---
title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Montréal, Canada | Wimup"
description: "The 10 best things to do in Montreal, from Old Montreal and Mount Royal to Jean-Talon Market and the Lachine Canal. Mapped, ranked and fact-checked."
url: https://wimup.com/city/montreal
type: City guide
updated: 2026-10-18
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Top 10 Things To Do in Montréal

Montréal, Canada · North America · By Wimup Editorial, 15 min read

Montréal is a French-speaking island city of about two million, laid out between a small mountain and the St. Lawrence. The old town is seventeenth-century stone, downtown is glass with 33 kilometres of passageways beneath it, and the neighbourhoods north of Sherbrooke are walk-ups with outdoor staircases.

## Quick answer

Give the first day to Vieux-Montréal: the basilica, the archaeology under Pointe-à-Callière, then the Old Port. Day two goes uphill and north: the Kondiaronk lookout in the morning, the Museum of Fine Arts in the afternoon, then the Plateau or Mile End. Day three is the east end: the Botanical Garden and the leaning Olympic tower, or Jean-Talon Market.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** May · Jun · Sep · Oct
- **Ideal length:** 3 days
- **Budget per day:** C$150–270
- **Language:** French (English widely spoken)
- **Getting around:** Metro, buses & BIXI bikes
- **Tourism board:** [Official site](https://www.mtl.org/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## The 10 best things to do in Montréal

### 1. Vieux-Montréal and the Notre-Dame Basilica

Landmark · 110 Notre-Dame St W, Montréal, QC H2Y 1T2

The old town is why the city reads as European rather than North American: cobbled streets, cut-stone warehouses and a working port before it was a promenade. The basilica's interior is the surprise: deep blue with gold leaf and thousands of small lights in the vault, where most nineteenth-century churches went for pale stone.

- **Time:** 3 hours for the quarter
- **Cost:** Ticketed entry to the basilica, the streets are free
- **Best at:** Early morning, before the tour groups
- **Tip:** Sightseeing visits and worship are separate: the basilica is free to enter for mass, confession and prayer, and ticketed the rest of the time.

Links: [Notre-Dame Basilica](https://www.basiliquenotredame.ca/en/hours-and-rates?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 2. Mount Royal Park

Park · 1260 Chemin Remembrance, Montréal, QC H3H 1A2

Frederick Law Olmsted, who had already laid out Central Park, designed this one and it opened in 1876. The path everyone takes is a long even gradient of packed gravel that climbs through hardwood to the Kondiaronk belvedere, named for the Wendat chief who brokered the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701.

- **Time:** 2 to 3 hours
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Late afternoon for the light on downtown
- **Tip:** The 11 bus from Mont-Royal metro climbs most of the way if you would rather not walk up. Les amis de la montagne runs the visitor services on the mountain.

Links: [Les amis de la montagne](https://www.lemontroyal.qc.ca/en/home?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 3. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Museum · 1380 Sherbrooke St W, Montréal, QC H3G 1J5

Canada's largest art museum by gallery space, across five linked pavilions with roughly 45,000 works. The strength is the Quebec and Canadian art, shown chronologically in its own pavilion and the clearest account anywhere of how this province saw itself over three centuries.

- **Time:** 2 to 3 hours
- **Cost:** About CAD 31 for adults, with reduced rates for younger visitors
- **Best at:** Weekday mornings
- **Tip:** The pavilions are connected by underground passages, so you can cross Sherbrooke without going outside, which matters in February.

Links: [Montreal Museum of Fine Arts](https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/information/plan-your-visit/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 4. Jean-Talon Market

Market · 7070 Ave Henri-Julien, Montréal, QC H2S 3S3

One of the largest public markets in North America, open all year in Little Italy. In summer the aisles are Quebec produce sold by the people who grew it. In winter it contracts to the permanent stalls, which is when the cheesemongers and the maple stall are easiest to talk to.

- **Time:** 1 to 2 hours
- **Cost:** Free to walk, bring cash for the stalls
- **Best at:** Saturday morning in late summer
- **Tip:** Open every day, 8:00 to 18:00 Monday to Saturday and 8:00 to 17:00 on Sunday, per the Marchés publics de Montréal listing. Jean-Talon metro is a five-minute walk.

