Le Château Montebello is about an hour from Mont Tremblant, Montreal or Ottawa in the Outaouais region. Situated on the Ottawa/Outaouais River, you feel like you’ve stepped into the pages of a fairy tale. The lobby is huge, yet cozy, with seating groups, game tables and an incredible, massive six-sided fireplace anchoring the center.

It’s the largest log cabin in the world, appropriately known as the “log castle.” Huge black logs make up the distinctive six-sided structure. Trimmed in bright red, the color theme is carried into the lush gardens, and the expansive lawn stretching to the river features plenty of intimate seating areas. The complex is extensive and includes just about every form of recreation you can imagine, from ATVs, golf and swimming in warmer months, to bonfires and ice fishing in the winter. I just want to have hot chocolate and read by one of the fireplaces.

I can’t believe I didn’t know about this place (thank you, Walther).  Now a Fairmont hotel, for 40 years it was a private retreat, The Seignory Club, and membership included Prime Ministers, royalty, and Canada’s business elite.  Built 1930, workers used 10,000 hand-cut red cedar logs from the forests of British Columbia.  It took 3,500 craftsmen 3-4 months (depending on which hotel info you read) to complete. Amazing.

In 1970, it was opened to the public by Canadian Pacific Hotels and has hosted U.S. Presidents Reagan and Bush, as well as celebrities like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

I can just imagine this place at Christmas, in the snow . . . with all those fireplaces roaring.