Things to Do in Montreal

Located just south of artsy, boho-chic Plateau Mont-Royal, the Latin Quarter has been a center of student life since the 18th century. Now home to one of the largest universities in the country, its name doesn’t exactly come as a surprise; the neighborhood is filled with students, bookstores and inexpensive cafés with exceptional people watching opportunities. It is known for its many theatres, artistic atmosphere, lively restaurants, microbreweries and whisky bars, as well as independently-owned boutiques.

The best thing about the Latin Quarter is undeniably its eclectic crowd and its joie de vivre: both the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy, the local and the ethnic, the artistic and the intellectual mingle on the streets, be it during a summer festival or while queuing to get hot chocolate. Definitely a multi-layer neighborhood if there ever was one! One of the main attraction of the area, outside its buzzing nightlife, is the Grande bibliothèque du Québec.

Nestled in the heart of historic Old-Montreal, Place d’Armes is the second oldest public site in Montreal. The Sulpicians, who played a major role in the founding of the city and built the still-existing Saint-Sulpice Seminary on the southern side of the square, called it Place de la Fabrique as it was used as a hay and wood market. The name was, however, changed to Place d’Armes in 1721 when it became the stage of various military events.

Place d’Armes more or less kept it actual size and allure since the completion of Notre-Dame Basilica in 1830, with the notable exception that it is now flanked by the city’s first high rise buildings -representing major periods of Montreal's development- the New York Life Insurance Building as well as the Art deco gem and Empire State Building lookalike Aldred Building.

Stretching from the Rue Notre-Dame in the north to the Old Port in the south, Jacques Cartier Place (Place Jacques Cartier) is the famed cobbled square at the heart of Vieux Montréal. In this lively carnival, you can watch lively street performers, have your portrait painted, or watch the unfolding pageant of colorful people.

Under Nelson’s Column, a popular market sells arts, crafts, flowers, and souvenirs. You can see all the action from a table in one of the inviting street cafés that line the square. Sip a glass of beer or wine and soak up the atmosphere, relax and let the afternoon go by, enjoy people-watching at its best. Afterward, you can stroll down the slope toward the Old Port, while marveling at the opulent 19th century townhouses and mansions.

What would a visit to Montreal be without spending some time in gourmet Little Italy? Montreal is nothing if not about food and history, and few other places than Little Italy can boast having these two – in spades. With some cafés having been opened for 100 years (a rarity on this side of the pond) and the presence of the world-class Jean-Talon Market (North America’s largest open-air market and one of the top tourist attractions in the city), Montreal’s Little Italy is not to be missed.

Although only a handful of Italians families have been calling Montreal home since the 17th century, it wasn’t until the early 1900s that the population of Italian descent really started to form a community. Unbeknownst to them, this camaraderie would not only end up being beneficial to Montreal’s industrialization, but also act as the perfect family reunification pretext for 15,000 of devastated families struck by Italy’s infamous implication in World War II.

While technically a borough of Montreal, le Plateau Mont-Royal cannot be defined by geographical zones. Le Plateau is a lifestyle, a mindset, a way of seeing beauty in everything and appreciating the smallest of things. It’s having al fresco lunch in centennial parks, it’s hopping from one indie coffee shop to another, it’s shopping at the plethora of local designer boutiques, it’s getting a table at the newest French bistro or Japanese izakaya. It’s the place to be. This once working class-only neighborhood evolved into grooviest and most sought-after scene in Montréal.

Filled with hipsters on the eastern side and young, hip families on the western side, le Plateau is basically Montreal in a nutshell. It is where the iconic, colorful staircases of Montreal are found, in the charming and narrow tree-lined streets perpendicular to Mont-Royal Avenue, the main thoroughfare.

Montreal’s Underground City (Montréal Souterrain) is the largest underground complex in the world. A labyrinthine maze of downtown tunnels connecting malls and hotels, offices, museums, banks, universities, and seven metro stations, the complex holds its own during the cold Canadian winter months, when over half a million use the space every day. There are 120 access points to Underground City, and with 80% of downtown Montreal’s office and commercial space connected via over 20 miles of tunnels spread over 4.6 square miles, as an urban planning achievement it’s impressive.

You can get maps of Underground City for free from all of the metro stations, and you might need one. This place is huge and practically a city in itself with some 5,000 stores, restaurants, boutiques, theaters, and connections to everything from a church to a hockey and ice skating museum.

Few people knew of Ville-Marie yet everyone has been; it’s the technical name for Montreal’s downtown area, and one of the most vibrant places in the world. It encompasses Old-Montreal, downtown Montreal, the Latin Quarter, the Gay Village, most of Mount Royal Park and the islands on the St. Lawrence River – indeed, it covers quite a lot of ground! It is therefore one of the most visited areas in North America, and one of the most densely populated too.

Attraction-wise, Ville-Marie isn’t a bore. Three of the four Montreal universities are located within its boundaries, as well as the notable district of Old-Montreal (and its historic museums, chapels and quaint squares), the lively Gay Village and its drag-queen bars, the business and high street shopping oriented downtown core area and, of course, the luxuriant Mount Royal and its unobstructed view of the neighborhood.

Often regarded as one of the fanciest and most expensive areas in Montreal, Outremont has only recently started to be on the tourist map. Understandably so – with its elegant avenues and stately manors, it’s no wonder more and more visitors are drawn to it. The name Outremont actually comes from a pun with the French wording for ‘over the mountain,’ seeing as most Montrealers resided south of the Mount Royal at the time. The three main thoroughfares are Bernard Avenue, Van Horne Avenue, and Laurier Avenue, which are filled with upscale shops, trendy cafés and chic French bistros that even locals consider a treat. The district also includes Mount-Royal cemetery (resting place of many major Canadian figures), which is popular with runners thanks to its giant leafy trees and soothing atmosphere.