Links: [Marchés publics de Montréal](https://www.marchespublics-mtl.com/en/markets/jean-talon-market?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 5. Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal

Landmark · 3800 Chemin Queen-Mary, Montréal, QC H3V 1H6

Canada's largest church, begun in 1904 by a porter with no money and a conviction that a shrine belonged on this slope. The dome stands 97 metres. The interior is stripped-back modernism rather than gilt, and the votive chapel with its wall of crutches and candles is the part that stays with people.

- **Time:** 1 to 2 hours
- **Cost:** Free to enter
- **Best at:** Late afternoon for the west-facing view
- **Tip:** Côte-des-Neiges metro is the closest station, and there is a long flight of steps from the road to the basilica if you want the pilgrims' approach.

Links: [Tourisme Montréal](https://www.mtl.org/en/what-to-do/culture-arts-heritage/saint-joseph-s-oratory-of-mount-royal?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 6. Pointe-à-Callière

Museum · 350 Place Royale, Montréal, QC H2Y 3Y5

The museum is built over the spot where the city was founded in 1642, and the exhibition is the excavation itself: you walk below street level through the first Catholic cemetery and a sewer built over a buried river. The best hour for understanding why Montreal sits exactly here.

- **Time:** 2 hours
- **Cost:** Adults CAD 30, with lower rates by age band
- **Best at:** Tuesday to Friday, when school groups thin out after lunch
- **Tip:** Closed Mondays outside the summer season, per the museum's own hours page. Place-d'Armes metro is the closest station.

Links: [Pointe-à-Callière](https://pacmusee.qc.ca/en/plan-your-visit/hours-and-rates/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 7. The Montréal Tower at Olympic Park

Landmark · 3200 Rue Viau, Montréal, QC H1V 3J3

The stadium was built for the 1976 Games and its tower was finished eleven years late. At 165 metres and a 45-degree lean it is the tallest inclined tower in the world, and a cable car on the outside face carries you to an observatory over the east end, the river and the mountain.

- **Time:** 1 to 2 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed for the observatory
- **Best at:** Clear days, for the distance
- **Tip:** Pair it with the Biodôme or the Botanical Garden: all three sit within a ten-minute walk of Viau and Pie-IX metro stations.

Links: [Tourisme Montréal](https://www.mtl.org/en/experience/go-gold-montreal-olympic-park?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 8. Montréal Botanical Garden

Garden · 4101 Sherbrooke St E, Montréal, QC H1X 2B2

Seventy-five hectares holding some 22,000 plant species, and two of its set pieces are among the largest of their kind outside Asia: the Chinese garden and the Japanese garden with its bonsai collection. From September the three cultural gardens light up after dark, which is the best reason to come in autumn.

- **Time:** 3 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed, with a combined Espace pour la vie pass covering the Biodôme and Insectarium
- **Best at:** September and October, for the colour and the lights
- **Tip:** Gardens of Light ran 3 September to 1 November in 2026, evenings only, and sells out on weekends.

Links: [Espace pour la vie](https://espacepourlavie.ca/en/ticketing?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 9. The Lachine Canal by bike

Outdoors · Lachine Canal National Historic Site, Montréal, QC

The canal opened in 1825 to get boats past the rapids and became the spine of Canadian industry. The towpath is now a 14.5 kilometre route from the Old Port out to Lake Saint-Louis, and the city changes every kilometre: locks, grain silos, a market on its own basin, then open water.

- **Time:** Half a day
- **Cost:** Free, plus whatever the bike costs
- **Best at:** Weekday mornings, before the path fills
- **Tip:** Stop at Atwater Market for lunch about a third of the way out. It is flat the whole way, which makes it the easiest long ride in the city.

Links: [Tourisme Montréal](https://www.mtl.org/en/what-to-do/sport-activities/lachine-canal-multipurpose-path?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 10. Mile End and the Plateau on foot

Neighborhood · Boulevard Saint-Laurent at Rue Saint-Viateur, Montréal, QC

The walk that explains the city better than any museum. Start at the two wood-fired bagel bakeries that have argued since 1919 and 1957, cut past the murals on Saint-Laurent, then drop south where the walk-ups carry the spiral staircases the Plateau is photographed for. About five kilometres.

