Located on Lake of the Woods Ontario, this property is perfect for the nature lover, fisherman or the guest just looking to get away from it all but with all the conveniences of home. Our 2 & 3 bedroom cabins are all right on the water with decks overlooking the lake. Each cabin has satellite tv, air conditioning and a fireplace. There is a restaurant and bar located right on the property and many activities on site and close by. Come and discover the beauty of Lake of the Woods.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
Stayed at Totem Lodge for a girls getaway weekend (and a bachelorette!). I can't get over how amazing this resort was - I spent all weekend exclaiming how I felt like I was at an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean. The level of attentiveness, detail, customer service, cleanliness, and special little extra touches were to die for.
Special shout out to Dave, Priscilla, and Ariana at the restaurant/lodge who were fantastic servers. Dave went above and beyond on our last day to bring us a breakfast directly to our cabin as we were getting ready to check out. Evelyn from housekeeping showed us around our cabin and was fantastic in describing all the activities we could do! She made sure to let us know to ask any member of staff for whatever we needed, and they'd see what they could do to make it happen. I fully believe that staff is what makes a vacation destination so special. You can tell that the employees genuinely love their jobs and they are treated well. We also met a few of the owners - an older gentleman who introduced himself at dinner, a younger gentleman who was able to handle a quick issue at checkout for us, and a lovely woman who was walking her retriever and pomeranian on the beach.
We stayed in cabin 15, also known as the Stewart cabin. The cabin was comfortable and temperature controlled with air conditioning in every area. There were two full bathrooms and three bedrooms - could easily sleep 5 (one in each bed) but could definitely squish a couple of extra people as two of the beds were queens. The kitchen has everything you could need including an oven, a fridge/freezer with ice, glassware, cookware, and utensils. I believe I also saw a toaster, a microwave, and a kettle. The bathrooms were fully stocked with shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and towels. The water pressure wasn't fantastic but that was a minor issue as compared to the level of excellence this resort has otherwise.
Highly recommend purchasing the meal plan as the food is fantastic and it means you truly don't have to worry about anything except enjoying yourself and all of Totem's fantastic amenities (including paddle boards, a canoe, a kayak, a floating dock, a free arcade, pool tables, shuffle board, bonfire pits, and even a hot tub at the neighbouring resort Yellowbird). There are many boats available for rental and you can hire a guide to show the best fishing spots. We did not have time this trip to go fishing but it looks amazing.
Thank you Totem for a fantastic trip. I will be bringing everyone I know in the coming years.
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Date of stay: August 2024
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Trip type: Travelled with friends
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A group of four of us visited Totem this past weekend for a bachelorette party. Had never heard of this place until it was recommended to us by a family member. I wasn't quite sure what to expect given that its a fishing resort, but when we got there, we discovered its much more than that. We were only there for a couple of days but it felt like we were on a an all-inclusive vacation somewhere in the south, yet still surrounded by our familiar boreal forest. The beaches are amazing, the cabins are rustic (as one would expect for a fishing/hunting resort) and welcoming, the lodge was a great place to hang out, and everything was clean and spotless (the beaches were even combed/raked!!)
The staff went above and beyond for us making sure we were comfortable. Evelyn in housekeeping did a great job at welcoming us, showing us to and around our cabin, and being just as excited as we were for the weekend celebrations. Dave and Priscilla in the lodge were so pleasant, attentive, accommodating, and overall great servers. One of the owners (a more mature individual) came and introduced himself to our group (I forget his name). He was very nice, respectful, and welcoming. The check-out staff were also great, and we got the opportunity to meet one of the other owners, a younger gentleman as well. I just can't get over how fantastic the customer service is at this resort.
The lodge was spacious, had some fun games (free arcade, whhhaattt?!) and the food was delicious. I highly recommend the brussel sprouts (app), salmon (main), and if available, the caramel carrot cheesecake is to die for.
Had we been there longer, we would have rented a boat, but it wasn't in the cards this time. One of the things we enjoyed was being able to quickly and easily access the sister resort - Yellowbird. Two different vibes between the two resorts, but between the two properties, there is certainly something for everyone to enjoy, regardless of your outdoor experience and appreciation level.
We definitely plan on coming back to Totem, either as the same group, or with our spouses (and maybe even more family and friends!) Keep up the great work. Looking forward to visiting again!
