The Golden Square Mile is where the men who once held a large share of Canada's wealth built their houses, and the walk works because the interest climbs uphill, away from the shopping street and toward the mountain. Around three and a half kilometres, best on a bright afternoon when the greystone holds the light.
Start on Rue Sainte-Catherine at Peel for the commercial scale, then turn up to the Musée des beaux-arts, straddling Sherbrooke in two pavilions joined under the road — the permanent collection is free, and the Canadian and Inuit rooms reward an hour. From there walk Sherbrooke east past the surviving mansions, greystone and turreted, now clubs and faculties.
Climb a little toward Ravenscrag for the grandest of them, then drop back to the Roddick Gates and up into the McGill campus, the grey halls stepping toward Mount Royal. End on Avenue McGill College, the one avenue that frames the mountain head-on, and walk down it to the metro.