- **Time:** 3 hours at a walking pace
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Saturday afternoon, or any evening in summer
- **Tip:** The MURAL festival leaves new work on Saint-Laurent every June, so the wall art is different from one year to the next.

## Best restaurants in Montréal

Ten kitchens, from the country's second-best restaurant to a deli that has cured its own brisket since 1928.

1. **Vin Mon Lapin** (Small plates and wine · 150 Rue Saint-Zotique E · Little Italy): A wine bar that took second place nationally on Canada's 100 Best in 2026, the highest any Montreal room has placed. Book the moment the window opens. [Website](https://vinmonlapin.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Joe Beef** (Québécois · Notre-Dame Ouest · Little Burgundy): The Little Burgundy restaurant that changed how the rest of the country cooked: rich, unapologetic, Québécois by way of France.
3. **Toqué!** (Tasting menu · Quartier international · Downtown): Normand Laprise opened this in 1993 and effectively invented the Quebec terroir restaurant. The benchmark other kitchens here measure against.
4. **Au Pied de Cochon** (Québécois · 536 Rue Duluth E · Plateau Mont-Royal): Martin Picard's room in the Plateau, where the cooking is pork, duck and foie gras at a volume that reads as a dare. Loud, hot and never subtle.
5. **Hoogan et Beaufort** (Michelin one star · 4095 Rue Molson · Rosemont): A one-star restaurant in a converted rail workshop in the Angus yards. The kitchen works over a wood oven, and the room is concrete and daylight.
6. **L'Express** (Bistro · 3927 Rue Saint-Denis · Plateau Mont-Royal): A Paris bistro that happens to be on Saint-Denis, open since 1980 and still busy at midnight. Mirrors, tiles, steak tartare and cornichons on the table.
7. **Damas** (Syrian · 1209 Ave Van Horne · Outremont): Syrian cooking done at fine-dining level, and one of the reasons Outremont fills on a weeknight. A room of tiled arches and lanterns.
8. **Montréal Plaza** (Contemporary · Rue Saint-Hubert · Villeray): Two chefs who cook seriously and refuse to look like it: plastic dinosaurs on the shelves, and a menu that rewards ordering blind.
9. **Beba** (Argentine and Italian · Verdun · Verdun): Two brothers cooking Argentine and Italian food in Verdun, sixth on Canada's 100 Best. A short handwritten menu and a wine list worth the trip south.
10. **Schwartz's Deli** (Smoked meat · 3895 Blvd Saint-Laurent · Plateau Mont-Royal): Open since 1928, curing its briskets ten days and slicing by hand at a counter with no space between the tables. There is always a queue and it always moves. [Website](https://schwartzsdeli.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best cafes & bakeries in Montréal

Seven counters, including the two bagel bakeries that never close.

1. **St-Viateur Bagel** (Bagels, open 24 hours · 263 Rue Saint-Viateur O · Mile End): Opened in 1957 by a Holocaust survivor, and still rolling, boiling in honey water and baking around the clock. Buy them hot by the half dozen. [Website](https://stviateurbagel.com/pages/locations?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Fairmount Bagel** (Bagels · 74 Ave Fairmount O · Mile End): The older of the two: baking since 1919 and at this address since 1949. Same wood oven, sweeter and denser, and a longer list of seeds.
3. **Café Olimpico** (Espresso bar · Rue Saint-Viateur O · Mile End): An Italian bar from 1970 that never modernised and never had to. Espresso, cannoli, football on the television and a terrace all summer.
4. **Crew Collective & Café** (Cafe in a 1928 banking hall · Rue Saint-Jacques · Vieux-Montréal): The old Royal Bank banking hall, coffered ceilings and brass lamps, now a cafe with a co-working floor. The counter is genuinely good.
5. **Café Myriade** (Specialty coffee · several locations · Downtown and Plateau): The roaster that raised the city's coffee standard, now across several addresses. Plain rooms, careful espresso, filter worth ordering black.
6. **Hof Kelsten** (Bakery · Boulevard Saint-Laurent · Plateau Mont-Royal): A bakery on Saint-Laurent where the croissants and the babka are the argument and the challah sells out. Jewish baking through French technique.
7. **Pastel Rita** (Cafe and wine bar · Mile End · Mile End): Part cafe, part wine bar, part shop, on a Mile End corner. Coffee in the morning, natural wine by evening, and the shelves are for sale.

