Haliburton cottage rental: MÖKKI STAY

I featured this gorgeous, five-bedroom Haliburton cottage rental in my road trip with dogs series, and if you’re looking to round out your visit to the Haliburton Highlands with your fur baby, or even just get some local grocery store and restaurant recos, be sure to check out that post when you’re done here.

For now, though, stay with me. Because I’m about to show you around Mökki Stay — a newcomer to the Haliburton AirBnB rental scene and your year-round home-away-from-home in one of Ontario’s most beautiful landscapes.

This is going to be a story told primarily with photos because they’ll do a better job than any wordsmithing I can do…just you wait and see.

Haliburton cottage rental: why Mökki Stay?

From the new trails being cut in an eco-conscious manner among the property’s eight acres to the wood-burning sauna and cozy interior featuring Finnish details — a nod to the owner’s heritage — with just the right amount of quirk, like the protective gnomes adorning the cottage and the moon cards with affirmations, Mökki Stay has a lot to offer.

The vibe here is a special one…at once a Scandi interior-style dream and, equally, a place to unwind and seek out the comfort of the forest. It’s where self-care comes to live its best life.

Even if you’ve got a pretty big immediate family, the number of beds and living spaces will probably work. Unless you’re the Duggars — then forget it. Average-sized families, though, will easily be able to bring along friends or additional relatives.

And unlike many of the vacation homes in which we’ve stayed over the years, there are a lot of little details included at Mökki Stay that you won’t find elsewhere, like robes and slippers available at no extra charge, basics like coffee grinds, cream and condiments and even tin foil provided, plus a selection of welcome goodies on check-in day to name only a few.

It’s just different here — in the very best way.

Mökki Stay: Haliburton cottage rental tour

The ideal setting for a multigenerational family vacation, a forest retreat with your BFFs or a getaway with family friends, Mökki Stay is a two-floor Haliburton cottage rental that also has a fire pit surrounded by Muskoka chairs and a wood-burning oven that can warm the lower level without any additional in-house heating.

Top floor of Mökki Stay

Let’s start upstairs.

The top floor has three bedrooms. The first has a king bed:

Another bedroom has a queen bed:

And the third bedroom on the top floor features two twin beds:

There’s also a bathroom on this floor with a bath/shower combo and a gorgeous live-edge vanity:

The welcoming Nordic-inspired living space extends from a full kitchen at the main door and also houses a large dining table and living room with a TV, plenty of seating and books that will inspire you to find your inner woo:

Bottom floor of Mökki Stay

On the lower level, accessed by a sturdy set of stairs complemented by a very on-brand tree branch railing, Mökki Stay has two more bedrooms — one with a king and the other with a single-over-double bunkbed (not shown, but definitely nice!):

The bathroom down here boasts a deep freestanding soaker tub; and you’ll definitely want to take advantage of the high-end bath salts perched on the wooden bath tray (especially during winter stays):

There are two distinct living and entertaining spaces down here, too, giving your entire group plenty of room to spread out and have both together-time and alone-time:

Every detail here is so thoughtfully curated. Aside from the gorgeous furniture in every corner of Mökki Stay, bedding is clean and comfortable, this is where you’ll find the wood-burning fireplace (there’s even a handy QR code in the guest book that’ll lead you to instructions for using it):

Mökki Stay fun

Need a little entertainment? Mökki Stay has you covered — and it’s all included with your stay.

There’s a stack of kid- and adult-sized snowshoes available in the open garage outside, perfect for exploring the trails on the property:

There are board games galore and a foosball table (my kids had never played before and quickly fell in love), a mini curling game (the owners are curlers) and a ring-toss game we didn’t get around to learning this visit (even though there’s a QR code with game-play instructions in the welcome guide):

Miss Q and my two-year-old niece went wild for the huge whiteboard, which is perfect for a big game of Pictionary:

The dart board saw a lot of use during our stay:

And then there’s Big B’s highlight — the wood-burning sauna, idealistically placed among the trees as if it’s rooted into the forest floor and grew there:

And, yes, there’s free WiFi. The kids made fine use of it and had no complaints about its connectivity or strength in any part of the house.

