Montreal Travel Guide

Montreal is a must-see destination for travel lovers. French and English influences combine to create a culturally rich, diverse city that we had a lot of fun exploring! In this article, we highlight unmissable spots, offer time-saving tips, and provide a full report on the restaurant scene.

Montreal: An Old City with Lots to See

Montreal, a city steeped in over 380 years of history, is a testament to the passage of time and the resilience of its people. The many sights, such as Old Montreal, the Notre-Dame Basilica, and St. Joseph’s Oratory, captivated us. As food enthusiasts, we were, of course, excited to discover Montreal’s vibrant culinary scene.

Fabulous Eating That Will Not Disappoint

As with all the cities we travel to, we couldn’t wait to explore all the good eats. And Montreal did not disappoint us! In fact, we made a whole post just on the great culinary scene. Check out Montreal—A Foodie’s Heaven for great info on where to eat in Montreal.

We tried to squeeze in some activities and see as much of the historic and artistic city as we could. The best part is that most of the tourist areas are not far from each other and we didn’t have to spend too much driving around in the car going to different places. Ready to tour Montreal? Let’s go!

Seeing Montreal from a Scooter

Even if you are like us and love to walk, there are scooter tours of Montreal that you will not want to pass up. Our children are just as excited as we are to explore new places—we often log over 15,000 steps a day when traveling—but I wanted to surprise them with something fun for this trip. I am so glad that I did!

To make the trip more memorable, I secretly booked a Montreal electric scooter tour with Goofy through Airbnb and surprised our children with the experience. They absolutely loved it and had a blast. Our host, Goofy, was a super cool guide, and our family had so much fun with him.

Goofy’s tour took us from Old Montreal along the canal to Marché Atwater and back to downtown. He purposely avoided the “touristy” part of Montreal and provided his guests with a more authentic local experience.

Besides the scenery, Goofy took us to check out BOTA spa. It’s an old boat converted into sauna and spa, which is ultra-cool.

Goofy’s tour is super fun and we highly recommend it. The minimum age is 6 years and above to ride the scooter and most of the time we were on the pedestrian paths so it was pretty safe.

Goofy’s tour is super fun, and we highly recommend it. The minimum age is 6 years and above to ride the scooter, and most of the time, we were on the pedestrian paths, so it was quite safe.

Day Two: Old Montreal Walking Tour

On our second day there, we booked another tour, The Old Montreal Walking Tour (East tour), through Airbnb. It was a two-hour walking tour through the Old Montreal neighborhood, which is steeped in colonial history. Montreal was founded by France and still retains much of that French colonial influence. This old-world influence is apparent in both the food and architecture—nowhere more so than in Old Montreal.

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal

The tour began at Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal, one of the city’s best-known landmarks. It is also famous for another reason: Celine Dion got married there!

To see the Basilica, you must take a tour. Musical concerts and other events are also hosted throughout the year. The interior of the Basilica was grand and beautiful.

The outer construction is in the English Gothic Revival style, while the stunning interior aligns more with the French Gothic Revival style. Thus, the two influences that form the city’s architecture are combined in one building.

The walking tour continued along St. Paul Street, and the guide explained the buildings we passed and their historical significance along the way.

St. Paul Street – Montreal

St. Paul Street is Montreal’s oldest street, and many parts of it are still covered in cobblestone. This is a popular area of Montreal for eating and enjoying the nightlife. And, of course, you can find the infamous dish of Quebec, poutine, on nearly every menu. If you have not heard of poutine, it is essentially french fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. Though you can find dozens of variations on this theme, Montrealers take poutine very seriously!

Another famous dish from Quebec is smoked meat. Montreal has its own version, and the most common way to prepare it is a Montreal smoked meat sandwich. Near the basilica, a deli and restaurant called Joe Beef is ubiquitous with Montreal smoked meat. The people of Montreal love smoked meat, and it is as common to see as the other staple of this city: Montreal bagels.

It was interesting to see this building being restored. They used scaffolding to maintain the historic front but built a completely new interior behind. St. Paul Street intersects with Place Jacques-Cartier, where Montreal City Hall and Chateau Ramezay are located.

Street musicians are also prominent in Montreal, especially in the city’s many parks. Montreal has generated many famous musicians, from Leonard Cohen to bands like Arcade Fire. Montreal is also famous for its Jazz festival.

When we visited, autumn was approaching, and the leaves had just started to change color. The splashes of yellows and reds throughout the plazas and neighborhoods made the area even more stunning. Many of the trees are, of course, Maple trees. The leaves from these trees make up the Canadian flag and provide the maple syrup that can be found everywhere in Quebec.

The tour ended at Marché Bonsecours near the Jacques-Cartier Pier.