## Best bars & nightlife in Montréal

Six rooms, from a brewpub that started the province's craft habit to a cocktail bar behind a tailor's door.

1. **Cloakroom Bar** (Cocktails, no menu · 2175 Rue de la Montagne · Downtown): No menu and no sign: you sit at the counter behind a bespoke tailor, say what you like, and something gets built for you. The best bartending in the city. [Website](https://www.cloakroombarmtl.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Le Mal Nécessaire** (Tiki · 1015 Rue Saint-Alexandre · Chinatown): A green pineapple sign in Chinatown and a staircase down to a tiki bar that takes its rum seriously. Drinks arrive in fruit, which undersells them. [Website](https://lemalnecessaire.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Atwater Cocktail Club** (Cocktails · 512 Ave Atwater · Little Burgundy): Down an alley off Notre-Dame, dark and low-ceilinged, and on North America's 50 Best Bars list. Classic technique, a long list, and it fills after ten on weekends.
4. **Dieu du Ciel!** (Brewpub · 29 Ave Laurier O · Mile End): The brewpub that has been on Laurier since 1998 and taught Quebec to drink its own beer. Small, warm and full by nine. [Website](https://dieuduciel.com/en/montreal-brewpub/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Casa del Popolo** (Live music · Boulevard Saint-Laurent · Mile End): A vegetarian cafe by day and one of the city's longest-running independent music venues by night, with its sister room across the street.
6. **Big in Japan** (Cocktails · Boulevard Saint-Laurent · Plateau Mont-Royal): An unmarked door on Saint-Laurent opening into a long candlelit room. Japanese-leaning cocktails, and no music loud enough to stop a conversation.

## Best museums & galleries in Montréal

Six collections, two of them built over the ground they explain.

1. **Montreal Museum of Fine Arts** (Fine art · 1380 Sherbrooke St W · Golden Square Mile): Five pavilions and roughly 45,000 works, with the Quebec and Canadian collection the reason to give it a morning. [Website](https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Pointe-à-Callière** (Archaeology · 350 Place Royale · Vieux-Montréal): Archaeology and history on the founding site itself, with the excavation below street level as the permanent exhibition. [Website](https://pacmusee.qc.ca/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **McCord Stewart Museum** (Social history · 690 Sherbrooke St W · Downtown): Social history: photography, dress, Indigenous cultures and the Notman archive of nineteenth-century Montreal. Small enough for an afternoon. [Website](https://www.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal** (Contemporary art · Place Ville Marie · Downtown): Quebec contemporary art, currently in a temporary space while its building is rebuilt. Check what is on before you go. [Website](https://macm.org/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Biosphère** (Environment museum · Parc Jean-Drapeau · Île Sainte-Hélène): Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome, built as the United States pavilion for Expo 67 and now an environment museum. The structure is the exhibit. [Website](https://www.parcjeandrapeau.com/en/biosphere-environment-museum-montreal/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Château Ramezay** (Historic house · Rue Notre-Dame E · Vieux-Montréal): The 1705 governor's residence opposite city hall, and the first building in Quebec classified as a historic monument. Period rooms and a garden.

## Best neighborhoods in Montréal

Five quarters, and what each one is actually like to stay in.

