Of the numerous engaging attractions in Québec’s largest city, four of them seem to be on every visitor’s list: a museum, a park, a church and the ever-popular Marché Jean-Talon. Jean-Talon wasn’t yet at full strength during my latest trip to Montréal. It was springtime, before much local produce was available. I’d recommend heading out to the sprawling food market only in summer or autumn.

We had memorable experiences at the other three major sites, however, and at each one, a little strategizing is in order. You can find my tips below.

Montréal Museum of Fine Arts

Few art museums have a more confusing layout than the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, which encompasses three to six buildings, depending on how you’re counting — a Beaux Arts landmark with a large contemporary addition, a Romanesque Revival church with its own addition and a postmodern structure across the street with a pavilion in the rear — all connected by underground passages.

Enter through the postmodern building, and if time is short, I recommend taking the tunnel straight to the Canadian art in the Claire and Mark Bourgie Pavilion behind the church. All six floors are worth visiting. Start with the rotating show on level 4 and work your way down: Floors 2 and 1 focus on works from 1880-1920 and 1920-1930, respectively, and were my favorites, featuring memorable landscapes like Maurice Cullen’s palpably chilly “Ice Harvest” and Prudence Heward’s arrestingly unconventional double portrait “At the Theatre.” Below that, floors S1 and S2 hold art from 1940-1970, which I also loved. Each level is small; allow 60 to 90 minutes for the entire pavilion.

Every building (and tunnel) has its treasures, however, including striking contemporary Indigenous works in the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, colorful and creative decorative arts pieces in the adjacent Liliane and David M. Stewart Pavilion, and impressive contemporary art in the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion.

Look also for top-notch temporary shows. We spent far longer than we intended in the exhibition of Richard Avedon’s unsparing photo portraits. In fact, so much of the museum proved so diverting that we ended up making two separate visits, totaling about four hours.

Mount Royal Park

Uphill from the museum is Mount Royal Park, a verdant 500-acre expanse of forests, gardens, trails and viewpoints laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted (most famous for designing New York’s Central Park). One popular Montréal guidebook suggests a walk through the park that inexplicably starts at the bottom of a steep and lengthy staircase on Avenue de Pins Ouest. It’s far better to end there.

Instead, take a taxi or ride-share uphill to the Belvédère Camillien-Houde, which affords a vast panorama of the city. Then you have just a brief uphill walk to the landmark Croix du Mont-Royal. From there, it’s a relatively flat, shady walk along the Chemin Olmsted to the Chalet du Mont-Royal, an Arts and Crafts-style hall with a café that’s an ideal place for a break. It fronts the Belvédère Kondiaronk, a plaza that has sensational skyline views. Now you can walk down that formidable staircase to Avenue de Pins Ouest, ending your descent at the pretty campus of McGill University.

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal

In the heart of Old Montréal, towering over the historic Place d’Armes, is one of the most ornate churches in North America. The Gothic Revival Notre-Dame Basilica, built mostly between 1824 and 1843, has a fabulous polychrome interior with intricately painted columns and ribbed vaults, ornate woodwork and splendid stained-glass windows full of civic pride (they depict Montréal history more so than Bible stories).

As if that’s not enough of a spectacle, the basilica collaborated with Moment Factory to create a light-and-sound show called Aura. Considering the popularity of the experience, I thought we ought to give it a try. It’s 30 minutes of eye candy: both visually appealing and non-nutritious. We saw the church transformed into a spring Eden and an autumn forest. At one point, the high altar seemed like the prow of a ship, blasting through rough seas. Lasers shot around the nave. Sometimes I felt like I was in the old Limelight club in New York (but with a different soundtrack). The parlor walls in Fahrenheit 451 also came to mind. If you go, sit in the middle, not near the front, to have the best view.

Music enthusiasts should instead consider the Wednesday-afternoon organ concert followed by a guided tour of the basilica’s magnificent interior. Of course, you can also just visit the building without attending a show, but unless you’re there for Mass, you’ll still have to purchase a ticket.