The Top Spots in Old Montreal

So, would we recommend the walking tour? Not really. You can easily visit the Basilica and walk around Old Montreal by yourself. The guide’s explanation of the city’s history and buildings was helpful, but nothing that we wouldn’t be able to discover ourselves with a bit of web browsing. Here are a few more areas that the tour touched on:

• Vauquelin statue at Vauquelin Place
• Champ-de-MarsMontreal City Hall
• Château Ramezay

The tour ended at Marché Bonsecours near the Jacques-Cartier Pier. It didn’t help that a few members of the group decided to go rogue and kept straying, so our guide spent a lot of time just keeping track of whether everyone was still around. There are other tour options that you could explore, including one that takes in the ‘underground city’ below Montreal.

Mount Royal – Parc du Mont-Royal

Besides the tour, we visited a few parks by ourselves in search of foliage. Montreal is a pretty flat city, and it’s very easy to bike around (I’ll touch on this later in the post). The one exception to this is Mount Royal Park, which rises above the rest of the city. We started our day by Beaver Lake and then hiked up towards Mount Royal Chalet for a panoramic view of the city.

The view from Mount Royal Chalet is breathtaking. It offers scenic vistas along the mighty St. Lawrence River.

After taking in the view of the city, we head to the chalet. Inside is a coffee shop, restrooms, and small screens showing the history of Montreal.

Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal

Near the southwest side of Mount Royal is Saint Joseph’s Oratory. Built on top of the hill, it is Canada’s largest church. It is open to the public, and more than 2 million visitors and pilgrims visit the church each year. This stunning church is grand and majestic on both the outside and inside. The church and the neighborhood it sits in reflect the old-world charm we loved so much about Montreal.

We started our day by Beaver Lake and then hiked up towards Mount Royal Chalet for a panoramic view of the city.

The church was grand and majestic from both the outside and the inside.

Besides the outdoor staircase, there are also escalators inside the church for those with trouble walking.

As it’s a place of worship, we didn’t want to take too many pictures, but it’s a must-see when you’re in Montreal.

We met up with a JOC reader at Saint Joseph’s Oratory. Jessica was so kind as to gift us probiotics from her company. Thank you, Jessica!

Park La Fontaine

On the first day in Montreal, we stopped by Parc La Fontaine, but unfortunately, most of the leaves hadn’t quite changed colors yet.

It’s a beautiful park great for strolling around in the city.

Montreal Airport & Rental Car

In case you are wondering how we got around, we rented a car from the airport. The rental car is located right at the airport, just a few minutes’ walk from the terminal. The Montreal Airport was clean and updated.

BIXI Montréal rental station

If you prefer not to have a rental car in Montreal, that is fine, too. It’s one of the most bike-friendly cities we’ve visited and there are public bike rental stations all over. It costs just CAD$5 per 30-minute increments to rent a bike. If you go over 30 minutes, there’s a slight surcharge, but not much. You don’t need to worry if you stay within 30 minutes.

I had some trouble with my US credit card trying to rent from the machine, so I ended up installing the app and renting the bike through the app. Before you grab your bike (by simply entering the code), test to ensure the tire is not flat! Public transportation is also very easy in Montreal, with metro stations dotting the city and many conveniently located bus stops.

Airbnb in Montreal

During our visit, we stayed at an Airbnb located at Mile End. The staff and host of our Airbnb are by far the best we have encountered, and they went out of their way to make sure our stay was nothing short of amazing. From the communication to the cleanliness of the apartment, we had a wonderful experience. Our daughter had left some stuff behind, and they even mailed it to us. Here is the listing if you are interested.

The host owned the entire building and there are 5 units, the apartments are fairly new and very well-maintained. There is free parking in the back of the building.

Public Parking in Montreal

Public parking is available all over Montreal, and the hourly price depends on the location. It’s usually around CAD$1 per hour but much more expensive when you are in Old Montreal. Each spot usually has a signpost telling you the spot number; in the example below, it’s PE367. When you reach the machine (there is an English language button), enter your spot number and pay. You can also pay via an app. I took advantage of the app when our meter expired while we were still in the middle of eating.

Art and Culture in Montreal

With its rich history, Montreal has so much to offer culturally for visitors to absorb. Art is displayed all over the city, and you see it everywhere as you are walking around. There are several art museums, a history museum, and many more sites. We did not have time to see them all in our short visit.

During our stay, there was construction everywhere, including roads, condos, and buildings. We felt a real sense of revival and growth in the city.

We had an amazing time visiting Montreal and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a quick three-day trip to unwind and eat great food. Of course, Montreal would also make a great spot for a longer stay. We did not get to see sights like the famous Jean-Talon Market, and parks like Parc Jean-Drapeau require a longer stop. I guess another trip will be in the future!

We hope you enjoy our short Montreal Travel Guide. Don’t forget to check out what and where we ate!