New Havens
Warmth, a cozy bed, some style… If you’re not willing to compromise your Charlevoix dream weekend on these matters despite your desire to be one with nature and the landscape, we’ve got four year-round glamping suggestions for you, places where you can almost reach out and touch the forest canopy, right from your mattress. Who said you had to be tough to wander in the woods? Good coffee, a wood fire, and “Bingo!” you’re all warm and toasty before giving a thought to sticking your nose out the door, and heading out for a walk, or diving back under the covers!
New Havens: Year-round glamping in Charlevoix.
Aaaah! Nose up against the glass of your office window, you sigh and daydream about the weekend. Then, a magazine article catches your eye. In the photos: pine walls, a small woodstove, a kettle, a nice soft bed, covered by an eiderdown quilt, and a big window with a great view of the outdoors filled with evergreen trees… You got any rooms available? You can head out right now, leave everything behind! A cozy, romantic retreat, a feast for the eyes, and good for the heart. Don’t forget to fill your lungs with Charlevoix’s invigorating air!
Glamour (maybe we’ll call it a designer look, instead) and camping combined into the one word that’s on the lips of everyone in the “vacation/adventure” webosphere, a new style of forest hideout is enjoying some popularity, and it’s easy to see why! Here are four of them, to help you fantasize about your next long weekend:
Territoire Charlevoix
Yannick Cimon-Mattar’s venture, by way of the amenities it provides users, makes forested, backcountry territory accessible to all those who want to escape the city’s daily grind. It’s his own preferred camping and adventure grounds that he has opened to “anyone who has a basic need to escape, get lost, or get found again,” (notes the website of this new and definitely cool business). With ready-to-camp platforms, kilometres of forest trails, and especially the minimalist, Scandinavian-style hideaways providing relaxation and a mountain view, we admit to dreaming of getting ourselves lost there too, at least for a few days!
For sleeping, the only thing that’s supplied is a mattress, so don’t forget to bring your pillows and bedsheets. But a propane-fuelled cooker, kitchen utensils, and even local, micro-brewed coffee are available on-site. Inside, a table with bench seating, a picnic table outside, a wood stove and a fire pit: Territoire Charlevoix’s hideouts are perfectly suited to stays at any time of year.
Dômes Charlevoix
On a mountainside, at Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, strange buildings shaped like faceted domes start us dreaming of luxurious green wilderness getaways. We can just see ourselves, in a white bed, a fur keeping our feet warm, the wood stove keeping the indoors warm, while soft snowflakes cover the balcony, outdoors. A balcony with a hot tub! What more could you want? A modern, designer kitchen? A full bathroom? A second bed in the loft? A view? It comes with all that, too. Harmony with nature, and a refined mountain experience: we don’t know about you, but at Go Charlevoix, we can see ourselves there already!
Repère Boréal
At Les Éboulements, in a forested section of Route 362, the Galarneau brothers chose to realize their father’s vision, after he succumbed to illness before he could realize it himself… The result: quirky, ecologically sound mini-cottages they built with their own hands. Cube-shaped, providing an immediate view of the sky and the surrounding woods, the little Maïkan (“wolf” in the Innu language) dwellings are the perfect, cozy little Scandinavia-inspired nest your weekends so desperately need! Also available: the ShipShip, Mashk, Utapi, and Nish dwellings. The choice of accommodation is varied, to help you find your ultimate spot! But if you’re looking for a step up in terms of originality, the new Uhu (“owl,” in the Innu language) dwellings could be the ones to make you succumb to the temptation of a boreal forest vacation: You’ll be so happy, you’ll be walking on air. In fact, you’ll be perched 10 metres above the ground!
Here at Repère Boréal, the amenities vary a great deal from one type of accommodation to the next. Be careful to take a good look at the information about each one before reserving your stay. But, above all, rest assured you’ll find all the facilities and services you’ll need in the main building on the property – even a spa zone!
Ptite Nature
Charlevoix has a closely guarded secret: Saint-Siméon’s Quatrièmes Chutes. A secret that’s even more closely guarded: the next address, La Ptite Nature, a cute little rental cottage at the Cinquième Chute. Here, there are no cottages and no main building, just the warm and sincere welcome from your hosts, Sylvain and Sarah. Proud environmental advocates, and advocates of a simple, collaborative lifestyle, they built this charming hideaway of raspberry-coloured wood themselves, on their own lot, a stone’s throw from their house. Lovingly decorated with a wide variety of second-hand finds, items they’ve selected and enjoyed themselves, handmade objects, some they’ve crafted themselves, some made by friends, it's a colourful, warm cocoon with a small wood stove and all the comforts of a small house. From here, the sound of the waterfall rumbling below reaches our ears, and the scent of the forest wafts on the air. In short, we spend the kind of vacation time here we never want to see end. We’d stay for good if we could!
