Downtown Montreal from Mount Royal

The lookout on top of Mount Royal is an excellent goal for an urban walk. It's in Mount Royal Park, laid out long ago by Frederick Law Olmsted, best known for landscaping New York's Central Park. From the beautifully appointed lookout terrace, downtown Montreal is at your feet, with a view to the river and beyond to the Monteregian Hills. Sight lines to landmarks are marked. The chalet by the lookout is open in the daytime with bathrooms and snack machines. Another chalet, the one overlooking Beaver Lake, now has a café with decent food. In season, you can also picnic – and don't forget you're never more than a few minutes from downtown Montreal and its many restaurants.

The top of Mount Royal is divided between the park and two large cemeteries, the Catholic Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery and the nondenominational Mount Royal cemetery. Both can be interesting walks for those of gothic tastes and together they form a necropolis among the largest in the world.

Maruyama-koen Park, Japan

Maruyama-koen Park is located in the western suburbs of Sapporo on the dome-shaped Maruyama hill, 226 meters above sea level. This huge 60,000-square meter area contains virgin woods with oak, 'katsura' (Japanese Judas tree), magnolia, maple and other varieties of trees, and is a designated natural monument.

In spring the park is busy with visitors who flock to see the blooming of the more than 1,700 Hokkaido wild cherry trees. At Hokkaido-jingu Shrine on the hillside, there are giant elm and cypress trees where woodpeckers gather, making it a great place for bird watching.