Iza

We are considering Mont Tremblant for a week of skiing during the Presidents Day week. A family of 3 with one advanced skier, one beginner to intermediate and a beginner child. How is the ski school there?<BR>We are from Connecticut and would like to drive there. Our other options would be Vermont or Maine. How much colder would Tremblant be than one of those areas?<BR>We would love suggestions on accommodations in Tremblant (breakfast included and a pool and a hot tub would be a definite plus).<BR>Also, are there any packages that include all meals? How to go about finding those and making reservations there in general?

Louis

Everything you want to know is at:<BR>www.tremblant.com

Iza

Thanks, Louis. I was also looking for some personal recommendations and experiences.<BR><BR>Do you or anyone else know what the deal is with two separate websites for Tremblant:<BR>www.tremblant.com<BR>www.tremblant.c a<BR><BR>Which is the official site? Both offer ability to make reservations but the options appear quite different.

Karen

There is the ski resort Mt. Tremblant which is at the base of the mountain. it includes a pedestrian mall and many hotels some with cooking units and some condos on the mountain. You will find a Marriott, the Fairmount and the Westin as well as a few other more modest hotels. There is also a village of Tremblant and surrounding areas that offer hotels like St Jovite which are just a couple of miles from the ski resort. Also there is Grayrocks ect in the area. We like to stay right at the base of the mountain for the convenience and for the overall ambiance. The skiing is quite advanced but they have put a new childrens area in. There is an indoor pool complex right at the base of the mountain as a lot of the hotels only have outdoor pools and hot tubs. Get groceries in St. Jovite as the store at the mtn is very expensive and alot of the condos and suites have cooking facilities. Karen

Iza

Thanks, Karen. Are the condos that are defined as &quot;slope side&quot; ski in and out or do you have to take a shuttle?<BR>Do you think Tremblant will be much colder than Vermont or Maine in February?

xxx

Iza: the condos in Vieux-Tremblant are all located within the confines of the town and there is no need for a shuttle. If you go to Tremblant with a family, my recommendation would be the Marriott Residence Inn. You can get a very large 2 bedroom suite at a reasonable rate, it includes a pretty good continental buffet breakfast and there is a hot tub and workout room. The pool is only outdoors. Right next to the hotel though is a place (i forgot the name) where they have numerous indoor pools, workout rooms, spas, and outdoor hot tubs, but you have to pay for it. It is very popular within the village. In terms of weather, I really can't say. Its pretty weird. Its -8 celsius today in Montreal and next week it'll be 15 celsius. I don't think that its usually much colder in Tremblant plus your money will go a lot further up here than in Vermont or Maine. Good Luck.

sj

My employer &amp; his wife go every year. They have learned from experience to pick a hotel/resort that is right at the slopes. Not all of them are. If you can afford the luxury, you want one where you can &quot;ski right into the building&quot;. Otherwise - they found it was a real pain in the... to cart all the ski equipment from the town to the slopes by bus or taxi or shuttle.<BR><BR>Weather should be similar to Vermont or Maine.

Lois

The key difference between Vermont, Maine and Tremblant in mid-February is that at Tremblant, you are pretty much guaranteed lots of nice snow. In Vermont, however (at least closer to S. Vermont) it has been so slushy the last few winters that lousy skiing has been guaranteed. And even at Presidents' Week high-season prices, Tremblant is a better deal. The food's better, too. Lots of families like the kids' program at Grey Rocks; otherwise, the Tremblant website will show you lots of condos. The beauty of the ski school, for an American family, is that even the youngest child will learn a little French.

Iza

Thanks for all the replies. They were very helpful. We will go to Tremblant, now it is just a matter of choosing a good place to stay. It seems like a lot of places in the resort itself within the pedestrian village are booked for that week alread (we checked Mariott Residence Inn - fully booked).<BR>Has anyone stayed at Club Tremblant? Comments on their acommodations, food, quality of ski school instruction? Their all inclusive stay and ski package sounds very attractive. There also seems to be an indoors pool and it looks like we could get a nice suite with a fireplace.<BR>Could anyone compare it to GrayRocks?<BR>Thanks in advance.

xxx

I personally would not want to stay at Grayrocks if you are particularly interested in Tremblant village. The drive is not too far, but you cannot walk it and I would assume you want to stay right in town. At Grayrocks, there is basically just the hotel and ski hill, nothing much else. Can't help you on Club Tremblant but you may want to check out condo rentals like Le Saint Bernard for the time you are there. They are spacious and relatively inexpensive.

