Mount Royal Park, Montreal

Frederick Law Olmsted, of Central Park fame, designed this park. It is easy to forget that you are in the middle of a huge metropolis when walking or cross-country skiing on the park's many well-signposted trails: chief downtown access points are from Parc Jeanne-Mance and Drummond Street, just west of Royal Victoria Hospital. Beaver Lake features skating, tobogganing, and even a small ski hill and chairlift, while Mount Royal Cemetery is one of the continent's largest.