As a family of outdoor lovers who celebrate major life milestones with visits to nature, we’ve had our share of outdoorsy vacations. Honeymoon after our wedding? Yosemite. Just finished graduate school? Yellowstone. New position at work? Acadia. However, the progression of my wife’s multiple sclerosis has not only made travel challenging, it has also made enjoying the outdoors more challenging.
That’s why we seek out accessible family adventures when we travel now. We were excited to find Chalets Lanaudière in Quebec (check prices here), a five-square-kilometer private reserve located in Canada’s boreal forest about an hour north of Montreal, whose goal is to make the outdoors accessible to everyone. It sounded perfect for us, so we decided to give it a try. Here’s what you need to know about this four-season nature destination, and whether or not it lives up to its accessibility promise.
Accessible accommodations at Chalets Lanaudière
First off, we rented one of the accessible mini-chalets that opened in 2024. These two-story tiny cottages were built using universal design with the entire ground floor fully accessible. There are two bedrooms downstairs, and one in a loft upstairs, each with a queen-size bed.
The accessible bathroom had plenty of space for a wheelchair, grab bars, and a roll-in shower with handheld shower head. We had more than enough space for our family of four adults. It might be tight to accommodate six people as advertised, but if some of those were smaller children it might be okay.
The staff at Chalets Lanaudière were incredibly helpful. My wife needs a higher bed in order to transfer to and from her wheelchair, and they were able to lift the bed using risers to meet her needs. In addition, there’s room to fit a hoyer lift beneath the bed if necessary. Chalets Lanaudière can provide a lift if you cannot bring your own.
Chalets Lanaudière also has an accessible campfire
Our small kitchenette was fully stocked with dishes, cookware, and essentials, including a 3/4-size refrigerator, two-element electric cooktop, and (most importantly) a coffee pot. We had no trouble stopping at a local grocery store to purchase food for the week. Can you say poutine and pizza for dinner? Plus, there was plenty of space to store food and cook all our meals there over our five day stay.
Each mini-chalet also comes with picnic table that a wheelchair can pull under, a charcoal grill (you provide the charcoal), and a fire pit with wood for your stay included. We loved that the fire pit had a flat, crushed stone path leading right up to the fire so those in a wheelchair could roll right up, join in, and cook their s’mores.
Interpretive trails at Chalets Lanaudière
An interpretive nature trail leads right past the mini-chalets, and the flat, crushed gravel path was easy for my wife to wheel down. The trail has signs (in French) to educate hikers about flora, fauna, and the environment. Our oldest daughter made use of her high school French classes, and interpreted as best she could. Better yet, we had our first family hike together in many, many years.
In addition to the fully-accessible trail, Chalets Lanaudière provides specialized equipment free of charge so everyone can enjoy the entire property. There’s a power assisted wheelchair system (PAWS) that attaches to a manual wheelchair and gives the user the freedom to go further down the trail without exhausting their energy.
The Hippocampe all-terrain wheelchair self-propelled or pushed over natural trails with more uneven surfaces. Chalets Lanaudière also has Joëlette Adventure wheelchairs for adults and children to open up even more trail adventures.
Accessible water sports at Chalets Lanaudière
There are two pristine mountain lakes located within the boundaries of Chalets Lanaudière’s private reserve. The smaller and shallower Lac Lamourex has an accessible beach with mats that allow wheelchairs to roll all the way to the water. There’s also an accessible dock where wheelchairs can roll out over the water. Lac Morgan has multiple spots where families can get to the water, including an accessible dock with a guide rail to prevent wheelchairs from rolling off.
As part of the resort’s commitment to making the outdoors accessible, specialized equipment is available free of charge, including beach wheelchairs and a swimming chair with floats that go directly in the water. Multiple docks on Lac Morgan are equipped with universally designed dock platforms that provide a stable way to enter and exit kayaks and canoes.
These platforms are not just helpful for those with mobility needs; everyone in my family utilized these kayak launch platforms as they were much easier to stay in control while entering and exiting the boat. Chalets Lanaudière can even provide a custom kayak equipped with outriggers and specialized paddles allowing a kayaking experience for those who can transfer into and out of the boat.
All-season accessibility
While my family visited in the summer, Chalets Lanaudière is a four-season resort offering plenty of trails for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, tubing, and multiple ice skating rinks in the winter.
There are offer multiple types of adaptive equipment to help everyone enjoy the winter outdoors, including an adaptive skating sled, snow sled, and wheelblades (short skates that attach under the front wheels of a wheelchair to prevent it from sinking and making it more maneuverable in the snow). All of this equipment is included with your chalet rental and available to borrow free of charge throughout your stay.
Embracing a greater social mission
Quebec’s Chalets Lanaudière is a non-profit organization designed to support Camp Mariste, with which they share the property. The award-winning Camp Mariste provides educational nature camp experiences to young people ages five to 16, particularly those from low socio-economic families. A full 100 percent of the profits of Chalets Lanaudière goes to support Camp Mariste and its social mission.
The camp’s mission of making the outdoors accessible to low-income children has certainly influenced the mission of Chalets Lanaudière to make the outdoors more accessible, and is part of a larger initiative in Quebec to make the entire region a destination for all. Kéroul is an organization working to make Quebec a tourism and cultural destination accessible to people with disabilities through universal access, and they have a number of resources and itineraries to help with accessible trip planning.