1. **Vieux-Montréal** (Historic core · Ville-Marie): Stone warehouses, the basilica, the Old Port and most of the boutique hotels. Beautiful, busy, priced accordingly, and quiet after the day trippers leave.
2. **Plateau Mont-Royal** (Residential, restaurants, nightlife · Le Plateau): The postcard Montreal of spiral staircases and painted brick. Dense, walkable, and where most visitors wish they had stayed.
3. **Mile End** (Creative quarter · Le Plateau): North of the Plateau: bagel bakeries, Portuguese and Hasidic communities, record shops and studios. The best coffee radius in Montreal.
4. **Little Italy and Villeray** (Market, cafes, family streets · Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie): Jean-Talon Market at the centre, espresso bars on Saint-Laurent, and Villeray beside it, where locals move when the Plateau gets expensive.
5. **Griffintown and Little Burgundy** (Canal-side, restaurants · Le Sud-Ouest): The old industrial strip between downtown and the canal, rebuilt as towers with a restaurant row running through it.

## Best parks & outdoors in Montréal

Five places to spend a clear day, in any season.

1. **Mount Royal Park** (City park · 1260 Chemin Remembrance · Mount Royal): Olmsted's 1876 park, with the Kondiaronk belvedere over downtown, Beaver Lake behind the chalet and a dozen kilometres of trail. [Les amis de la montagne](https://www.lemontroyal.qc.ca/en/home?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Parc La Fontaine** (Neighbourhood park · Ave du Parc-La Fontaine · Le Plateau): The Plateau's back garden: two linked ponds, a bandstand, an outdoor theatre in summer and a skating loop in winter.
3. **Lachine Canal path** (Cycling and walking · 14.5 km · Le Sud-Ouest): A flat 14.5 kilometre route from the Old Port to Lachine along a historic site, with locks and open water at the far end. The best long ride here. [Tourisme Montréal](https://www.mtl.org/en/what-to-do/sport-activities/lachine-canal-multipurpose-path?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Parc Jean-Drapeau** (Island park · 1 Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve · Île Sainte-Hélène): Two river islands carrying the Biosphère, the Grand Prix circuit, a beach and the summer festival grounds. The track is open to cyclists off-race. [Parc Jean-Drapeau](https://www.parcjeandrapeau.com/en/circuit-gilles-villeneuve-multi-purpose-track-provelo-sports-training-montreal/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Parc Maisonneuve** (Large park · Rosemont · Rosemont): The open green beside the Botanical Garden, with cross-country ski tracks in winter and enough space to lose the crowds in summer.

## Best day trips in Montréal

Five trips, four of them under two hours from the island.

1. **Québec City** (About 2h30 by car or train · Capitale-Nationale): The walled upper town and the only fortified city north of Mexico, two and a half hours away and reachable by rail. Long as a day trip, better as an overnight.
2. **Mont-Tremblant** (About 1h30 by car · Laurentides): The Laurentians' main resort village, an hour and a half northwest, with skiing in winter and a gondola and trail network the rest of the year.
3. **Cantons-de-l'Est** (About 1h30 to 2h by car · Estrie): The Eastern Townships: vineyards, Lake Memphrémagog and an abbey about ninety minutes out. Best in late September when the maples turn.
4. **Ottawa** (About 2h by car or train · Ontario): The federal capital, roughly two hours west by rail. Parliament Hill, the National Gallery, and a canal that freezes into a skateway in deep winter. [VIA Rail](https://www.viarail.ca/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Mont Saint-Hilaire** (About 40 minutes by car · Montérégie): The closest of the Monteregian hills, forty minutes east, a UNESCO biosphere reserve with old-growth forest and a summit view over the orchards.

## Festivals & annual events in Montréal (2026)

- **Igloofest** (15 January to 7 February 2026): Electronic music outdoors on the Old Port quay, in whatever the weather is doing.
- **Montréal en Lumière and Nuit Blanche** (20 February to 7 March 2026): The winter festival of light, food and stage shows, with a Nuit Blanche that keeps venues open through the night.
- **Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix** (22 to 24 May 2026): Three days at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Hotel prices roughly double that weekend, so book months out or plan around it.
- **Les Francos de Montréal** (12 to 20 June 2026): The largest French-language music festival anywhere, with most of the stages outdoors and free in the Quartier des spectacles.
- **Festival International de Jazz de Montréal** (25 June to 4 July 2026): The biggest jazz festival in the world by attendance, ten days of it, with the outdoor stages downtown free.
- **Osheaga** (31 July to 2 August 2026): Three days of headline pop and rock at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Take the metro, because parking there effectively does not exist.
- **MUTEK** (25 to 30 August 2026): Electronic music and digital art across indoor and outdoor venues. The interesting festival if the summer bill is not for you.
- **Gardens of Light** (3 September to 1 November 2026): The Chinese, Japanese and First Nations gardens lit after dark, evenings only. Weekend slots sell out first.

