What to do at SAN?
Nestled between lakes and mountains, SAN Station Boréale is where history meets the great wilderness. Established on the remains of a former sanatorium and its self-sufficient farm, it retains the spirit of a time when people believed deeply in the healing power of forests, pure air and silence.
Today, this memory lives on in the restored gardens, the former Allée des Soupirs, and the majestic barn-stable, but also in the vigilant protection of a fragile species, the Chimney Swift, a discreet companion of these century-old walls.
To walk here is to enter the heart of a vast and living nature: to follow trails lined with spruce and birch, to paddle on clear lakes, to stop at dusk to listen to the swirling sound of swifts and admire their aerial broomstick, to pick the fruits of a nourishing garden, or to look up at an immense sky of rare purity, where the Milky Way unfolds to the naked eye, drawing rivers of stars above the sleeping mountains.
And then, at the turn of a wall or a path, a surprise appears: a fresco born of an artistic retreat, a gallery of open-air murals, an unexpected dialogue between urban pictorial art and the spirit of the place.
Nothing is set in stone here.
Each step invites you to let yourself be carried away by the soul of the place, to listen to what nature and history still have to whisper.
Enter. Explore.
Here, everything that lives and sleeps whispers softly to the soul, and you may leave some of the hustle and bustle behind to take home a breath of silence, more rooted in the present moment and more connected to your surroundings.
Admire amazing murals
At SAN Station Boréale, century-old walls become silent witnesses to living creation. Throughout the year, an artistic retreat invites artists to immerse themselves in the spirit of the site and reveal its soul through unique murals. Every summer, in mid-August, this process culminates in an international mural festival, where muralists and graffiti artists unite their energies in a weekend of intense creation.
Here, there’s no theme other than that dictated by the site’s memory: the walls tell, through contemporary gestures, the invisible story that still inhabits the stones, woods and gardens. Each fresco becomes a living bridge between past and present, offering visitors an open-air gallery imbued with respect and emotion.
Paddling lakes and rivers
If there’s one experience that can’t be missed at SAN Station Boréale, it’s a canoe expedition – a gentle, deep immersion into the soul of the place.
From the shores of the Station, the very source of the Batiscan River is revealed to adventurers: a mythical river, once traversed by aboriginal peoples and coureurs des bois, a place of exchange and encounter in the heart of the boreal forest.
Gliding along the clear water, to the slow rhythm of the paddle, you’ll discover beaver dams, cabins hidden in the meanders, the flight of sawbills and the distant calls of ring-necked loons, living emblems of the river.
Every detour reveals discreet waterfalls and natural promontories where you can contemplate the forest and the hills.
You can also extend your expedition on Lake Edward, a vast 33-kilometre mirror dotted with wild islands and secret bays.
On some forgotten shores, hiking trails invite you to extend your adventure between moss and fir, following the ancient traces left by the inhabitants of this thousand-year-old territory.
At SAN Station Boréale, a canoe expedition is a return to our roots, a moment suspended in the vibrant silence of nature.
Breathing in a revived garden
In the shade of tall Scots pines, the Jardin des Soupirs is a silent extension of the sanatorium’s soul. Conceived from the outset as a living complement to the care architecture, it was one of the first therapeutic gardens associated with a hospital in Quebec. Designed to blend harmoniously into the boreal landscape, it blends stone pathways, flower beds and medicinal species in a quest for gentle, natural healing. Today, patient research and restoration work has rediscovered the site of the former Allée des Soupirs, rebuilt the historic kiosk, and brought back to life more than thirty forgotten species of flowers, shrubs and trees.
The Garden, nourished by the scent of pine trees and the memory of the footsteps of convalescents of yesteryear, has once again become a place of profound tranquility, where time stands still. Between the ancient water basin and the murmur of the forest, visitors and walkers rediscover a forgotten part of themselves, carried by the timeless soul of the place.
Reaching a state of contemplation
On a territory of over 1,000 km², where more than 300 lakes stretch between deep forests and gentle mountains, SAN Station Boréale offers a discreet oasis of calm and white water. Nestled on a large peninsula, bordered by the majestic waters of 33-kilometre-long Lac Édouard, the source of the Rivière Batiscan and Lac Florence-Ziegfeld, the Station is literally enveloped in water.
Everywhere around the site, the water beckons contemplation: secret docks, small pontoons, riverside paths and restful benches offer a thousand pretexts for escape. From these tranquil refuges, your gaze wanders beyond the water to the forests of black spruce, white birch and balsam fir that line the shoreline and climb gently up the hills. The changing reflections of the sky, the silhouettes of the trees in the morning mist, and the gentle relief of the nearby mountains make up a living landscape, breathing in the rhythm of nature. Sitting in the shade of a tall pine or along a forgotten path, lulled by the gentle lapping of the lake, we observe the furtive passage of the great blue heron, the patient work of the beavers, or the discreet play of the otters.
