Snow Tubing at Mont-Tremblant: A Thrilling Experience

At the beginning of 2025, we decided to leave (almost) at the last minute for 15 days in the Canadian cold of Montreal and its surroundings, discovering landscapes and activities. In this first article, we tell you about one activity that the kids loved: snow tubing in Mont-Tremblant! Valérie, our Mahoran/Quebecoise friend, had recently written a full guide to the must-do activities in the Laurentians!

To be frank, as expatriates in the French islands for nearly 15 years at the time of writing, we are not really familiar with Canadian winter activities, and we initially had no idea what snow tubing was! While quickly preparing our trip to Quebec, we soon realized there were many fun activities to do here in winter. Valérie had the chance to try several and even wrote two complete guides: where to go snowmobiling in Quebec and the best places to go dog sledding in Quebec. Over the course of these 15 days, we’ll even have the opportunity to try these two activities, in partnership with Manawa, the booking site we now always recommend to reserve your activities in advance!

But let’s get back to the main subject, snow tubing in Mont-Tremblant. For this trip, we also decided to rent clothes with Émilie from Tuque & Bicycle Experiences, who offers winter clothing rental, which was perfect for us. So don’t hesitate to read our article on the subject to form your own opinion!

For our two-week trip to Quebec, we decided to book accommodation for one week in the Laurentians, and we settled in the municipality of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, about 1 hour from Montreal and 45 minutes from Mont-Tremblant. As with all the activities during this vacation, we decided to surprise the kids every time, so they never know what they’ll be doing during the day!

As with the rest of this trip, we booked this snow tubing activity in Mont-Tremblant (well, just a little bit before) through the Manawa site that we now always recommend. Reservation made for 10:00 AM, we arrived early and explored the area. At first, we couldn’t see the slopes where we were going to play for 2 hours, but the kids immediately noticed the famous inflatable tubes piled outside!

We entered the reception area, a kind of huge dining hall with tables, chairs, and a small snack area for food, very convenient after exerting ourselves in the cold! We collected our tickets for the 2 hours, which we attach to our jackets—it reminds us of ski trips, it’s the same thing! We took advantage of the snack area to grab a bite with the kids who were, of course, hungry because they decided not to eat in the morning, as usual…

We do not rent helmets, but know that it is possible, although I find it hard to imagine one being able to really turn around on those tubes. But it is safer, I think, if you don’t feel too confident, haha. Once fully equipped, we went outside the main building to each get our tube and climb onto the main starting platform of the slopes! Because yes, if you didn’t know, that’s basically what snow tubing is: sliding in a big tube (in which we are not attached, just sitting) down well-groomed slopes, more or less steep, without brakes, but with enough length to allow an easy stop at the bottom!

In another style of sliding, we tried dog sledding, in Arundel, in the Laurentians, not far from Mont-Tremblant.

With our four tubes in hand, we listened to a person’s explanation on the starting platform. Several people explained (in English or French) the safety rules to be followed for this snow tubing activity. They explained the general process: you slide, you get off the tube at the bottom, you go to the tow lift (like a ski belt lift), you are taken back up, and you do it all over again—nothing simpler! Of course, you must remain seated in the tube. Téo, given his age (4 years), is not allowed to go alone (even though he would have loved to, I’m sure), but he can either go attached to one of us or ride on an adult.

Once the briefing was over, it was go time! There is a total of 8 slopes, 4 on the left (the steepest) and 4 on the right (the easiest), separated by the famous tow lift. We decided to start together on the rightmost slope to get a feel for it and, above all, to see what we were in for. One of the neat features is the possibility of attaching the tubes together. In fact, the tubes can be connected to each other with a sort of plastic ring (attached to the tube by a rope) that you hold, and it is necessary to stay as close to one another as possible. The four of us could therefore form “a sort of square.”

We launched into the first descent without knowing exactly what to expect, but we were honestly surprised by the speed we reached in the central part! It was quite hair-raising, to be honest, but the kids were overjoyed, laughing heartily, while Mélanie was a bit scared on the first descent and even slowed down towards the end, haha. But the sensation of sliding was definitely there—Louis was thrilled, and Téo wasn’t “even scared,” as he says!