## Must-try dishes in Montréal, Canada

- **Smoked meat sandwich**: Brisket cured for about ten days, smoked, steamed and piled on rye with mustard.
- **Montreal bagel**: Smaller, sweeter and denser than the New York kind: boiled in honey water, then baked in a wood oven.
- **Poutine**: Fries, fresh cheese curds and hot gravy, in that order, so the curds squeak and half melt.
- **Tourtière**: A double-crust meat pie of minced pork spiced with cinnamon and clove.
- **Pouding chômeur**: The Depression-era dessert: plain batter with hot maple syrup poured over before baking, so it separates.
- **Cretons**: A coarse pork and onion spread eaten cold on toast at breakfast. The most Québécois thing on any brunch table.
- **Tarte au sucre**: Sugar pie: brown sugar or maple syrup set with cream in a pastry shell.
- **Portuguese grilled chicken**: Brought by the Portuguese community around Saint-Laurent: charcoal-grilled with piri-piri, lemon and fries.

## Montréal transport & airports

- **Montréal-Trudeau International Airport** (YUL): The city's only passenger airport, about 20 km west of downtown. The 747 bus runs downtown around the clock, and the fare buys 24 hours of travel rather than a single ride. [Aéroports de Montréal](https://www.admtl.com/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) · [REM airport branch](https://rem.info/en/airport?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Metro and buses** (STM): Four metro lines, 68 stations and the buses that feed them. Day and weekend passes pay for themselves in three rides. It is the only sane way to move in January. [STM fares](https://www.stm.info/en/info/fares/transit-fares?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) · [ARTM](https://www.artm.quebec/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Trains and the REM** (Rail): VIA Rail runs from Gare Centrale to Ottawa in about two hours and Toronto in five, from a station directly under the office towers. The REM uses the same interchange. [VIA Rail](https://www.viarail.ca/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) · [REM](https://rem.info/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **BIXI bikes and taxis** (Local): The bike share runs around 12,600 bicycles at roughly 1,000 stations, with a smaller winter network. The protected lanes make it a genuine way to cross town. [BIXI Montréal](https://bixi.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Montréal at a glance

- **Country:** Canada
- **Region:** Québec · Île de Montréal, on the St. Lawrence River
- **Population:** 2,004,265 on the island (2021 census), 4,291,732 across the metropolitan area
- **Founded:** 17 May 1642 as Ville-Marie, by Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance
- **Nickname:** La ville aux cent clochers, the city of a hundred steeples
- **Language:** French is the official language of Québec; English is widely spoken downtown and in the west
- **Currency:** Canadian dollar (CAD)
- **Time zone:** UTC-5, UTC-4 on daylight saving
- **Calling code:** +1 514 and 438
- **Airports:** YUL
- **Power:** 120V · Type A & B
- **Emergency:** 911

## Interesting facts

- The RÉSO, the indoor network under downtown, runs about 33 kilometres and links metro stations, malls, universities and hotels.
- Mount Royal Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who had already laid out Central Park, and opened in 1876.
- The Montréal Tower leans at 45 degrees and stands 165 metres, the tallest inclined tower in the world.
- Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada, its dome reaches 97 metres, and it draws more than two million visitors a year.
- Montréal has been a UNESCO City of Design since 2006, one of the first cities named to the Creative Cities Network.

## Watch

[Montréal Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/montreal.md), 5:36

## Montréal travel FAQ

### How many days do you need in Montréal?

Three. One for Vieux-Montréal and the Old Port, one for Mount Royal, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Plateau, and one for the east end, the Botanical Garden and the Olympic tower. Two works if you skip the east end. Add a fourth if you want Québec City or the Eastern Townships as a day trip.

### Do you need to speak French in Montréal?

No. French is the official language of Québec and you will see it on every sign, but downtown, in Vieux-Montréal and in most restaurants and hotels you can be served in English without friction. Opening with bonjour and asking whether English is fine goes a long way, particularly outside the centre and in the east end.

