sushi in Montreal on our way back. |
| Activities | $4 / day | $3 / day | This includes the entrance to Mont Tremblant National Park on Day 2 and our Gondola ticket on Day 3. |
| TOTAL | $80.5 / day | $61 / day | We won’t say that this 4 day weekend is on the inexpensive side, but it’s not bad considering that we left from Quebec City. |
Others tips?
Here are our tips for anyone that is planning a getaway weekend in Mont Tremblant and wants to save time and money while having the best possible experience:
- Hiking at Mont Tremblant Ski Resort is FREE! If you want to spend only one day of hiking, we recommend hiking Mont Tremblant Ski Resort as the views from the top were better than the ones from the trail we took inside the National Park.
- Use AirBnB! AirBnB is a website that allows homeowners, in destinations all over the world, the ability to rent private spaces (or entire apartments) for a fee. As nomadic long term travelers, we like to call AirBnB our home as it has helped us save a lot of money and provided us with really great places managed by wonderful hosts! Pro tip: If you sign up for AirBnB using our referral link, you will get a 55 USD credit (or the equivalent in your local currency), which should give you a pretty nice discount on your first night!
- Use Turo! Turo is a website that allows car owner, in destinations all over the world, the ability to rent their car for a fee. Pro tip: If you sign up for Turo using our referral link, you will get a 25 USD credit that you can use towards your first reservation.
What do you think about Mont Tremblant? Would you like to spend a weekend there and embrace the nature that this place has to offer?
1 Comment
Cost of our nomad living in Quebec City - Nomad Numbers · January 16, 2020 at 7:35 am
[…] hiking trails and lakes for canoeing in the summer spend a great weekend at this. Check out our weekend guide to Mont Tremblant for more […]