As explained, the tube stops on its own as the slope gradually flattens out at the end with no risk of overshooting. Once stopped, you must get off your tube, cross (carefully, watching out for others) the other slopes to reach the central area where the tow lift is located. The setup is clever, with a cable holding small metal pieces every few meters. A person is simply there to collect your ring and attach it to one of these metal pieces, which will lift you for what I think is only about a minute, until you reach the starting platform! The only rule is to keep your feet extended and your back facing the slope.

Upon arriving at the top, we were surprised because we arrived backwards, and for the first time, a descent immediately takes you back onto the flat area, haha! Louis, who is as excited as can be, couldn’t sit still and decided to go off on his own a bit to explore the other, more difficult slopes. On our side, we gradually moved towards the left slopes, which become steeper in their central parts and also start a little higher, allowing for more momentum, higher speed, and a greater sensation (and more fear for Mélanie, haha).

In the end, we spent 1h30 switching between the various slopes—some steeper, some gentler—as a family, sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs or threes, depending on the mood. As I said at the beginning, we chose a two-hour package, which was sufficient for us because Téo started feeling cold towards the end. One slightly annoying aspect was that there were quite a few people (albeit it was a Sunday), and sometimes you had to wait in line for 5 to 10 minutes before taking the next slope. It wasn’t very warm, so if you stand still, you can quickly start to freeze!

I asked Louis, our future blogger (haha), to give us the conclusion and tell us what he thought in the end. He found it super cool because it goes really fast and there are several slopes where you can ride the same descent and others to accelerate even more. Louis will even be the only one to take the leftmost, most difficult slope!

For his part, Louis would have liked to stay longer, but we were all a bit cold. We must say that we are not used to these temperatures. Mélanie and Téo even went inside a little early to warm up, while I stayed outside to take some photos of the area for the article. In the meantime, while waiting for Louis’ final descents, I managed to warm up at several spots where fires were lit.

We also took about an hour to eat on site, grabbing a soup and some sandwiches, with poutine. It’s not gourmet cuisine, but it’s very practical as the room is well heated and allows you to eat on site!

In any case, this is an activity that we recommend 100%, especially if you are with young children—they will love it!

Here’s a quick summary of the practical corner!

Of course, everything will depend on where you’re coming from. But if the idea interests you and you’ve landed on this article, there’s a good chance you arrived via Montreal. Upon arriving at the airport and for our 15 days there, we used the booking site Discover Cars. It’s the site we use the most to compare prices, and we found a real gem for these 15 days! From Montreal, it’s about 130 km and approximately 1h30 away.

As always, everything will depend on what you’re looking for and certainly on your budget. Note that there is a hotel on‑site, right next door, the AX Hotel, which apparently has a very good reputation at a reasonable price for Canada.

Otherwise, here are 3 accommodations right nearby where you can spend the night:

• Hotel Vacances Tremblant : The property offers rooms and equipped studios, an indoor pool, and a location close to ski areas and outdoor activities, praised by visitors for its excellent service and comfort.
• Le 900 Tremblant Inn Café and Bistro : A welcoming property offering modern rooms, a very good breakfast, and a convenient location for outdoor activities, with staff highly praised for their hospitality.
• Le Pimbina : A cozy B&B that provides a pleasant setting with comfortable rooms, a hot tub, and a garden. It’s renowned for its excellent breakfast and the warm welcome of its hosts.

Otherwise, you can look in detail at accommodations in the Mont‑Tremblant area on the map below.

That’s it—I’ll stop here for this article on snow tubing in Mont-Tremblant. I hope this article has inspired you to discover the spot and share this beautiful moment with your family! If you want to discover other activities, we also tried a helicopter tour in Mont-Tremblant.

See you soon,

Written by Sylvain PONS

I had the opportunity to explore the beauty of this country I love on several different occasions and in different places (Canadian Rockies, the Island of Newfoundland for 1 month, Yukon and Québec)!

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