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Date of stay: August 2024
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Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I highly recommend this resort—it's a fantastic place to stay. Very relaxing and incredibly nice. The scenery is breathtaking, and the amenities are top-notch. From the moment we arrived, we were greeted with warm smiles and exceptional service. The rooms were immaculate and well-appointed, providing the perfect retreat after a day of exploring. Consider me a returning customer from now on. The variety of activities available kept us entertained throughout our stay, whether we were lounging by the lake or enjoying the delicious cuisine at the resort's restaurants. I'd like to extend a big thanks to Dave the Filipino guy, the waiter, for making our vacation fun. He made our stay enjoyable and went above and beyond to ensure we had everything we needed. My family loves him, especially my kids. He is the most accommodating and kind waiter I've ever known. His friendly demeanor and attention to detail truly set him apart. He had an incredible knack for remembering our preferences, which made us feel truly special. Dave made a big impact on our stay. My family would love to see him again and enjoy another vacation here and we’re already looking forward to our next trip. From the comfortable rooms to the excellent service, everything about this resort exceeded our expectations. If you're looking for a memorable getaway, this is the place to be! The combination of beautiful surroundings, fantastic amenities, and outstanding staff makes it a standout destination.
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Date of stay: June 2024Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Paid a premium price for below unsatisfactory accommodations. We had a group of 11 people for one night in four cabins. Upon entry, they found the cabins to be dirty. For some of the beds, the sheets did not appear to be changed from the previous stay. There were rat traps in the cabins. Tracked in goose poop on the carpet in one unit. A/C did not work in one unit, heat did not work in another. One cabin had no hot water. Another cabin had scalding hot water, but no cold in the shower. They were not issued keys to the cabins, so when they left to go to dinner, they had to leave their belongings (laptops, passports, valuables) in their unlocked cabins. We were told to expect luxury and did not get clean, fully functional, or basic needs met. The staff was alerted of their discontent and fixed what they could, but were not staffed to clean the units. The next morning, we emailed with complaints and was told they would look into it. While they agreed that the experience was sub-par, they only issued an apology after several emails and phone conversations, as they have a "no-refund" policy. So, if you are looking for dirty sheets, bugs in your bed, a cold shower and want to pay a premium for it, this is your place. The only positive was the views and location was nice.
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Date of stay: June 2023Trip type: Travelled on business
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Dustin brown, Owner at Totem Resorts
Responded Aug 13, 2023
Hi Mariak, Thank you for your review, as I remember personally speaking to you in regards to you these issues. We appreciate your constructive review and for your company that you work for, choose to stay with us- as we know they have a lot of options out there- so for them to choose us means the world, especially after us being closed and recovering from a few year's of the COVID pandemic. We are trying extremely hard to bring in new staff from all over the world, and get them trained as quickly as possible, and your group being one of the first to join us this summer/ spring, we did and are doing the best we can to get all the cabins opened up from 6 months of winter closure. I must point out that the AC was quickly serviced by maintenance, as these things can go down but we quickly jumped right on it for service, as for the heat- I can only assume you are referring to the propane furnace fireplaces in each cottage. We actually keep these turned off during the summer months (for safety reasons), so again I apologize and if we had known, it is as easy as us turning a propane valve but on, but we did not know you wished to use the AC and Fireplace heating at the same time in that extreme heat we were experiencing during your stay. As for the refund policy, you are correct and your group sends 3-4 group trips to our property every season, and even had 2 more trips they booked right after your group left, so we assume the experence may not have been as terrible as described above? We hope you'll forgive us, and we look forward to hosting you next year on the trips your employer/ group has already committed to and we hope to meet your level of exceptions. Thank you again for the constructive review. -Dustin Brown Owner/ Operator
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Lake of the Woods is a very special place. We stayed in a nice cabin with lake view. Perfect for us. Awesome fishing with our guide, Dave. He whipped up a great shore lunch with our Walleye catch and put us on some big fish. Food was excellent served up by our fabulous attendant, Nadia. Can’t wait to go back.
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Date of stay: October 2024
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Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Relax
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We went for a family anniversary , Drive was 1 hour and anticipated this to be a good family restaurant The location was superb , beautiful views of the lake and nice lodge
We were sat down quickly hardly anyone in the restaurant , menus given to all Ouch the prices were huge Well we did the drive so we had no choice but to order Firstly no. Vegan choices So that was a challenge , then the prices were outrageous! And for the price we paid not enough for a man meal
Ice cream for the kids came out melted thank goodness no charge for that
I would not do the drive again for a meal
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Date of stay: August 2023Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Dustin brown, Owner at Totem Resorts
Responded Aug 26, 2023
Hi Linda, First off let me thank you for making the drive out to beautiful Sioux Narrows, Ontario! We sincerely appreciate you choosing us as we know you have many options out there. While I appreciate your constructive criticism, I did however like to mention our ,menus offer multiple vegan, vegetarian. and gluten free options and are all marked with a symbol next to each item to identify them clearly, please feel free to ask our team members about the options on your next visit! As for pricing, we do pride ourselves in remaining competitive against Kenora, Ontario restaurant pricing which is why we compare much of our pricing to their pricing. Infact- some of our items this year on our menus are below other restaurants pricing which we are thrilled to pass the savings along to you. Unfortunately in Canada these days, as you know, pricing for everything has sky-rocketed: from the food costs, to our labor, to propane, etc. We are doing our very best to keep pricing down, but unfortunately some cost items are out of our control, but we will continue to closely monitor pricing in an attempt to combat this the best we can. We also would like to note, that while other restaurants in the Kenora / Sioux Narrows areas are forced to close 1-2 days per week (Sundays/ Mondays), we are the ONLY restaurant open 7 days per week, 6:00am-9:00pm daily to the public offering breakfast/ lunch/ and dinner. This is a very difficult thing for any restaurant to do- but we are proud to offer it. Thank you again for choosing us! -The Brown Family
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Picture this: three tables, five waitstaff and a magnificent lakefront setting - what could go wrong?
