Nicknamed "la ville aux cent clochers" (the city of a hundred belltowers), Montreal is renowned for its churches. As described by Mark Twain, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the largest dome of its kind in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Other well-known churches include the pilgrimage church of Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Secours, which is sometimes called the Sailors' Church, the Church of St. Michael and St. Anthony, known for its Byzantine architecture, and the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, which was completely excavated and suspended in mid-air during the construction of part of the Underground City.

An impressive number of other churches, synagogues and mosques can be found, and church steeples are a familiar view all over the city and island.

The city’s public green spaces are categorized as major urban parks, neighborhood parks, city squares, and nature parks. The parks provide facilities for recreation, education, historical-cultural programming, and organized fitness activities. Park activities vary seasonally, and each park features its own unique programming. The city’s large parks account for approximately 2,000 hectares of the island’s land. The Ville de Montreal also considers cemeteries, certain golf courses, and green alleys as green spaces. Green spaces improve air quality, reduce the effect of urban heat islands, contribute to residents’ quality of life, preserve biodiversity, and improve the city’s aesthetic. The city is also home to small scale neighborhood green spaces, such as green alleys and community gardens.

Below is a list of Montreal’s public green spaces:

Mount Royal was designed in 1876 by Frederick Law Olmsted, best known as the designer of New York's Central Park. Mount Royal's features include the Chalet and the Kondiaronk Belvedere overlooking downtown Montreal, and man-made Beaver Lake (Lac aux Castors) with its recently renovated pavilion. Mount Royal is topped by an illuminated cross that has become a Montreal landmark.

Observant hikers on the park's many trails will find an abundance of small wildlife. In the winter, the park is the site of numerous cross-country ski trails and a new, refrigerated skating rink near Beaver Lake.

Once, a funicular railroad brought sightseers to its peak, but it has long since disappeared.[1] A tramway also went up the mountain on the north side, replaced in the late 1950s by the Camillien Houde Parkway, which now bisects the mountain. The "11-Montagne" bus line now replaces the tram. Every Sunday in the summer, hundreds of people gather at the George-Étienne Cartier Monument, at the foot of Mount Royal, for drumming, dancing, and juggling (among many other activities) in an event known as the Tam-Tams. It is unclear how this event started; but, as it has no formal organization and has carried on both in a lively and peaceful way since at least the late 1980s. The intersection of Avenue du Parc and Avenue des Pins, just to the south, formerly a winding urban interchange (inspired by the New York parkways of Robert Moses), underwent a major transformation to become more pedestrian-friendly.