Québec province is great for cross-country skiing and other low-impact outdoor activities, yet with over 2,500 miles of trails it can be hard to find a convenient place to push off from.

One of the best is the four-star Gîte du Mont-Albert in the Gaspésie national park - the highest part of the Appalachians in the province. It has 60 rooms in a huge 1950s complex as well as a dozen lodges and 25 woodstove-fired cabins dotted around the grounds.

I stayed in the main building and my room felt more like a downtown hotel room than a cosy hideaway, but after a full day's snowshoeing followed by a sauna I didn't need luxury for a sound night's sleep. The bar is more in keeping with the mountain setting - there's a large log fireplace and huge windows with panoramic views of Mont Albert. The dining-room is strong on fish, particularly the Gîte's own house-smoked salmon.

At the nearby visitor centre, you can book nature tours to see caribou, white-tailed deer and moose, and organise snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and ski-touring across the Chic Chocs mountain range.

· A double room costs from C$134, a cabin (for up to four) from $244 per night including park access fee. sepaq.com/pq/gas/en, 001 418 890 6527.