Tiny houses & cabins in Lanaudière

Lanaudière's Matawinie hills earned their reputation as Quebec's mini-chalet heartland the practical way — hundreds of small cabins, most with a wood stove and a riverside hot tub, tucked into forest an hour and a half from Montreal. Saint-Côme is the anchor village, a scatter of gas stations and poutine counters that fills up every ski weekend. The Parc régional de la Chute-à-Bull is the local landmark: an 18-metre waterfall reached via the Belvédère trail and its covered bridge, with smaller cascades and swimming holes strung along the same river most of the spa-chalets sit on. A short drive further, the Parc régional du Lac Taureau adds a genuine lake — sandy beach, canoe rentals, a marina — for the warmer months.

Winter is when Lanaudière really performs. Val Saint-Côme, one of the province's largest ski hills and a stop on the Freestyle Skiing World Cup circuit, keeps the village full from December through March, and groomed snowmobile trails link straight out from many properties — some chalets are reachable only that way once the snow sets in. Summer brings hiking on the Sentier national and the same rivers for tubing and swimming. The drive from Montreal is straightforward: Highway 40 to Route 131 north, about 100 km, no ferry or gravel road involved.