Montréal

Montréal is the Canadian city for a celebration that feels like a journey abroad. The Ritz-Carlton on Sherbrooke Street, where the Golden Square Mile meets the Museum of Fine Arts, sets the tone: a French-speaking city, long dinners in Old Montréal or on the Plateau, a concert at the Maison symphonique, and summer evenings on a terrace that last well past midnight.

Montréal is North America’s great French-speaking metropolis: an island city of Victorian greystones and modern towers around Mount Royal, with Old Montréal’s stone streets on the St. Lawrence, a celebrated restaurant culture, summer festivals and a European ease that sets it apart on the continent.

Montréal was founded as Ville-Marie in 1642 on an island in the St. Lawrence, and grew into the commercial capital of nineteenth-century Canada. Old Montréal keeps its stone warehouses, Notre-Dame Basilica and the Old Port; the Golden Square Mile below Mount Royal preserves the mansions of the merchant families who once controlled much of the country’s wealth.

Mount Royal, landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted, rises at the centre of the city. Around it lie the Plateau and Mile End, with their outdoor staircases and corner cafés, and an underground city that links metro stations, shops and towers. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and a deep restaurant culture complete the picture.

Summer is festival season: the Formula One Grand Prix du Canada in late May, the Montreal International Jazz Festival in late June and early July, Just for Laughs and Osheaga after it. Terraces fill, the Old Port comes alive and the city stays out late. September and October bring cooler air and the colours of Mount Royal.

Winter is cold and snowy, and the city embraces it: skating in the Old Port, cross-country skiing on Mount Royal, Igloofest and Montréal en Lumière in February. The Laurentians and the Eastern Townships, each about an hour away, offer skiing and country inns. Spring arrives late, in April, with the sugar shacks of the maple season.

On Sherbrooke Street, in the Golden Square Mile, The Ritz-Carlton Montréal has received guests since 1912 and remains the city’s classic grand hotel, steps from the Museum of Fine Arts. A few blocks away, Four Seasons Hotel Montréal brings a contemporary house to the same quarter, above the boutiques of de la Montagne. Downtown, the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, fully renovated, stands above the central station and the underground city.

All three lie within walking distance of McGill, the museums and the shops of Sainte-Catherine, with Old Montréal a short ride away. LVXVRY books them through Marriott STARS & Luminous, Four Seasons Preferred Partner and Accor Preferred — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay.