The Pines Cottage Resort

This was our forth time to the site and it feels like home (so glad we get to go twice this season!) The staff are so welcoming and lovely. The cabins are perfect and stocked with everything you need. I can say enough good things about the grounds, always maintained, sandy beach and lots to do right on site.

We've been coming to the Pines for many years and love it. It is not luxurious by any means, just a homey, cabiny place. It has a great beach and is just a few minutes drive to Algonquin Park. There are several restaurants nearby if you don't feel like cooking. There's a good playground for the kids as well. View across the lake is beautiful.

Ok so to speak of the good points...the location is beautiful, liked the lake view...the seating areas, bbq provided, very neat and clean. Quite place , cozy fire pits all in all a great getaway. But the facility definitely needs improvement in terms of providing comfortable beds...the thing over there is not a bed at all...its just some piles of mattresses on a very odd iron platform which makes weird sounds and is not at all comfortable...Blankets were not provided considering its COVID..get it....also no cutlery...get this too...But to my disappointment there were no SOAPS provided...really...considering its Covid times soaps should very much be provided by the facility ...I don't know if the management cares about the guest' reviews or not ...but i believe in giving my honest reviews which could be of some use for the future guests.

4th year here. Great sand beach entry and evening firepits. Small but well furnished and functional cottages. Lots of mature trees and shaded kids play areas. Will be back next year. Edit: 5th year here. They are rebuilding some cottages. Their common area/kids TV/Wifi room is gone, although you can get wifi outside the building and at the nearby cottages. If you're looking for a cozy relaxing authentic cottage experience I'd say this is 4.5* option. Some of the nearby places offer slightly better amenities (tv, in cabin fireplace) if you're a city slicker looking more of a weekend house rental as a base, take a look at the neighboring resorts.

As someone who is not much of a nature person, I could not have asked for a more relaxing and comfortable stay. My boyfriend and I stayed in Cabin #9 which was plenty of space for the both of us and an amazing view to wake up to every morning. Our stay was in early June 2021 (the 6th -13) and mid pandemic. What we really enjoyed was that given our stay was predominantly during the week, the resort was practically empty and blissfully peaceful as a result. The weekend was a bit busier with more guests staying during those times which brought about a lot more activity in terms of families and children about the resort. Waking up to the lovely and relaxing sounds of nature and absolutely breathtaking sunrise by the waterfront was truly a highlight of our trip. As a chronic morning person and early riser, I was able to sleep in without even meaning to ? Another highlight for us was that the resources and amenities available in terms of canoes, paddle boards, paddle boats, life jackets, badminton, etc were easily accessible and came with no hassle at all and there were plenty to go around. Use of these resources is included with your stay and merely required disinfecting between uses. Simple and easy ? Personally I am a bit of a germ freak and will disinfect and entire hotel room upon arrival in order to put my own mind at ease, however, as you will see in the photos attached, our cabin was absolutely SPOTLESS. I couldn't stop raving about how pristine the fridge was ? The fridge and bathroom being extraordinarily clean was my favorite part of the trip ? The photos I added below are merely a supplement to the ones available on their website so feel free to look through the pictures of Cabin #9 on their site. Lastly, I would like to note some other things that took place during our stay that I think is only fair and transparent to mention. During our stay, apparently there was a power outage and the GM Molly had come around to let all the guests know and inform us that the power would be restored by latest 4pm. This was not an issue for us as we were spending time on the beach during the outage and by the time we had gone back to our cabin which was LONG before 4pm, the power was already restored. Molly did inform us that there is a generator available for back up power if we needed however due to its volume, she let us decide whether or not we wanted it on. We were all good without it and the power came back literally before we even noticed it was even out. Secondly, the chipmunks will manipulate you with their cute faces and puffy cheeks ! They are very used to people feeding them and will take advantage of this ? We did have a small incident with the chipmunks wanting more food from us as a result of us feeding them and getting into our cabin. Molly and her husband responded immediately and the chipmunks were out in less than half an hour. We really appreciated the swiftness and professionalism from Molly and her family with response to these really minor events in our opinion. We will certainly be rebooking another stay next year and hopefully make visiting The Pines an annual trip for us ?

We had a very good stay here. We were a group of friends for a weekend and must say this place was just apt. Right by the footsteps of Algonquin park, the view of forrest Nd trees on the hill across the beach is just next level. Wendy's hospitality was really good. Though the cabins were a bit small but its apt for like 2-3 ppl. Proximity to beach where you can canoe or spend quality time having sun bath is just what you need for downtime. Bbq is just there by the cabin and Icing on the cake was campfire location just by the beach and right near the cabins. Loved the overall experience. We planned to go for fall colors unfortunately it seems we were a bit early. Will definitely plan again next year.

So first the positives. The lake was beautiful and the cottage was very clean with all the amenities we needed. The park was a perfect distance to Algonquin Park and to Huntsville. Our kids did have lots of fun and had lots to do. For the most part they were unaware of the negatives. The negative. We were there at the same time as a large family group that had multiple cabins booked. The staff obviously knew them and allowed this large group to "take over" the amenities. In a week there were we only ever able to get a beach chair once as this large group would claim everything in the morning and leave their belongings there until dark. Nothing was ever done to address their hogging of the amenities. One evening we started a fire 30 mins before the "allowed" time and we were talked to by the management. The night before another group had done the same thing and nothing was done. We were told it was a safety issue yet that large group was permitted to play dangerous games on the beach with no repercussions (a few times my kids were almost hit) When we tried to rebook for next year we were not allowed to even though our Check In email said we could. Just the whole time we were there we were made to feel like outsiders and that a different set of rules applied to regulars and new people If booking make sure you are not there the same time as a large group as they do seem to get preferential treatment.

Location was great, right outside Algonquin park. Staff was super friendly and very accessible. The resort itself has a beautiful little beach with canoes, paddle boats and kayaks available. The only downside is the mattresses are terrible. Destroyed my back and definitely put a damper on our trip as mobility was limited for me.