Mount Royal Park

Parc du Mont-Royal

The mountain that gave the city its name, now a park designed by Olmsted. From the Kondiaronk Belvedere you can overlook the downtown skyline and the Saint Lawrence River.

Mount Royal is a small hill in downtown Montreal, about 233 meters high. After French explorer Jacques Cartier reached its summit in 1535 and named it “Mont Réal,” the city took its name from it. Mount Royal Park, which opened in 1876, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New York's Central Park. The park covers about 200 hectares, and forest trails branch out in all directions. A must-visit is the Kondiaronk Belvedere at the summit. Its stone semicircular terrace faces the downtown skyscrapers, with the Saint Lawrence River and the distant Monteregian Hills beyond, and it is beautiful at sunset and at night. Next to it, the Chalet du Mont-Royal, built in 1932, has a hall with paintings that depict the city's history. About 1 kilometer north is the 31-meter Mount Royal Cross, which is lit at night and visible from many parts of the city. To climb the mountain, you can walk up from the end of Peel Street via stairs and switchback trails in about 30–40 minutes to the lookout. You can also take bus 11 to Lac aux Castors (Beaver Lake) and walk from there. In summer you can ride a BIXI shared bike. On summer Sundays, a spontaneous Tam-Tams drum circle gathers near the Georges-Étienne Cartier Monument at the foot of the mountain, with hundreds of people drumming, dancing and picnicking. It is one of the liveliest scenes in Montreal. In winter, Beaver Lake has skating, snowshoeing and sledding trails. The western slope is home to St. Joseph's Oratory, and to the northeast lies the famous Mount Royal Cemetery. Admission is free.

Mount Royal Park

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