Who said budgeting has to pinch? In a city packed with parks and festivals for every season and reason, Montreal is swelling with free events, attractions, and happenings.
1. Explore Summit Park - Westmount
The highest point of Westmount and one of Mount Royal's three peaks, Summit Park and its 57 acres of protected wildlife is an all-time favorite urban getaway of mine. Gorgeous year-round and particularly revered in the spring for birdwatching -- you're likely to spot woodpeckers, owls, and the many other bird species attracted to the summit -- you forget you're even in a city. The designer houses encircling the urban forest (try to guess which one I dubbed "The Claw") offer a sharp and surreal contrast to the designated bird and wild flower sanctuary, disappearing from view within seconds of entering the park. Remember to keep the noise level down and bring a plastic bag for litter as public garbage bins are scarce in the area.2. For the Window Shopper in Some of Us - Montreal Underground City
Montreal Underground City. Photo © Evelyn Reid
I've been here my most of my life yet I only found out in my early twenties that the world's largest underground city is -- cough -- in Montreal. My excuse is 15 years in Laval. What's yours? Explore all 33 km of Montreal's Underground City and the 1700 boutiques along the way, from the edge of downtown at Westmount Square to the Bibliothèque National, near the Latin Quarter and the Gay Village. Do look out for my favorite stretch of underground passage, that mysteriously huge yet rush hour barren hallway with skylight near Place Bonaventure. Tell me, is there some monumental purpose for it other than serving as a fantastic photo backdrop? Please email me if you know. Seriously.
3. A Free Dose of Natural History at Redpath Museum - Downtown
Photo © Evelyn Reid
From dinosaur bones to fossils to Egyptian mummies in the flesh, the Redpath doesn't charge a dime to the public and is one of the oldest free museums in Canada. Located at McGill University's downtown campus and doubling as an academic unit for McGill graduate students in biology, anthropology, and earth sciences, The Redpath Museum showcases permanent exhibits in geology, zoology and paleontology. The Redpath also houses a collection of over 17,000 anthropological and archaeological artifacts covering Ancient Egypt, South America, Sri Lanka and more.