### When is the best time to visit Montréal?

May and June, or September and October. Summer has the festivals and the terraces but also the crowds and the heat. January and February average below freezing with the deepest snow, which is either the reason to come or the reason not to: Igloofest is built for it, and the underground city makes the cold manageable.

### How do you get from the airport into the city?

The 747 bus runs between Montréal-Trudeau and downtown around the clock and costs CAD 11.25, which is a 24-hour pass for the whole Montreal zone rather than a single ride. A taxi or ride-hail takes 25 to 40 minutes depending on traffic. A REM light-rail branch to the airport is being tested and is expected to open at the end of 2027.

### Is Montréal expensive?

Less than Toronto or New York and more than most of Quebec. Budget roughly 150 to 270 Canadian dollars a day for a mid-range trip. The festivals with free outdoor stages, the mountain and the canal path cost nothing at all.

## Nearby guides

- [Toronto](https://wimup.com/city/toronto.md): Canada · 10 picks
- [New York City](https://wimup.com/city/new-york-city.md): United States · 10 picks
- [Charlottetown](https://wimup.com/city/charlottetown.md): Canada · 10 picks
- [All of North America →](https://wimup.com/north-america): 38 cities

Part of the [Canada guide](https://wimup.com/country/canada.md) · [North America](https://wimup.com/north-america.md)

## Sources

- [Montréal tourism board](https://www.mtl.org/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Vieux-Montréal and the Notre-Dame Basilica: Notre-Dame Basilica](https://www.basiliquenotredame.ca/en/hours-and-rates?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Mount Royal Park: Les amis de la montagne](https://www.lemontroyal.qc.ca/en/home?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts](https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/information/plan-your-visit/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Jean-Talon Market: Marchés publics de Montréal](https://www.marchespublics-mtl.com/en/markets/jean-talon-market?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal: Tourisme Montréal](https://www.mtl.org/en/what-to-do/culture-arts-heritage/saint-joseph-s-oratory-of-mount-royal?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Pointe-à-Callière: Pointe-à-Callière](https://pacmusee.qc.ca/en/plan-your-visit/hours-and-rates/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [The Montréal Tower at Olympic Park: Tourisme Montréal](https://www.mtl.org/en/experience/go-gold-montreal-olympic-park?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Montréal Botanical Garden: Espace pour la vie](https://espacepourlavie.ca/en/ticketing?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [The Lachine Canal by bike: Tourisme Montréal](https://www.mtl.org/en/what-to-do/sport-activities/lachine-canal-multipurpose-path?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Vin Mon Lapin (official site)](https://vinmonlapin.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Schwartz's Deli (official site)](https://schwartzsdeli.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [St-Viateur Bagel (official site)](https://stviateurbagel.com/pages/locations?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Cloakroom Bar (official site)](https://www.cloakroombarmtl.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Le Mal Nécessaire (official site)](https://lemalnecessaire.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Dieu du Ciel! (official site)](https://dieuduciel.com/en/montreal-brewpub/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (official site)](https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Pointe-à-Callière (official site)](https://pacmusee.qc.ca/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [McCord Stewart Museum (official site)](https://www.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (official site)](https://macm.org/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Biosphère (official site)](https://www.parcjeandrapeau.com/en/biosphere-environment-museum-montreal/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Parc Jean-Drapeau: Parc Jean-Drapeau](https://www.parcjeandrapeau.com/en/circuit-gilles-villeneuve-multi-purpose-track-provelo-sports-training-montreal/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Ottawa: VIA Rail](https://www.viarail.ca/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Montréal-Trudeau International Airport: Aéroports de Montréal](https://www.admtl.com/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Montréal-Trudeau International Airport: REM airport branch](https://rem.info/en/airport?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Metro and buses: STM fares](https://www.stm.info/en/info/fares/transit-fares?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Metro and buses: ARTM](https://www.artm.quebec/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Trains and the REM: REM](https://rem.info/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [BIXI bikes and taxis: BIXI Montréal](https://bixi.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.