Waverley

I think that President's weekend coincides with Canadian school vacation so it is very likely to be booked and with peak prices. I can't place Club Tremblant off the top of my head but I can't imagine that anthing in the village is awful. We have, on occasion, stayed a little further than the village when we could not get accommodation in the village and I have not found it to be a real pain. The drive is easy and there is plenty of parking for skiers, so if you can't get any accommodation in the village, I woulld stay further out. There is a beautiful resort called Le Lac du Something or La place sur la Lac. We have also stayed in St Jovite at club Des Vacances which has really nice condo style accommodation and a nice indoor pool and is half the price of places in the village. It is very near a tubing place and there are some great restaurants in St Jovite. It is about a 10 minute drive from Tremblant.<BR><BR>What we love about this area is the great skiing and the European atmosphere.

xxx

Can anyone comment on the Fairmont Tremblant with a family? How's the service, food, any special activities? Thanks.

Waverley

We really enjoy the Fairmont although it can get a little bit more cramped with a family then a condo does. We have usually reserved one of the bigger rooms which has a queen-sized bed and a queen sleep sofa be but my kids say the sofa is very uncomfortable and usually take the mattress off and put it on the floor which really cuts down on your space. There is also a small kitchenette. The other rooms are regular hotel rooms and we decided to take that next time becuase then at least there are 2 comfortable beds.<BR><BR>The service is usually excellent and we like the location. There is a place to get breakfast and snacks and then there is the restaurant which is very good. You can also rent or store your skis right there too.The best part about it is the huge lounge area with fireplace and we spend a lot of time there. It is also one of the few places in Tremblant with an indoor. pool.

Julie

Thanks Waverley for your comments on the Fairmont. Are there any special activities in the lounge, or elsewhere at the hotel? (Say, music at night?)

Karen

Hi : Club Tremblant is not in the Pedestrian village at the base of Tremblant. Although the Fairmont is ski in and out, the other hotels at the pedestrian village are convenient. You use the Cabriolat to get to the top of the hill. So you go from the hotel to the Cabriolet to the hill, very little walking. Les Voyageurs is right at the base of the Cabriolet, very convenient. As for the Fairmont there are lounges and the hotels are so close together you can go to lounges at other resorts like the new Westin which has a very nice lounge. Try to stay in the Pedestrian village hotels or in the mountainside Condos. Karen

Karen

Sorry I meant you use the Cabriolet to get to the base of the hill where you then get tickets and take the lift up the mountain. Karen

Waverley

Regarding activities at the Fairmont, there are no organised activities or music. We just like to sit there and chat. Regarding the Westin, I would double-check about the lounge. When we checked it out, we were told that the lounge was avaialble only for owners of timeshare not for people who were staying there and did not own. There was a very cold , uninviting lobby with a few chairs. Hopefully, they have changed that restriction since then.

julie

Thanks for all the info.!

Alex

Hi Julie,<BR><BR>As mentioned be sure to check out tremblant.com it is the official website of MTremblant and lists all special offers (see hotdeals). As mentioned any of the main hotels offer very easy access to the cabriolet or directly to the base turbo lift. Be careful of the ski-in and out condos from sunstar as some of them require a medium level skier to get down the access paths to the soleil lift which brings you to mid-mountain which goes over to the main village runs. Dont forget both sides of the mountain are very well groomed. By the way there are always events being planned and if you look you will see that the week of Feb 14-23 is referred to as Washington Week on the schedule which means there will be events. Usually you can receive greater details by calling 819-681-3000 and asking for programs available on these dates. We are still a bit early right now but most likely by early January they will be able to provide ideas. (Usually day-camps for children, concerts, etc.)If you insert your requested dates into the holiday planner on the tremblant.com site it will give you a break down of which accomodations are available and then you can hyper-link to the relative locations listed on the right-hand menu. Good-luck and good skiing and be sure to check out the all you can eat seafood dinners at the Fairmonts Windigo on Friday nights should you be there (be sure to make res)

Iza

Thanks to all who replied to my questions. We are booked into Hotel Club Tremblant which is not in the village but rather across the lake and provides a regular shuttle to the ski lifts for its guests (I am told it is less than 10 minutes). This hotel has a nice all inclusive ski package which includes accommodations (1 or 2 bedroom suites with fireplace, kitchen and washer/dier), food, lift tickets, ski school and activities for kids. We thought it was a good value for a family.<BR>Despite what Alex said about www.tremblant.com providing information on availability, when you put in your request for accommodations through the website, a lot of properties that are not available for the dates you posted come up. When we called, the reservation person gave us a much more limited selection. A lot of the properties we were interested in were not available for &quot;Washington Week&quot;.<BR><BR>I will report on Hotel Club Tremblant when we are back in February.