Mont Tremblant is eastern Canada's premier ski destination, and I had been there once for a weekend almost 20 years ago, during an extremely cold February weekend. Since then, Canadian resort development company Intrawest has turned Tremblant into a 4-season resort, complete with a pedestrian village right at the foot of the ski mountain.

So when a press trip to Station Mont Tremblant came up, I was very excited to see what has happened to this quaint mountain village since my last visit. So on July 1, 2011 I embarked on a flight with Porter Airlines from Toronto to Mont Tremblant. Three other travel journalists were part of our group and on the plane I already had a great chat with one of my colleagues.

A little more than an hour later we landed at Mont Tremblant Airport which has the absolutely cutest airport terminal building: a wooden chalet with a fireplace and comfy couches for sitting areas. After a 40 minute shuttle ride we arrived at our abode for the next 2 days: the luxurious Fairmont Tremblant hotel where I got to stay in a king-size room with a view of the mountain. House dog Gracie welcomed all the travelers and patiently allowed herself to be petted by all the children of the guests at the Fairmont.

After settling into my room I headed off to check out the village. Most of the buildings are from the 1990s and were built by Intrawest. The architecture is French colonial revival, with many bright colour accents. Despite the relative newness of the buildings, they integrate nicely into the hillside and convey the image of a French mountain town. Mirror Lake is a scenic pond with electric boats and interesting sculptures (a hand and a head) in the middle of the pond. Dozens of stores, restaurants and cafes dot the village and offer travelers a nice meal at different price points.

At 3:30 Catherine Lacasse from Intrawest met us for a walk around the pedestrian village and we also got to see some of the older buildings from the 1930s that were built when the ski resort was first developed by American millionaire Joe Ryan. Once arrived at the bottom of the village we took the "cabriolet", a standup lift that holds 6 people in each open cabin, back up to the top of the village where we had a look at various adventure playgrounds and activity areas. Then we took the gondola over to the Soleil side of the mountain where we got to see the casino which has a restaurant with gorgeous views over the mountainside.

In the evening we enjoyed a fabulous gourmet dinner at the upscale La Forge restaurant. At 8 pm, a free concert was held on the Place St-Bernard, and on the balcony of La Forge we had a perfect view of the action. The entire square was full of people, and everyone was enjoying the atmosphere.

A nice evening was capped off with the Canada Day fireworks which lit up the sky for 15 minutes and provided a perfect end to a beautiful day.

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