This magical flower garden near Montreal is straight out of a fairy tale

It's May, which means it's the perfect time to see the beautiful spring flowers. In particular, beautiful pink spring flowers.

There are many amazing places around Montreal where you can enjoy the beauty of the blossoms, whether it's cherry blossoms, magnolia blossoms or crabapple blossoms. But if you think you need the extra travel time to experience the absolute magic, you'll want to hear about this magical alleyway just a 20-minute drive (no traffic) from downtown Montreal.

Lit up with red flowers when the crabapple trees are at their peak bloom, this trail—not known to Montrealers well—makes you feel like you've stepped into a fairy tale rather than stepping onto the South Shore.

You can find the Pink Walk at Parc Linéaire Desaulniers in Longueuil.

According to Le Reflet, the park's walkway will be renovated around 2022. It crosses Vue-Longueuil from east to west and is popular with runners, cyclists, walkers and animal walkers in every season, even in winter.

Most importantly, the park, which is a long way from a traditional park, is loved for its beautiful pink crabapple flowers that bloom every May.

Yes, those are crabapple blossoms, not cherry blossoms, according to Ville de Longueuil. However, they look very similar and are easy to confuse.

If you need help telling the difference, crayfish flowers have longer leaves and trees have paler bark. They also usually bloom with some visible leaves, while cherry trees rarely have leaves when they bloom very green among the pinks, a sign of its crabapple tree. There are more differences than that, but they involve knowing what a flower's “style” is (and we don't mean its fashion sense), so if you want to learn more, check out the Brooklyn Botanic Garden website.

Please note that the images in this article are from previous years. Mother Nature refuses to tell us when certain trees reach their peak bloom, but we do know that Longueuil's crabapple trees are beginning to bloom. In the past, crabapple flowers at Parc Linéaire Desaulniers were at their best in mid to late May.

Happy spring!

The cover image for this article is for illustrative purposes only.