Mount Royal (Parc du Mont-Royal)

Mount Royal is the hill that gave Montreal its name — a 233-metre volcanic intrusion in the centre of the island whose forested slopes and summit lookouts provide the best views of the city, the St. Lawrence River, and on clear days the Adirondack Mountains of New York and the Green Mountains of Vermont. The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (of Central Park fame) in 1876, and his vision of a 'natural' landscape accessible to all citizens has been maintained for nearly 150 years.

The Kondiaronk Belvedere at the summit is where everyone goes for the view — a stone terrace with a chalet that looks directly south over downtown Montreal, with the river and the Monteregian Hills beyond. The view at night, when the city's lights spread to the horizon, is one of Canada's great urban panoramas. The walk up from downtown takes about 30 minutes via the serpentine path or the steeper stairs, and the climb through the forest — maple, oak, and birch trees that turn spectacular colours in October — is as much a reason to visit as the summit.

Beyond the lookout, the park contains two cemeteries (Notre-Dame-des-Neiges and Mount Royal Cemetery, together forming one of the largest green spaces on the island), Beaver Lake (a man-made pond that becomes a skating rink in winter), and a network of trails popular with cross-country skiers, snowshoers, and the Sunday afternoon tam-tam drum circle at the George-Étienne Cartier monument, which has been drawing drummers, dancers, and spectators since the 1970s and is one of Montreal's most beloved informal traditions.