Once we were done enjoying lunch at Cafe Soup’Herbe on our second day in the Outaouais Region of Canada, our group drove a short distance to the Gatineau Park Visitor’s Centre in Chelsea.
We were greeted by Emily who told us all about the ecosystems within Gatineau Park and the rich biodiversity of the park. Approximately 230 bird species and 50 mammal species have been observed within the park in addition to 1,000 different plant species and 50 types of trees. There are also 165 kilometers of hiking trails (90 kilometers are also used by mountain bikers) and the park has 254 campsites and canoe and kayak rentals. Clearly there is a lot to see and do within the park!
I absolutely loved the group of people I was able to spend four very full days with during my time in Quebec. Everyone was so laid back and shared a genuine interest in the outdoors and we all jumped at the chance to go for an afternoon hike around Pink Lake within Gatineau Park after we left the Visitor’s Centre.
(Left to right: Kate, Anne, me, Marouan, Candice, Jenn and Anne)
Pink Lake is a protected area of Gatineau Park and is surrounded by a 2.5 kilometer hiking trail. We saw a handful of runners and hikers out and about during our hike!
Isn’t Pink Lake stunning? I could not get over that view and spent a solid 10 minutes soaking it all in.
Nordik Spa-Nature
After our hike, it was time to check into the lodge at Nordik Spa-Nature, North America’s largest spa.
The lodge is a gorgeous cabin with modern comforts and is the only Nordik-affiliated accommodation on property, though there are plans in the works to expand the spa and build a hotel. Our group of five women took over the lodge for the evening and had a girl’s night which was so much fun!
Each of us were able to sleep in our own bed and Anne and I shared the upstairs loft. Our beds were each hidden by a curtain that opened up into a common area with a balcony that overlooked the first floor.
Once we threw our suitcases onto our beds, we quickly slipped into robes and spent the rest of the evening at the spa.
Nordik Spa-Nature is a day spa that focuses on relaxation techniques derived from Scandinavian countries. Massages, body treatments, saunas and hot, cold and temperate baths are available for guests to enjoy and our group was able to spend two hours visiting different saunas and baths. Cameras and electronics were not allowed in the spa area which I absolutely loved. It was wonderful to see people unwind and completely unplug. (The following images are images Nordik provided to us since photography was not permitted.)
Before my visit to Nordik, I was unaware of the various kinds of saunas and thought all saunas were similar. Nordik offers seven sauna experiences and of the four we tried, my two favorite saunas were the Finnish sauna and the hot stone sauna.
In the Finnish sauna, we were able to partake in the Aufguss ritual which was extremely hot and intense. During Aufguss, the woman leading the ritual used a large towel to alter the flow of the air, allowing participants to feel waves of intense heat that made us break out into an intense sweat as we inhaled relaxing scents like lavender and lemongrass. (Lemongrass = Heaven!) Instrumental music is played during the 10-minute ritual which only adds to the overall experience that I found incredibly intense, rejuvenating and refreshing.
Before we were able to enjoy the saunas, we went on a tour of Nordik where we learned about the proper way to experience the sauna treatments. Guests should remember “hot, cold, relax” and follow every 10 to 15 minute hot sauna experience with a cold treatment before relaxing for a bit and repeating the process. The cold treatments were freezing and I was a big baby when it came time to jump into cold pools or stand under an icy rain shower after we spent time in a hot sauna. Brr! I think this spa would be absolutely incredible for athletes with sore muscles!
Before dinner, our group made sure to take time to experience the Kalla treatment which Marianne told us was not to be missed. During the Kalla treatment, guests experience a feeling of complete weightlessness in a Epsom salt pool that mimics the properties of the Dead Sea. It was such a cool sensation to feel your body float with incredible ease. (Even Ryan who cannot seem to float to save his life would be able to float in this pool!)
I was kind of creeped out by the whole thing at first because when I walked downstairs to the pool, I saw a bunch of silent floating people with their eyes closed which was a bit eerie. Once we got in the pool and laid back to float in the water, I completely understood why they all looked so relaxed. I could hear light music underwater that was so soothing. We spent about 30 minutes in the Epsom salt pool before stepping under a freshwater shower, putting our bathrobes back on and heading upstairs to the spa’s restaurant. Yes, you can dine in your bathrobes! We were pretty psyched about that!
Since none of us had our cameras on us during this portion of the trip, we weren’t able to photograph dinner, but it was perfectly fresh and delicious. My favorite dishes included the grilled calamari and artichoke dip appetizers and my walleye entree that was topped with a strawberry salsa. Yum!
