The Mount Royal cemeteries and the woods
Two vast cemeteries on the mountain's north slope — autumn trees, famous graves, quiet trails. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Édouard-Montpetit station
Start at the metro on the Outremont side and climb towards the mountain. The slope does the work of leaving the city behind; by the time the gates appear, the traffic is gone.

2. Mount Royal Cemetery — the main gate
The Protestant cemetery of 1852, laid out as a Victorian garden of winding drives and specimen trees rather than rows. Take a paper map at the gate if there's one; the layout is meant for wandering, not navigating.

3. The notable graves
Anna Leonowens (the governess of The King and I) and a roll of brewers, bankers and prime ministers rest here under grand Victorian stones. You don't need to hunt them all; the monuments tell the city's 19th-century story whether you read the names or not.

4. Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges — the avenues
Cross into the Catholic cemetery next door, the largest in Canada — over a million buried across the hillside, cypress-lined avenues climbing the slope. It's a different register: denser, more statuary, more flowers. Pick an avenue and follow it up.

5. The woodland trails
The cemeteries blur into the wooded north flank of Mont-Royal — footpaths under maples and birches that, in October, turn the whole slope orange and red. This is the quietest corner of the mountain. Walk slowly; the autumn colour is the reason to come now.

6. Côte-des-Neiges exit
Come down the western side towards Chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges and the metro. There's coffee on the avenue if the walk has run long; the Blue line takes you back across the top of the city.

The Mount Royal cemeteries and the woods