Montréal is the largest city in Canada's Québec province. It’s set on an island in the Saint Lawrence River and named after Mt. Royal, the triple-peaked hill at its heart. Its boroughs, many of which were once independent cities, include neighborhoods ranging from cobblestoned, French colonial Vieux-Montréal – with the Gothic Revival Notre-Dame Basilica at its center – to bohemian Plateau.

Montréal is blessed with one of the most exciting food scenes in North America. You’ll find irresistible patisseries, English pubs, 80-plus-year-old Jewish delis and magnificent food markets reminiscent of Paris. Montréal remains the country’s cultural campaign. The city simply lives for public celebration of the arts. The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal is the headline event, followed by parties dedicated to world cinema, comedy and gay pride.

The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal is the headline event, followed by parties dedicated to world cinema, comedy and gay pride.

The Québécois love their summers and autumnal colors, but it is the winter that defines much of their lives, which slow down and become more insular in the grip of those long, dark months.