Once dinner was over, it was time for bed. I slept like a rock after such a relaxing evening. It was once heck of an incredible way to end our day in Chelsea!
Question of the Afternoon
- Have you ever been to a day spa?
- Do you enjoy saunas?
This was my first day spa experience and it was so, so cool! I would gladly go back again!
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Wow – this trip has got it all! Friends, great food, relaxation, exercise, adventure…..
Now I REALLY want to go to Canada! 🙂
I haven’t been to a spa day but definitely will go for any kind of spa treatment! If I would have saw people floating in the pool, I would have been scared I found myself in the middle of a horror movie. Lol
The spa looks gorgeous! I use the sauna every Sunday after a quick relaxing before I head to work!
Just reading abour your spa experience makes me feel relaxed. 🙂 It’s officially on my ‘places to visit’ list!
Quick, trade careers with me! Seriously, you have the coolest job ever that allows you to enjoy beautiful parts of the world. Great life choice! There’s nothing I love more than fall weather so I’m sitting here in Arizona really wishing I could see all those beautiful trees and lakes!
Love the Nordik Spa! And I’m a big baby about the cold pools too 🙂
I love going there at night time — it’s just magical!
Glad you had a great time!
Awesome!!! I could use a spa day for sure! Loving those views…ah..jealous 🙂
Or going to Nordik Spa in the winter? Now that is amazing (and so neat to be outside in a bathing suit in the snow!).
I love that place and need to take a trip back 🙂
Ahhh I’m so happy you got to experience Le Nordik ! It’s my favorite spa !! Nothing like it 🙂
I lived in Ottawa for four years and definitely made it my priority to go to Le Nordik as much as possible. Hope you enjoy your vacation ! If you made it out to Ottawa you should try Café 55 ! 🙂
All of your recap posts make me SO jealous. Like please send me on a vacation! Haha 😉
I’m so glad you’re enjoying (enjoyed?) my hometown. I’m from Ottawa, and Pink Lake is one of my favorite places to hike! And I love Le Nordik, my sister and I love to visit together 🙂
Hey Julie! I’ve actually been to this exact spa when I was living in Ottawa. We loved it! We didn’t spend the night, but spent the day enjoying the different spas! Glad you had a chance to check it out 🙂
This spa looks really fantastic. I love going to a spa – it just forces you to relax and regroup and enjoy time with friends and it just feels so refreshing and good!
Holy cow, that place sounds amazing! I’ve been to an amazing spa in Tucson before called the Miraval and it’s crazy how good you feel after a day of relaxing with no distractions!
I find this so exciting!! Haha being from Ottawa and seeing Gatineau park on here is cool. Gatineau park is the best place for beaches in the summer and hiking..all the time. It’s se beautiful in mid October when seriously ALL the trees are golden and red and orange and just so nice.
My dad has the same problem with floating. Back in February my parents went on a trip to Israel and he was really happy when he was actually able to float in the Dead Sea!!
That sounds like like heaven.
Looks so Fabulous! I love day spas…I’ve only been to one, but it was so relaxing!
That spa looked awesome!! I’ve been to a couple of hot springs and to a few days spas and for the most part have loved them. One time though my boyfriend and I went to a hot springs and it was really busy and over crowded so there were too many people in each of the pools to really properly relax.
I love your scarf by the way it is so pretty and looks so warm. Where did you get it from?
What a beautiful location!
I’ve only ever been to a spa once for a friend’s hendo but it did not have very many facilities, although I loved the mud treatment we had in groups.
I love that no technology was allowed in your spa. Definitely would allow people to relax and unwind – give them a break from being glued to their phones all day!
Got to say, I am randomly excited by this post because this is where my Uncle and cousins live and when I saw it I was like ‘I know that place!!!’.(I’m from England so that doesn’t happen so much with reading overseas blogs!) They live just down the road from the spa, but I’ve never been, but I wanted to! Isn’t the Gatineu park lovely? We went swimming in the lakes there A Lot. 🙂
My sweet sister-in-law took me to a day spa before my wedding and it was glorious. I am hoping to enjoy another day spa adventure after the baby is born (as a relaxing reward for carrying around the little guy for so many months).
Wow!! That looks amazing!!! Glad you had an awesome trip!! Really, all your trips inspire me to get out more!
