Mont royal is a lovely park right in the middle of Montreal. My boyfriend and I went in early July and the weather was perfect. When you're at the top, you can see the whole city. But the good part (for me) was the walking up to the top - not so much the view!
Before we went, we read a lot of reviews about the hike and how it would take hours to walk it, that the stairs are horrible and to take the bus etc. After having done it, I can honestly say that IT"S NOT THAT BAD! We started at Stanley Ave (I think - one of the streets by McGill) and Pine. We walked along the path and looped it up. We weren't walking fast and it took us about 40 minutes to get to the summit. We're also not speed walkers or in great shape. It was just a leisurely pace.
We took the stairs down and once we realized how short they were, we actually went back up on the stairs! It took like 10 minutes and that was just going an average pace! Seriously - THE STAIRS ARE NOT THAT BAD!!!
Hope this helps to put others at ease!
Wendy