Parc Maisonneuve

Parc Maisonneuve — Rosemont’s great green lung, at the foot of the Olympic Stadium

Few green spaces in Montreal offer a contrast this blunt: on one side the leaning silhouette of the Olympic Stadium tower, on the other grassy hollows, stands of mature trees and a calm you would not expect a few minutes from the métro. Parc Maisonneuve is the breathing ground of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, set — in the best sense of the word — between the Olympic Park, the Botanical Garden and a municipal golf course that is nearly a century old. It is the kind of park where you come to run on a weekday morning, picnic with the family on Sunday, and ski between the trees in February.

Highlights

• The Espace pour la vie neighbours — the park shares a boundary with the Montreal Botanical Garden, founded in 1931 on the initiative of Brother Marie-Victorin, and with the Insectarium. In winter, a cross-country ski trail links the two grounds directly.
• The Montreal Municipal Golf Course — a public course whose plans go back to 1920 and whose layout dates to 1923, enlarged to 18 holes in 1926, then cut back to 9 holes in the mid-1970s to make way for the Olympic facilities.
• Le Repaire de Biquette — a flock of sheep genuinely mows the lawns of the north sector as urban eco-grazing, alongside a henhouse and an educational beehive open to the public in season.
• The bike loop of about 3.1 km — an almost flat ring around the park, much prized by runners, strollers and beginner cyclists.
• The community gardens — in the northwest sector, dozens of plots tended by neighbourhood residents for decades.
• The rink with a view of the Stadium — one of the few outdoor ice surfaces in Montreal where you skate facing a world-famous piece of architecture, with a heated chalet beside it.

What’s inside

Parc Maisonneuve is an ensemble rather than a simple meadow: roughly 80 hectares counting the golf course, of which some sixty are open lawn, paths and woodland freely accessible. The gently rolling relief and the big trees planted a century ago give the place the air of a landscaped countryside rather than a neighbourhood park.

• Vast rolling lawns, able to take in gatherings of several thousand people.
• A heated welcome chalet, with washrooms, picnic areas and drinking fountains.
• A multi-purpose path used for running and brisk walking.
• A marked winter network of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and a sliding hill.
• The 9-hole municipal golf course, open to everyone with no membership.
• Stands of mature trees — maples, ash, conifers — that provide most of the summer shade.

What to do and who it’s for

• Families with young children — the gentle slopes, the Biquette sheep and the open areas let children run without ever going out of sight.
• Runners and walkers — the perimeter loop gives you a measured distance and a consistent surface, with no intersections to cross.
• Cross-country skiers and snowshoers — four machine-groomed trails, including a direct link to the Botanical Garden, make cross-country skiing reachable by transit.
• Golfers — a short municipal course, ideal for a first try or a quick round after work.
• Groups and picnickers — the open space supports big tables, ball games and kites with no conflict of use.
• Photographers — the Olympic Stadium tower behind a snow-covered lawn or a maple in October is one of the most recognizable frames in the city’s east end.

Getting there and practicalities

The park is in the borough of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, in the east end of Montreal. By métro, the green line serves the area through Pie-IX and Viau stations, both on the Olympic Park side; from there it is a ten-minute walk to the lawns. Several STM bus routes, including the 136, 185 and 197, run along the edges of the park. Access to the park is free and it is open every day from 6 a.m. to midnight. Parking, golf and certain supervised activities are charged separately. Count on an hour for a quick loop, half a day if you combine the park with the neighbouring Botanical Garden.

When to visit

In spring the snow melts first on the ridges and the park becomes usable before many of the island’s wooded trails do. It is the season of the first picnics and the return of the joggers. In summer, the shade of the big trees and the grazing sheep make the park a complete family outing, and the site also hosts large public gatherings, including Saint-Jean-Baptiste shows. Autumn is probably the most beautiful moment: the maples turn red against Olympic concrete, and the low light at the end of the day is superb. Winter, far from being a dead season, is a genuine attraction here: groomed cross-country trails, a snowshoe trail, a sliding hill and an outdoor rink with a heated chalet turn the park into an urban outdoor centre for three months.

Worth knowing

The park owes its existence to a city that no longer exists. The Cité de Maisonneuve, an independent industrial municipality founded east of Montreal, dreamed of itself as a “model city” at the turn of the twentieth century. Driven by mayor Alexandre Michaud (1909-1915) and alderman Oscar Dufresne, the municipal engineer Marius Dufresne devised an ambitious beautification programme — monumental buildings, boulevards and large parks. The park was established in 1910, and over the following years the municipality acquired vast tracts of land intended for leisure and sport. That expensive dream hastened the bankruptcy of the Cité, which was annexed to Montreal on February 9, 1918. The name honours Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve (1612-1676), founder of Ville-Marie in 1642. The municipal golf course, opened in 1923 with a clubhouse in 1925, was for a time one of the few public courses in the metropolis and hosted high-level competitions in the 1960s. Building the Olympic Park for the 1976 Games cut the course in half and redrew the whole south end of the site — today’s landscape dates from that transformation.

Visitor tips

• Come in from the north if you are here to see the sheep and the community gardens; the south end of the park is busier because of how close the Stadium is.
• In winter, check the state of the trails before you set out: machine grooming depends on snow depth and the heated chalet is the only fallback.
• Combine the visit with the Botanical Garden or the Insectarium, immediately next door — you save yourself a trip and you can walk from one site to the other.

Questions and answers

Is there an admission charge for Parc Maisonneuve? No. Access to the park is free at all times. Only parking, the golf course and certain supervised activities or rentals are billed separately.

Which métro serves the park? The green line, through Pie-IX or Viau stations, both on the Olympic Park side. Bus routes 136, 185 and 197 also serve the perimeter.

Can you really cross-country ski here? Yes. The park maintains several groomed trails — classic style and skate skiing — including a direct link to the Botanical Garden. It is one of the best cross-country sites reachable by métro in Montreal.

Are there really sheep in the park? Yes, during the summer season. Le Repaire de Biquette’s urban eco-grazing project puts a flock in the north sector, with a henhouse and an educational beehive, to keep the lawns down and raise awareness of biodiversity.

Is the park suitable for strollers and people with reduced mobility? The main paths are wide and even, the chalet has washrooms and accessible parking spaces are provided. The rolling terrain does take a bit of effort in places, however.

How much time should I allow on site? An hour is enough for the perimeter loop. Allow half a day if you add golf, a session on the sliding hill or a visit to the neighbouring Botanical Garden.

Can you picnic as a group? Yes. The large lawns and the prepared picnic areas lend themselves well to gatherings; the park regularly hosts large-scale public events, in fact.