Walking Tour: Mont-Royal

Start: At the corner of rue Peel and avenue des Pins

Finish: At the cross on top of the mountain

Time: Two hours, allowing for some dawdling. If you're pressed for time, it's possible to get to the lookout in a little more than half an hour and back down the mountain in 15 minutes.

Best Times: Spring, summer, and autumn mornings

Worst Times: Winter, when snow and slush make a sleigh ride to the top of the mountain much more enticing than a hike.

Assuming a reasonable measure of physical fitness, an enjoyable way to explore Parc Mont-Royal is simply to hike up from downtown. Joggers, cyclists, in-line skaters, and anyone in search of a little greenery and space head here in warm weather. In winter, cross-country skiers follow the miles of paths within the park, and snowshoers tramp along trails laid out especially for them. The 200-hectare (494-acre) park was created in 1876 to a plan by American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park in New York City and Prospect Park in Brooklyn, as well as parks in Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago.

Start this tour at the corner of rue Peel and avenue des Pins, at the:

1. Downtown park entrance

A handy map at the site helps to set bearings. From here, it's possible to ascend the mountain by several routes. Hearty souls can choose the quickest and most strenuous approach -- scaling the steep slope directly to the lookout at the top. Those who prefer to take their time and gain altitude slowly can take one short set of stairs followed by a switchback bridle path (turn left onto it) leading to the top. The approach outlined here falls somewhere in between but points out the other alternatives as they present themselves.

Take the gravel path to the right (facing the map of the park). It has intervals of four to six steps, and parallels the wall that separates the park from the outside world. When the path dead-ends, turn left (away from the steep steps seen beside a small lookout).

Those who have chosen the athletic route can take the next:

2. Stairs on the right

Fair warning: There are more than 250 steps in all, and the last 100 go almost straight up. For a less taxing route, stay on the wide:

3. Chemin Olmsted (Olmsted Road)

The road was named for the park's designer, and it's actually the only part of his design that became a reality (the rest of the park wasn't completed to his scheme). Following this road will bypass a few of this tour's stops (nos. 4 and 5), and get to the next stop (no. 6) in about 45 minutes.

Frederick Law Olmsted designed the road at such a gradual grade not only for pedestrians, but also for horse-drawn carriages. Horses could pull their loads up the hill at a steady pace, and on the way down would not be pushed from behind by the weight of the carriage. Chemin Olmsted is closed to automobiles. Early on, it passes some beautiful stone houses off Redpath Circle, to the left. A couple of paths lead up the mountain to the right. They get walkers to their destination more quickly but aren't as strenuous as the steps recently bypassed.

So if the road begins to seem a little too slow, take the:

4. Steps

The steps eventually appear on the right. They lead to an old pump station, to the right.

From here, continue in an uphill direction until you arrive at a:

5. Covered picnic area

You can take a snack break if you wish at this open-air stone-and-wood structure with a copper roof.

Then walk around behind the shelter and take the stairway behind it down the hill, which descends again to Chemin Olmsted, minus a couple of big loops that you've edited out of the walk by taking the steps. Up ahead is the back of the:

6. Maison Smith

Regardless of which route you choose at the beginning of the tour, you will end up here. Built in 1858, this structure has been used as a park rangers' station and park police headquarters. From 1983 to 1992 it served as a small nature museum. The house currently serves as an information center, and houses a small exhibit on the park and a gift shop devoted to the park. Nearby is the 90m (300-ft.) high Radio Canada Tower.

From the house, walk through the field of sculptures, away from the radio tower, until you reach:

7. Lac des Castors (Beaver Lake)

The name refers to the once-profitable fur industry, not to the actual presence of the long-gone animals. In summer it's surrounded by sunbathers and picnickers and filled with boaters. In the cold winter months before the snow sets in, it becomes an ice-skater's paradise.

There's a small concession stand in the recently renovated pavilion here, but if you're planning to have something to eat or drink on the mountain, wait for the snack bar at the chalet at the nearby lookout. Both the chalet and the pavilion have restrooms and telephones.

Walk across the road, called Chemin de la Remembrance (Remembrance Rd.), behind the pavilion, to enter:

8. Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery

From this, the city's predominantly Catholic cemetery, you can visit the adjacent Protestant Mount Royal graveyard and then behind it (to the north), if you're up for a time-consuming walk, see the small adjoining Jewish and Spanish-Portuguese cemetery. Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery reveals much of the ethnic mix in Montréal. There are headstones, some with likenesses in photos or tiles, for Montréalers with surnames as diverse as Zagorska, Skwyrska, De Ciccio, Sen, Lavoie, Barrett, O'Neill, Hammerschmid, Fernandez, Müller, Giordano, Haddad, and Boudreault.

After wandering through this part of the cemetery, return to Chemin Remembrance, pass the Maison Smith again, and continue along the road for a few minutes until you arrive at a water spigot embedded in a granite slab. Take the narrow blacktop path below it through the trees. Along the way, look for a tree trunk carved by artist Jacques Morin in 1986; part of the inscription reads: an "old, sick tree, sculpted and transformed, neither male nor female."

This path leads to the:

9. Chalet Lookout

The chalet was constructed from 1931 to 1932 at a cost of $230,000 and has been used over the years for receptions, concerts, and various other events. Inside the chalet, note the 17 paintings hanging just below the ceiling, starting to the right of the door that leads into the snack bar. They relate the history of the region as well as the story of the French explorations of North America. The front terrace offers a panoramic view of the city and the river. In winter, there's a warming room for skiers here.

Take a Break

The concession stand in the chalet, usually open daily from 9am to 5pm, sells sandwiches, muffins, apples, ice cream, milk, juice, tea, and coffee. Heed the signs that ask patrons to refrain from feeding the squirrels seen begging so adorably.

Facing the chalet from the terrace, locate the path running off to the right. Follow it for about 8 minutes to a giant:

10. Steel cross

Legend has it that de Maisonneuve erected a wooden cross here in 1642. The present incarnation, erected in 1924, is lit at night, making it visible from all over the city. Beside the cross is a plaque marking the spot where a time capsule was placed in August 1992, during Montréal's 350th-birthday celebration. Some 12,000 children ages 6 to 12 filled the capsule with messages and drawings depicting their visions for the city in the year 2142, when Montréal will be 500 years old and the capsule will be opened.

To return to downtown Montréal, go back along the path to the chalet terrace. On the left, just before the terrace, is another path. It leads to the 250 or so steps that descend to where this tour began, at the entrance to the park. Or catch bus no. 11 at Beaver Lake, hop off at Chemin de la Remembrance and Côte-des-Neiges, and pick up bus no. 165, which goes to the Guy Métro station.