Mökki Stay: your Haliburton cottage rental location

Mökki Stay is in the Dysart et al. area of Haliburton County. It’s about two hours from Durham Region and 2.5 from just about anywhere in the GTA. You can choose direct highway driving or meander through scenic country roads if you prefer. 

Although it doesn’t sit on a lake, it does have a pond that will hopefully be swimmable before the end of this summer, and it’s only a couple of minutes from beautiful Eagle Lake if you’re a diehard lake swimmer (I am absolutely not, so a lake-free rental is my preference).

Mökki Stay is only a short, two-minute drive from Eagle Lake Country Market, which makes longer stays easier to manage since groceries are easily accessible. Sir Sam’s Ski & Ride is less than five minutes away, and you’re only 15 minutes or so from downtown Haliburton.

A longer, 30-odd-minute drive will bring you to Haliburton Forest (which I’ve written about in my Haliburton Ontario post).

A pet-friendly Haliburton cottage rental

Yes — Mökki Stay allows dogs!

Here’s what you need to know about bringing your dog to this Haliburton cottage rental:

• Your dog’s size doesn’t matter but it obviously needs to be a goo’boy and housebroken
• There’s a $95 pet fee
• Crated dogs can remain in the cottage alone
• Dogs are not welcome on furniture or beds
• Although there are leashes and a roll of poop bags onsite, bring your own and consider these only for back-ups

Mökki Stay rental prices

The average cost per night is season-dependant, of course, but is around $380* to $500 per night from January through mid-June and September through December. There’s a standard two-night minimum stay, increasing to three nights during long weekends. Mökki Stay offers 10% off of stays that are three nights or longer (excluding long weekends) and 20% off those that are six nights or longer (except during the summer peak).

When it comes to summer bookings, the season runs from June 18 through August 27 (in 2023, then similar timing in the years to come) and reservations are Monday to Sunday, priced at $3,200 for the week. When you consider the home is big enough for at least two families to share, this is a steal in cottage country.

Want to have your fridge stocked with some ready-made meals? You can pre-order things like cheese fondue kits, frozen pizzas (from General Assembly!) and delicious lasagnas for an extra cost and they’ll be waiting for you upon arrival.

Considerations

There is no property on the planet that’s perfect for everyone, and I wouldn’t be ME if I didn’t provide some key considerations to keep in mind when booking your Mökki Stay:

• There’s currently limited space in each room to really unpack if you’re staying longer than just a weekend. There are lots of hooks in each room, so hanging up wet bathing suits after your sauna sessions or your robes after relaxing baths is easy peasy, but we mostly lived out of our suitcases. Remember that this place is very new to the Haliburton AirBnB game, and the owners are still making improvements here and there so you might find some storage options added in the months to come
• If you absolutely must cottage somewhere with boat access, this ain’t it. Like I mentioned, the plan is for the pond to eventually be swimmable but, for now, Mökki Stay is near water but not on a lake
• Finally, the garbage. We all know the checkout procedures at vacation homes versus hotels is usually more involved; it is, after all, a home you’ve rented. For the moment, you’ll need to take your garbage with you and deposit it at a local dump on your way home. Far from ideal, yes, but it’s temporary. The owners have ordered a bear-proof bin but it just hasn’t arrived yet; this policy will change as soon as it arrives. This was truly our only real pain point about our entire visit and I’ll be deleting this bullet once the garbage policy is updated

The Mökki Stay mantra is “the forest is calling,” and — let me assure you — it is already calling us back.

 

DISCLAIMERS:

*All prices listed may be subject to HST and third-party fees and are accurate as of this post’s publishing date in February 2023.

Mökki Stay invited my family for a visit to inform this review. As always, opinions are entirely my own and the owners were not permitted to approve this content in advance.