Here, time stands still. Every breath of wind in the foliage, every dancing light on the water, invites you to drift gently away, to rediscover a forgotten rhythm, carried by the deep breath of the boreal forest.
Treading the boreal forest
SAN Station Boréale is surrounded by a vast network of trails, carefully developed and maintained by the local community: the ADELE trails. These trails wind through pine and birch forests, skirting wild riverbanks and leading up to the surrounding peaks, where the viewer’s gaze takes in the immensity of the territory. Each walk is an invitation to explore at your own pace, whether to reach a discreet viewpoint, listen to the rustle of a stream, or simply soak up the scents of the boreal forest.
For the more adventurous, the Judith-de-Brésoles ecological reserve offers a greater challenge: an ancient forest trail, now semi-natural, leads into the heart of a precious, protected forest. Beneath the treetops of ancient yellow birches and sugar maples, one of the most northerly populations in Quebec, walkers discover an intact ecosystem, where time seems suspended. The fully protected reserve is a rare sanctuary where nature evolves without human intervention, preserving intact the beauty and purity of the landscapes of yesteryear.
Experience an astonishing living museum
At the entrance to the site, the big white house with the red roof, built in 1910 for the sanatorium’s farmer, opens its doors every morning.
Now transformed into a guest house, it is an information post, a departure point for expeditions, a cosy café and a small living museum.
Stop in to share a coffee, ask for advice on the best trails to explore, pick up a paddle and flotation jacket for a canoe trip on the Batiscan River, or get a personalized map for a nearby adventure.
It’s also here that you can immerse yourself in the historic soul of the site for the first time: through historic video vignettes, period photographs and objects found on the site, including the hull of an old steam barge dating from 1890.
The Café-Musée also houses an interpretation center dedicated to the Chimney Swift, an endangered bird species that finds refuge on the site. Through models, panels and stories, we discover the efforts made to protect its natural habitats, whether it nests in snags (standing dead trees), the hollow trees of old-growth forests, or congregates in the SAN’s large chimney.
Taste the Nordic terroir
In the past, the sanatorium was supported by a large farmhouse, the living heart of the sanatorium village.
In the vicinity of the majestic barn-stable, built around 1915 during the First World War – now restored and recognized as one of the most beautiful in Quebec – lay the vegetable gardens, cultivated fields and pastures that sustained the community. Today, this spirit of simplicity is reborn around the farmer’s house, where fruit and vegetable crops are offered to visitors.
During a pre-dinner stroll, you can pick your own vegetables and herbs, rediscovering the simple pleasure of hand-picking what the earth has to offer. Pick-your-own is included for stays in heritage homes, and available to campers for a small fee.
There’s nothing quite like coming home at dusk, arms full of fresh vegetables, to prepare a meal inspired by nature, the season and the memory of the place. It’s an experience that prolongs, in every gesture, the agricultural soul of this village of yesteryear.
Watching an endangered species
For almost a century, SAN Station Boréale’s historic chimney, erected in 1925, has welcomed one of the most northerly colonies of Chimney Swifts in North America every spring. Today, this nimble little bird tirelessly returns from one generation to the next, year after year to this unique dormitory nestled between sky and forest.
At dusk, nearly a hundred swifts gather in a spiral around the large chimney. In a breathtaking choreography, they fly in ever-tighter circles before plunging all together, in perfect motion, into the narrow brick opening. The show is particularly intense from mid-May to mid-June, and again around mid-August, when the colony prepares for the great southward migration.
After the spring gathering period, the swifts form pairs and leave to nest in hollow trees, nesting boxes built on the site, or the old chimneys of the surrounding chalets. Throughout the summer, the aerial waltz continues each evening, but with a smaller number of birds, offering a more intimate but just as precious spectacle.
Every evening, as we follow the swifts’ swirling sounds, we realize just how much their passage prolongs the history of the place, and how much, in the invisible, everything remains alive.
Dreaming under the starry sky
When night falls at SAN Station Boréale, the entire landscape fades away to make way for the infinity of the sky. Here, away from the cities and all sources of light pollution, the dry air, altitude and isolation create exceptional conditions for admiring a pure, brilliant sky. At Lac-Édouard, the Milky Way is revealed to the naked eye, tracing a river of stars above the black mountains. For many visitors, it’s the first time they’ve discovered the majesty of an unclouded sky, where every star seems to vibrate in the crystalline air. And sometimes, on even more magical nights, discreet aurora borealis skim the horizon – a rare sight at these latitudes, but all the more precious for it.
A project is currently underway to restore an old astronomical observatory on the site, to further open the doors of the sky to dreamers and the curious. To observe the night here is to rediscover the measure of our place in the universe, to feel that we are but ephemeral passengers, stardust carried by the infinite.
