Mont-Tremblant
A corner of Mont-Tremblant
Discover 53 hand-picked spots in Mont-Tremblant, in the heart of Mont-Tremblant — restaurants, bars, cafés and more, all worth the detour.
How the neighbourhood came to be
The Algonquin called the mountain Manitonga Soutana: the mountain of spirits, the one that trembled when nature was disturbed. The name held. In 1895 Quebec turned it into Parc de la Montagne-Tremblante, the province's very first park, born of a sanatorium project that was never built. Forty-four years later a Philadelphia millionaire named Joe Ryan climbed to the summit, decided to build a resort, and handed the trail-cutting to a 63-year-old Norwegian nicknamed Jackrabbit. Mont Tremblant Lodge opened in February 1939 with Canada's first chairlift — only the second in North America.
Today the pedestrian village climbs the mountain's foot in bright colours: cobbled lanes, a cable car up from the base, terrasses facing the runs. It is efficient, it is busy, and it is the economic engine of the Laurentians. Ten minutes away, the Vieux-Village sector and downtown Saint-Jovite keep a more everyday, more Québécois rhythm — and often eat better.
The real luxury is everything around: 1,510 km² of national park just north, lakes you cross by canoe over three days, the golf, the Ironman in August, and in winter a ski area that eastern North America still treats as its benchmark.
Did you know?
- 1The name comes from the Algonquin Manitonga Soutana: tradition held that the Manitou made the mountain tremble when nature was disturbed.
- 2Parc national du Mont-Tremblant is Quebec's oldest park: created on January 12, 1895, it then covered 60 km² and today spans 1,510.
- 3The chairlift installed by Joe Ryan in 1939 was the first in Canada and only the second in North America.
- 4It was Herman Smith Johannsen, known as Jackrabbit — a Norwegian then in his sixties who would live past a hundred — who cut the mountain's first trails.
- 5After her husband's death in 1950, Mary Ryan ran the resort on her own until 1965.
- 6The ski resort operates inside a leased zone of the national park: it skis, literally, inside a protected park.
The neighbourhood at a glance
See & discover
Drink & nightlife
Activities & wellness
Practical info
An hour and three quarters to two hours via Highway 15 North then Route 117. Late Sunday afternoons in winter are the worst; leaving early changes everything.
A car is essential to get here. On site the pedestrian village is entirely walkable and the cable car links the base to the village core; a free shuttle serves the Vieux-Village, Saint-Jovite and the main hotels.
December to April for skiing, June to September for hiking, biking, golf and lakes. Late September and early October draw nearly as many people as Christmas for the foliage. November and May are dead months: several businesses close.
This is the priciest destination in the Laurentians: lodging, lift tickets and village restaurants sit well above Montreal prices. Saint-Jovite offers more affordable tables and rooms ten minutes away.
Parc national du Mont-Tremblant, run by Sépaq, is separate from the ski resort: paid entry, with reservations recommended for camping and canoes.
French and English answer each other constantly: the clientele is as much Ontarian, American and European as Québécois.
Canadian dollar (CAD). Posted prices exclude tax (about 15%) and a 15–20% tip is expected at restaurants and bars.
Dial 911 for emergencies. The local hospital is in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, about forty minutes away; on the mountain, resort patrol responds first.