The best terrasses in the Laurentians, and what makes you stop
Summer in the Laurentians, everyone eats outside. It's the right season for it. The question isn't whether there are good terrasses around here. There are plenty. The real question is what makes you stop at one instead of another.
Here is how we see it, after a first season hosting people along the Rivière du Nord.
The view matters, but not on its own
A good view helps. Water, trees, a mountain in the back. But a terrasse isn't a postcard. It's a place you sit for two hours. What keeps people is the comfort, the shade when the sun is high, and the feeling that you can stay a while.
Getting there, especially in summer
The best terrasses in the Laurentians are often right where you already are. On Le P'tit Train du Nord, for one. You have been riding a while, your legs are warm, and a terrasse shows up right there, beside the trail. No need to get back in the car. That is exactly us, the trail runs past the door, the river sits across the road.
Real food, not sad fries
A terrasse deserves the same kitchen as the dining room. For us that is fish and chips done properly, a pint with some backbone, a short and honest menu. Eating outside should never mean eating worse. See the pub menu.
Room for your people
Our terrasse is big. More than a hundred seats when it is all open, along the Rivière du Nord. Enough for a table of friends on a Friday, quiet enough for supper for two. We are open almost every summer evening. Only real rain stops us, and even then, some of the seats stay sheltered.
And a room upstairs, if the night runs long
This might be our best card. Dinner downstairs, bed upstairs. Seven rooms above the pub. The second pint makes more sense when the bed is just up the stairs. See the auberge, or how we picture a whole weekend here.
So, the best terrasse in the Laurentians?
We will let you be the judge. There are fine spots in the region, and that is a good thing. But if you want a terrasse by the water, on the trail, with a proper kitchen and a bed close by, you know where to find us. In Val-David, in the old home of Le Baril Roulant.
Book a table on the terrasse. And if the night keeps you, book a room. Book direct, best rate and more flexibility. We are just missing you.