Summer is in full swing, the grass dries every week after the storms that batter the city every ten days, Montrealers walk on the side of the street where there are trees – for shade, and time has almost stopped.
Montreal has stretched outwards – restaurants are on terraces, stores have set up racks on the street, there’s music everywhere, you can only eat on a bench under a tree (not sitting at a table, that would be a real shame) because that’s where summer dinners are at their best.
The best is a picnic in a park with a warm sandwich, a microbrewery beer and Saguenay blueberries in tupperware. We have three of the city’s most beautiful parks – and some of the best sandwich shops next door – for late-summer picnics.
1 Parc La Fontaine + Bagel Saint-Viateur
We start with a classic that goes hand in hand with another classic: Parc La Fontaine and a bagel from Café Bagel Saint-Viateur on Mont-Royal Avenue.
Parc La Fontaine is the Plateau Mont-Royal borough’s main park, and one of three natural parks in Montreal (along with Île Sainte-Hélène and Parc du Mont-Royal). There’s a pond – with singing frogs – and several paths, with tall trees and corners where you can put down your picnic blanket.
It’s also home to the famous Théâtre de Verdure, where there are free shows all summer long.
For a picnic, we recommend a bagel reputed to be the best IN THE WORLD (a fact disputed by some, who are probably wrong): a bagel from Saint-Viateur. We recommend the traditional (with smoked salmon), smoked meat and apple-cinnamon cream cheese for the dessert bagel.
Parc La Fontaine: 3819 Avenue Calixa-Lavallée, open 7 days a week from 6 a.m. to midnight.
St-Viateur Bagel & Café: 112 Avenue Mont-Royal, open 7/7 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
2 Parc Laurier + Sandwich Renzo
Parc Laurier (technically, Parc Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier, in honor of Canada’s 7th Prime Minister), is an urban park with wide avenues lined with century-old maples and featuring baseball diamonds, a swimming pool and plenty of paths for cyclists.
It’s arguably Montreal’s best-positioned park, right in the center of Mile End and home to some of the city’s best cuisine à-emporter.
You’ve got plenty of options (and this way, everyone’s happy) to take away. Pierogi from Pierogies Lili, gnocchi from Drogheria Fine, lunch specials from Wilensky… but we recommend you try the hottest sandwichin Montreal right now: the semi-nostalgic Renzo sandwich shop, with philly-cheesesteaks, pans bagnats, classics and a “sadwich du jour”.
Parc Laurier: 5200 rue Brébeuf
Sandwicherie Renzo: 5195 Boulevard Saint-Laurent
3 Square Saint-Louis + Arepera du Plateau
Square Saint-Louis is a tiny park, but one of Montreal’s most emblematic. Si, si, it’s the one with the fountain in the middle and surrounded by colorful Victorian houses, like this;
To go with this European-style stop – sitting on the edge of the fountain, possibly on a date for the more romantic among us – we recommend the arepas at L’Arepera du Plateau, one of Montreal’s favorite restaurants AND it’s gluten-free.
Square Saint-Louis: rue du Square-St-Louis
Arepera du Plateau: 73 Prince-Arthur St. East, open Tuesday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Enjoy your picnic!