You Can Rent These Floating Cabins Year-Round—Even When the Water Freezes

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A collection of on-lake, off-grid retreats across Québec encourages visitors to unplug in every season.

Nicolas Robitaille met Pierre-Luc Routhier when they were kids, tied together by mutual interests that bonded them into adulthood. "We've always shared a love for nature, building things, and dreaming up wild ideas," Nicolas says.

One day, Nicolas had one of those wild ideas while they were on a camping trip beside a lake. He joked about pulling Pierre-Luc’s air mattress out onto the water while he was sleeping, pranking him to the point of waking up on a floating island. "We laughed, but that image stuck with us," Nicolas remembers. "The idea of floating cabins came out of that—playful at first, but then it started to make sense. Why not create something unusual, something that would let people experience nature differently?"

Nicolas Robitaille and Pierre-Luc Routhier designed floating cabins meant to endure all four seasons in Québec. The Minibora cabin sleeps four.

Photo by Sam Rose

With that image in mind, the pair created Bora Boréal, a collection of floating cabins available to rent through all four seasons. The first two opened in April of 2020, and because of their off-grid features, were allowed to operate through the pandemic. They’re set in a dense forest in the La Jacques-Cartier territory not far from Quebec City, where trees tower over the water filling the base of a valley. Three years later, Nicolas partnered with Chantal Bourgault to open six more units in the Eastern Townships, and four more with enough space for large families have been added since. Currently, there are a dozen cabins floating on lakes that can sleep up to six, ready for anyone who shares the cofounders’ love of the outdoors.

The ground level features an open kitchen, dining, and living area.

Photo by Charles Ohara

"For me, it wasn’t enough to be near the lake," Nicolas says. "I wanted people to live with it. When a cabin floats, you don’t just admire the water — you become part of it. You feel its rhythm. You see the sun reflecting off it in the morning, and at night, you hear the loons calling across it. That intimacy changes your relationship with the landscape."