Just about everything. In fact, all the diners in the place had complaints. The table next to us had two steaks delivered due to the poor quality. Our meal was delivered all at once after waiting a long time. The appetizers, soups, salads and main course came at the same time except the one main course they forgot. The Cajun pasta was greasy. The French onion soup was not homemade. The gravy in the poutine was out of a can (gasp) and to top it all off the entire meal was charged in American USD making the meal more expensive.
Every aspect of our meal was executed poorly. Even the bills were incorrect. I could go on but why beat this tired dead horse. The entire resort is in need of a makeover.
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Date of stay: August 2022Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Dustin brown, Owner at Totem Resorts
Responded Aug 26, 2023
Hi Kevin, We apologize about your experience in the dining room and are sorry to hear based on that we need an entire make over of the entire property- we will note that and do our best to make the changes prior to your next visit. Please feel free to ask for myself (Dustin Brown) and I will be happy to give you a discount off your next dining experience with us at any of our three locations. Thank you -Dustin Brown General Manager/ Owner
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We had a large family trip to Totem as part of a memorial as we had come here multiple times over the last 40 years.. We had a group or 17 age ranges from 7-70+ years old and the highlight of the trip was definitely the staff! “Nacho” was our boats guide and he was phenomenal and a perfect balance of knowledge, customer service, personality and just an all around great guy! We got a lot of fish and the kids had a great time. He was very good about checking in to see if anyone needed anything and always had a very positive attitude. We had a few first timers on our boat and he was fantastic key them and after our time with him they are hooked! Nacho always went above and beyond to ensure the group was having a great time and he should be commended.
Our larger group had Jimmy, Val and Devon as guides and they are also top notch and very personable and were great with everyone from the group. The dining. Room Staff were great as well. Dustin and Stephanie also ensured that our group was well taken care of. Overall, the staff made the trip! Totem is very lucky to have the staff they do!
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Date of stay: July 2024Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We just returned from 4 nights at Totem Lodge. Dustin and family were excellent hosts and all the staff from check in and office staff to our servers Nadia ,David, Priscilla and Jenny made our stay a relaxing vacation. All the staff at the resort were great.
Our 1 bedroom cabin was very clean, up to date and done in beautiful tung and groove pine with a lakefront view and gorgeous deck. Steps from a sandy beach.
Our fishing guide Nacho was very knowledgeable and took us to various spots to try them out. Caught a lot of nice sized fish both walleye and perch which is what we were looking for. If they weren't biting in one sport the other guides would give directions to some other hot sports. We really like the way they worked together. We had fabulous shore lunches cooked by Nacho and enjoyed our Perch appetizer with walleye for the main course.
Both Nacho and the restaurant staff accommodated our diet restrictions very well. We were on an all inclusive plan and the food was excellent with good sized portions. We enjoyed the BBQ ribs, salmon, prime rib, rib eye and Rueben sandwich to name a few of our meals. All were delicious.
We visited their sister resort next door - Yellowbird lodge which is also beautiful where they have a gym, hot tub and sauna available for our use Totem Lodge guests. Next time we will surely use these. We were too busy fishing to to relax and use these facilities.
We plan to return. We would recommend Totem Lodge or any of it's other resorts ( Yellowbird Lodge, Wiley Point and cabins they also have on surrounding islands) .
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Date of stay: July 2024
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:For fishing we found what worked best for us - they have guides /boats for 4 hours,6 or 8 hours...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Phenomenon staff, Excellent food and the fishing was great. Had a couple different guides would definitely recommend Pascal. All of the wait staff in the bar and restaurant are very personable and friendly and the owners Eric and Dustin checked on us personally at least once a day. Will definitely return in the future.
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Date of stay: June 2024Trip type: Travelled on business
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Illinois City, Illinois1 contribution3 helpful votes
Thank you for contacting Totem Resorts. Yes we have a Fishing Discovery Center in the town of Sioux Narrows as well as mini golf and souvenir shops. We also have great hiking trails and Provincial Park and 9 hole golf course. Lake of The Woods is known for beautiful sand beaches and the largest array of fish species. You and your family will be very well entertained. Please come and give us the chance to spoil you!
There are more places to choose from in the Sioux Narrows area.
LOCATION
CanadaOntarioKenora DistrictSioux Narrows
NUMBER OF ROOMS
75
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