Note to readers: before heading out, we recommend you check parks in advance for chalet openings, equipment rentals, lessons, and snow conditions.
A sport for all ages
Cross-country skiing is an ideal winter activity for families. The sport can be learned easily, even by young children and equipment can be rented inexpensively. Best of all, Montreal has many great places for skiing, including my top five: Bois de Liesse Nature Park, Mount Royal Park, Cap St. Jacques, Pointe aux Prairies, and Maisonneuve Park/Botanical Gardens.
All these centres offer extensive networks of groomed trails — meaning the cross-country tracks have been prepared in a way that makes it easy to glide along with your skis. The length of the various trails is also important because once you’ve learned how to cross-country ski, it can take less than an hour to cover 10 kilometres. Even young children and novices can cover four or five kilometres in an hour.
Parks offer extensive network of trails
Our favourite location is Bois de Liesse Nature Park because it offers trails (with small hills) with three levels of difficulty. Also, their equipment rentals feature boots, skis and poles that are usually less than two years old, so no one gets stuck with poorly functioning equipment. Two chalets with fireplaces and snack bars, lots of bird feeders, and the possibility of seeing foxes and bunnies on the trail add to the fun, as do snowshoeing trails and two tobogganing hills.
If you have some cross-country ski experience, Mount Royal Park offers a challenge with its long, winding trails and multiple hills and turns, which allow more expert skiers to practice their fancy moves. If you have children, the park offers private and groups lessons for beginners, intermediate, and advanced skiers between the ages of 4 to 15 as well as lessons for adults. Two chalets, a visitor centre, a refrigerated skating rink, and tubing hills provide additional entertainment.
Cap St. Jacques Nature Park stands out for its extensive network of well-groomed trails and its knowledgeable, helpful staff. An inviting chalet with a fireplace and snack bar, a sledding hill, and an ecological farm that’s open daily throughout the year have turned this West Island locale into a family favourite.
Those on the east side of town are well served by the long trails at Maisonneuve Park/Botanical Gardens and the Pointe aux Prairies Nature Park. The former has loops designed for different ski levels, plus the advantage of being able to visit the gardens themselves (outdoors is free during the winter) or the nearby Insectarium. Pointe aux Prairies Park has excellent trails geared to different levels, two chalets, and onsite staff to answer your questions about equipment, rentals, and the condition of the trails.
All of these places make it easy to slot in an hour or two of skiing, either on the weekend or when the kids have a day off from school. There’s a sense of adventure when we head out on the trails, even ones we have skied many times before. We never know what magic awaits.
Information on the top 5 parks
Entrance to all of the nature parks below is free but there is a fee for parking.
Bois de Liesse Nature Park
3555 Douglas-B.-Floreani St., Saint-Laurent
Eighteen kilometres of trails
Mount Royal Park
1260 Remembrance Rd., Montreal
Twenty two kilometres of trails
Cap St. Jacques Nature Park
20099 Gouin Blvd.W., Pierrefonds
Thirty-two kilometres of trails
Maisonneuve Park/Botanical Gardens
4601 Sherbrooke St. E., Montreal (main entrance)
Eighteen kilometres of trails
Pointe aux Prairies Nature Park
14905 Sherbrooke St. E., Montreal
Twelve kilometres of trails
Additional spots for skiing
If you want to explore even more trails, check out these places:
Parc La Fontaine,
3819, avenue Calixa-Lavallée. 5.2 kilometres
Parc Jeanne-Mance
4422, avenue de l’Esplanade. 1.3 kilometres
Check out the low-cost lessons available at the above two parks. LINK
Parc Frédéric-Back
2345 Jarry East
Free equipment lending through TOHU. At the park you can also borrow kites, snowshoes, and try fat-biking.
Over eight kilometres of ski trails.
Grand Sud-Ouest trails
Multiple entre points. See the map.
Almost 25 kilometres of trails travel along the riverfront through Lachine, LaSalle, and Verdun.
Angrignon Park
3400 des Trinitaires Blvd. and la Verendrye Blvd., Lasalle
Three kilometres of trails.
Bois de l’île Bizard Nature Park
2115 Chemin du Bord du Lac, Île Bizard/St. Geneviève
Twelve kilometres of trails
Morgan Arboretum
150 des Pins St., Ste. Anne de Bellevue. The daily fee is $9 for adult skiers regardless of their age or student status,
$4.50 for children 4 to 14 years of age. Rentals are available but are located about a 10-minute drive away.
Fifteen kilometres of trails
Île de la Visitation Park
2425 Gouin Blvd. E., Montreal
Eight kilometres of trails.
Beaconsfield Golf Course
49 Golf Ave., Pointe-Claire
Pointe-Claire residents can take advantage of the groomed ski trails around the golf course, as well as walking and snowshoeing paths.
Hudson trails
128 Côte Saint-Charles or 637 Main Road
Accessible via the Whitlock Golf Club parking lot, and the parking lot beside Le Nichoir on Main Road.
Centre écologique Fernand-Seguin
257, rue Fernand-Seguin, Châteauguay
Fifteen kilometres or trails, rentals, and lessons.
Related Read: How to get kids interested in cross-country skiing
