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    The Main

    Montreal's Cultural Directory

    Help us improve! Share your thoughts on how we can make your experience better.

    Leave feedback

    For partnerships and collaborations:

    partnerships@themain.com

    Content

    • Articles
    • Food & Drink
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    • History Lesson
    • Bulletin
    • Events

    Guides

    • All Guides
    • Best Restaurants
    • Best Cafés
    • Best Bars
    • Best Brunch
    • Best Bakeries

    Explore Montreal

    • Browse Directory
    • Restaurants
    • Bars
    • Cafés
    • Bookstores
    • Leaderboard
    • Editor's Picks
    • New Places

    About

    • About us
    • Subscribe
    • Shop
    • Advertise
    • Pitch us
    • RSS Feed

    Legal

    • Terms of service
    • Membership Terms
    • Privacy Policy
    Follow us
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    The Main Media Inc. 2026

    ✦ Built By Field Office

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      Beyond Montreal

      This is How You Design a Space That Slows Down Time

      Montreal-based hinter has spent eight years answering that question across a growing collection of architect-designed retreats.

      ByJ.P. Karwacki

      February 17, 2026 · 5 min read

      This is How You Design a Space That Slows Down Time
      Photograph: Ménard Dworkind

      The Main is reader-supported. Subscriptions are what keep us independent. Five dollars a month — the restaurants, the guides, the weekly bulletin, and what to do each weekend. Support us today.

      Boutique hotels offer disconnection, cabin rentals promise an escape, but when does it reach beyond being a nice, secluded place with good Wi-Fi where you'll still check your email anyway? It can feel as though, then, the revered practice of slow travel can easily become a phrase that means everything and nothing.

      The Montreal-based founder of hinter Mauricio Padilla wanted something different. Before launching the company in 2017, he'd spent a decade in tech, travelling regularly to Copenhagen and Oslo for work. During this time, he developed obsessions with architecture, nature, and branding—Nordic experiences would give the first two in abundance with clean designs embedded in wild landscapes, but when he came back to Quebec, the question that would eventually become hinter: why don't we have this here?

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      Follow on Google
      Beyond Montreal

      This is How You Design a Space That Slows Down Time

      Montreal-based hinter has spent eight years answering that question across a growing collection of architect-designed retreats.

      ByJ.P. Karwacki

      February 17, 2026 · 5 min read

      This is How You Design a Space That Slows Down Time
      Photograph: Ménard Dworkind

      The Main is reader-supported. Subscriptions are what keep us independent. Five dollars a month — the restaurants, the guides, the weekly bulletin, and what to do each weekend. Support us today.

      Boutique hotels offer disconnection, cabin rentals promise an escape, but when does it reach beyond being a nice, secluded place with good Wi-Fi where you'll still check your email anyway? It can feel as though, then, the revered practice of slow travel can easily become a phrase that means everything and nothing.

      The Montreal-based founder of hinter Mauricio Padilla wanted something different. Before launching the company in 2017, he'd spent a decade in tech, travelling regularly to Copenhagen and Oslo for work. During this time, he developed obsessions with architecture, nature, and branding—Nordic experiences would give the first two in abundance with clean designs embedded in wild landscapes, but when he came back to Quebec, the question that would eventually become hinter: why don't we have this here?

      Free account required

      For readers who care about Montreal

      Create a free account to read this story and access 3 articles per month, plus our weekly Bulletin.

      Independent. Local. Reader-supported.

      or

      Already a member? Sign in

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      Share your thoughts and join the conversation. Please be respectful and constructive.

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