Rose-gold foliage flanked the winding road to Manoir Hovey, catching late-October light as I drove towards the historic retreat in Quebec’s border-hugging Eastern Townships region. Hidden deep in beech forest, and perched at the edge of Lake Massawippi, the 5-star hotel has long been renowned as one of Canada’s most quietly luxurious stays — a place where anyone from young honeymooners to former US presidents might go to savor the genteel pace of rural Quebec life.

The 39-room Relais & Châteaux property recently expanded its offerings by unveiling Le Spa Manoir Hovey, a 9,000 square foot lakeside retreat built directly into the wooded hillside abutting the original 1899 mansion. And with its roots in the Nordic practice of hydrothermal bathing, the spa promised a chance to experience a cycle of heat, cold, and relaxation that I’ve come to crave. 

That rhythm has become a part of life for many in Quebec, where I am a frequent visitor from my home, just across the border in Vermont. Le Spa Manoir Hovey is the latest to join a long list of hydrothermal spas that have sprung up across the province in recent decades — the trend goes from downtown-chic Montreal hotspot Bota Bota Spa-Sur-L’eau to Eastern Townships retreats like Balnea Spa + Réserve Thermale and Spa Nordic Station. But while a few other Quebec Nordic spas offer accommodations onsite, Manoir Hovey is the first to combine the traditional wellness experience with truly world-class hospitality, all while showcasing the seasonal transformations that define southern Quebec. 

The luxury of local

That keen sense of place and season anchored my two-night stay at the forest inn, where I slept in one of the three new Spa Suites, their floor-to-ceiling windows offering expansive views of maple boughs and the lakeshore behind. Chefs at Manoir Hovey’s refined Le Hatley Restaurant source ingredients from surrounding forests and farms; juniper oil and autumn’s last foraged black trumpet mushrooms lent sylvan complexity to the fresh pasta I ate, by a crackling fire, as part of the 7-course vegetarian discovery menu presented by chef Alexandre Vachon. Slivers of organic, unpasteurized cheese served before dessert came from nearby Fromagerie La Station, while faintly earthy sturgeon caviar is ethically harvested in Quebec’s UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Lac Saint-Pierre.      

Activities, too, invite guests to celebrate the Eastern Townships’ intimate landscape. My first morning began with a yoga class led by instructor Isabelle Gareau, whose flowing Vinyasa sequences included a pause to appreciate the birch groves and English gardens backdropping our outdoor practice. Bike trails spiral for miles into the surrounding hills, while the property’s two private beaches are the starting point for exploring Lake Massawippi by canoe, kayak, and paddleboard. 

A spa experience inspired by seasons

A focus on immersive nature extends into the spa itself, where, padding in sandaled feet past artwork by Montreal artist Yechel Gagnon in swirls of rust, gold, and cobalt, I headed first toward the dry sauna where I’d begin the thermal cycle. Its picture windows framed a perfect view of the lake. A wooden dock below, gone silvery with time, hinted at summers spent swimming in the deep water. A bowl mounded high with shaved ice sat beside me, a shock of cold ready to soothe flushed limbs and faces. 

After the dry sauna, I explored the complete thermal cycle: open-air hot tubs, a cold plunge, the steamy hammam, then cool showers for exfoliating with fine-grained Saskatchewan pink salt. The contrasting temperatures echoed Quebec’s own yearly rhythms, I thought, from sun-drenched summers to winters when snowdrifts pile to the eaves. Between alternating rounds of hot and cold, I lounged and read by an outdoor fire pit, bare legs tucked into my plush, white robe. 

Later, I’d meet an esthetician for the Hovey’s Honey Bliss facial using ingredient from Manoir Hovey’s 30 onsite bee hives — it’s a signature part of a spa menu that includes massage therapy, reflexology, body treatments, pedicures, and manicures. Still, I lingered by the fire, remembering the words of yoga teacher Isabelle Gareau when she invited us to finish our practice in Savasana. “Now you can relax,” she’d said. “It’s the only thing you have left to do.”