Oh my goooooodnesss!!! I love that you went to Le Nordik! I went to school at the University of Ottawa (about a 20 min drive from there) and I would always go here with my sister! ahh, you just brought back so many memories! Glad you has such a great time 🙂
Hi Julie,
Looks like a wonderful trip! My husband and I are going to Italy next month and I’d love to bring along some tights and a scarf like the ones you’re wearing. Can you share where you got them/brands? Thanks so much!
Ottawa is my hometown, although I currently live on the other side of the province. SO nice to see you’ve been enjoying it and the area 🙂
Wow I wish I could go to that spa right now! Looks incredible! Looks like you are having an amazing time 🙂
Just catching up on all your posts and am excited to see you are in around Ottawa, my town. Le Nordik is definitely the place to go. We have a wedding next weekend in Wakefield ironically and were thinking about doing the spas the next morning to release all the toxins front the night before lol. Pink Lake is beautiful as well, we go on hikes during Canada Thanksgiving weekend and I am 100% certain we took the same photos you did 2yrs ago at Pink Lake. You’ve definitely made the most of your trip!
Wow that lemongrass treatment sounds amazing! I love the smell of lemongrass. And the Epsom pool looks fun, although I agree that it’s a bit eerie with that man floating on there like nothing 😛
That view and the lake and the cabin are all so gorgeous! Looks like a postcard! I don’t know much about saunas – I picture myself passing out from the heat! – but that Kalla treatment must have been very cool! I’ve had massages and pedicures but I’ve never just spent the day at a day spa – but I imagine it being a very relaxing/amazing/royal treatment kindof a day!! Enjoy!
-Sammy @ peaceandloveandicecream.blogspot.com
Oh wow! The sauna sounds so nice. The trees in the pictures look so beautiful and fall-ish! Love it.
Sounds like a fantastic time! I live in Hershey, PA and if you ever visit you have to take a trip to the Hotel Hershey’s Spa. It’s so relaxing and they tie chocolate into a lot of their treatments! Yummy!
I love spa-ing! The first time I did it was at our wedding in Las Vegas at TheHotel, part of Mandalay Bay. It was amazing! Now I keep looking for places close to where we live, alas there are none 🙁 Perhaps it is a vacation activity only.
So pretty there! I’ve never been to a spa but it looks really relaxing!
The shoes you went on your hike in are amazing! They don’t look bulky at all, which is how a lot of tennis shoes feel on me. Do you talk about them anywhere else in your blog that I might be missing?
Looks like a beautiful trip!
That day spa sounds so so awesome! I love saunas –esp after a hard workout 🙂
When you go on a press trip is everything free? Does the hotel/location/etc invite specifically invite people to attend?
Its so weird, It looks just like Deveils Thumb in Winter Parek- an excellent resort of you ask me! but im so jealous you went to Canada, I bet you had so much fun and go to experience so many unique cultural practices and traditions. You are a R.O.C.K.S.T.A.R. Keep doin what your doin girl, cause it is work it!
xxoo
The Epsom salt pool sounds amazing! My family went on vacation to the Dead Sea when we lived over seas and it super neat.
That looks awesome!
Went to the Nordik Spa many times, love every minute of it !!!
Glad you had a great Trip in Ottawa/Gatineau, I love it here 🙂
I’m from Ottawa and just came out to BC for university, hadn’t checked your blog in over a month and I decided to randomly – was super surprised when I saw Gatineau Park in the title, been there many many times and to Wakefield and Chelsea and everything, it’s lovely!
Hope you enjoy your stay in Ottawa, you should try to get to the Chateau Laurier for tea if you can, explore the Byward Market at night! Lots of fun 🙂
I can’t believe you got to go to Le Nordik! It sounds absolutely amazing and it has definitely always been on my wish list. I hear friends and co-workers raving about it all the time but it’s a little too expensive for me to justify going. But now I may HAVE to go! 🙂
Oh my gosh, this looks amazing! The Epsom salt pool sounds so relaxing. While I was in college I worked at a hotel that had mineral pools from a hot geyser in the Napa Valley. It was so relaxing to soak in them whenever I wanted but the Epsom salt pool sounds even better. Your trip is making me very jealous. 🙂
Le Nordic Spa is my fav place to go in Chelsea 🙂 I haven’t tried the salt pool downstairs yet, but it looks awesome!
I totally missed this post! I live in Ottawa, Canada, and I’ve been meaning to go to Nordik for ages!
I’m glad you enjoyed it!