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Sightseeing Overview
Montreal’s highest point and most recognizable landmark is Mont Royal (Mount Royal), a landscaped park with several kilometers of jogging and skiing tracks and lookout points offering dramatic views of the city and the St Lawrence River. On its southern slope, the high-rises and modern shopping malls of downtown Montreal are interspersed with older buildings, interesting museums and notable churches. Underlying this is the Underground City, an ever-growing complex of underground pedestrian passageways connecting the métro, major hotels, shopping malls, offices and restaurants.

The first destination for most visitors is Old Montreal, with its spectacular collection of historic buildings, inviting public spaces and the riverside promenades of the adjacent Old Port. The islands opposite were the site for the Expo 67 World Fair and still offer abundant recreational opportunities under the name Parc Jean-Drapeau. The city’s other main attractions are the complex of buildings left over from the 1976 Olympics and the nearby Botanical Garden.

What really makes Montreal unique, though, are its neighborhoods. The Plateau Mont-Royal is an urban village surrounding boulevard St-Laurent (‘the Main’), and it was the first place immigrants stopped when arriving in Montreal. The Jewish, East European and Portuguese residents have been joined or displaced by students and, most recently, yuppies. But the place has an undeniable energy. Further north, Little Italy’s cafés and restaurants surround the Jean-Talon Market. Chinatown lies at the south end of boulevard St-Laurent, adjacent to Downtown and Old Montreal.

In 2006 Montreal became the third city in the world (after Buenos Aires and Berlin) to be designated a city of design by UNESCO, and possibly the best place to experience contemporary urban design and architecture in Montreal is the impressive new Quartier international, which links the downtown business core to the Old Montréal/Old Port area.

Note that many attractions that are normally closed Mondays are open on holiday Mondays.

Tourist Information
Center Infotouriste
1001 rue du Square-Dorchester (near rue Peel and rue Ste-Catherine West)
Tel: (514) 873 2015 or 1 877 266 5687/BONJOUR.
Website: www.bonjourquebec.com
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1800 (early Sep-mid Jun); daily 0830-1930 (mid Jun-early Sep).

The Center Infotouriste provides information on the whole of the province (including Montreal), and shares its location with bureaux de change, tour operators and car hire and travel agencies.

Tourist Information Center of Old Montreal (Tourisme Montréal)
174 rue Notre-Dame East (corner of place Jacques-Cartier)
Website: www.tourism-montreal.org
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1700 (Apr-early Jun and early Sep-Oct); daily 0900-1900 (early Jun-early Sep); Wed-Sun 0900-1700 (Nov-Mar).

Tourisme Montréal provides information on the city of Montreal only.


Passes
The Montreal Museums Pass allows visitors free admission to 32 museums and attractions in the city for three consecutive days. These are available with or without public transport from both tourist offices and participating museums. The Get an Eyeful package provides free admission to the Olympic Park Tower Observatory, the Botanical Garden and Insectarium and the Biodôme – none of which are covered by the Museums Pass.

Key Attractions:

Vieux-Montréal (Old Montreal)
Located near the St Lawrence River, Old Montreal (website: www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca) is the site of the original fortified city. The buildings and streets date from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries and have been carefully restored. The area is filled, throughout the summer, with tourists who come to stroll along the cobblestone streets, visit the boutiques and restaurants or simply soak up the joie de vivre among the street entertainers and pavement cafés in the former marketplace of place Jacques-Cartier. A tour on a horse-drawn calèche makes for an especially romantic way to see the sights.

The gothic-revival Basilique Notre-Dame was built in the 1820s; the cathedral’s twin towers are a landmark of Old Montreal. To the east, the silver-domed neo-classical Marché Bonsecours reprises its former role as a marketplace, with galleries, boutiques and exhibitions. Next door, the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours is the city’s oldest church; it contains original Édouard Meloche frescoes and has a small museum devoted to the life of Marguerite Bourgeoys (Canada’s first saint). The tower affords excellent views of the port and surrounding streets.

In the western end of Old Montreal, Pointe-à-Callière, Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History, tells the story of Montreal from its earliest days – with high-tech displays in the stunningly modern Eperon Building, and archaeological remains in the portions of the museum below place Royale (including the city’s original sewers) and under the renovated Old Customs House.

Basilique Notre-Dame
110 rue Notre-Dame West, off place d’Armes
Tel: (514) 842 2925 or 1 866 842 2925.
Website: www.basiliquenddm.org
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1630, Sat 0800-1615, Sun 1230-1615.
Admission charge.

Marché Bonsecours
350 rue St-Paul East
Tel: (514) 872 7730.
Website: www.marchebonsecours.qc.ca
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1800 (Jan-Mar); Sun-Wed 1000-1800, Thu and Fri 1000-2100, Sat 1000-1800 (Apr-late Jun); Daily 1000-2100 (late Jun-early Sep); Sun-Wed 100-1800, Thu-Sat 100-2100 (Sep-Oct); Sun-Wed 1000-1800, Thu and Fri 1000-2100, Sat 1000-1800 (Nov-Dec). Exhibitions may have shorter hours.
Free admission.

Chapelle de Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours
400 rue St-Paul East
Tel: (514) 282 8670.
Website: www.marguerite-bourgeoys.com
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1100-1530 (Nov-mid Jan and Mar-Apr); Tue-Sun 1000-1730 (May-Oct).
Admission charge.

Pointe-à-Callière
350 place Royale
Tel: (514) 872 9150.
Website: www.pacmuseum.qc.ca
Opening hours: Tue-Fri 1000-1700, Sat and Sun 1100-1700 (early Sep-late Jun); Mon-Fri 1000-1800, Sat and Sun 1100-1800 (late Jun-early Sep).
Admission charge.

Vieux-Port (Old Port)
The Old Port (tel: (514) 496 7678; website: www.oldportofmontreal.com) was once one of the most important trading ports in North America. With most shipping activity now taking place downriver, this area has been transformed into an excellent recreation and exhibition area, filled with walkers, cyclists and rollerbladers on the riverside promenades between the Clock Tower and the locks at Parc des Écluses. The Montreal Science Center, on King Edward Pier, is a science and entertainment center geared towards kids, with the Immersion Movie Game (interactive video game on a giant screen) and an IMAX cinema.

Montreal Science Center
Quai King Edward, 2 rue de la Commune
Tel: (514) 496 4724 or 1 877 496 4724.
Website: www.montrealsciencecenter.com
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0930-1700, Sat and Sun 1000-1700, IMAX daily until 2200.
Admission charge.

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal (Montreal Museum of Fine Arts)
The permanent collection at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is split between the original beaux-arts building, which houses Canadian, Inuit and First Nations art, as well as decorative arts; and the postmodern structure opposite (designed by Moshe Safdie) where European masters, prints and drawings and decorative arts are exhibited. In the tunnel connecting the pavilions are galleries showcasing contemporary Canadian artists and a small collection from ancient cultures. In 2000, the museum received the Liliane and David M Stewart Collection as a gift, comprising some 5,000 items of decorative art dating from the end of the 1930s onwards. The whole collection of the former Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, one of the most important in North America, thus entered the museum. The museum also has a reputation for hosting outstanding temporary exhibitions.

1379-1380 rue Sherbrooke West
Tel: (514) 285 2000 or 1 800 899 6873.
Website: www.mmfa.qc.ca
Opening hours: Tue 1100-1700; Wed-Fri 1100-2100; Sat-Sun 1000-1700.
Free admission (permanent exhibition); charge (temporary exhibitions; half-price Wed 1500-2100).

Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal (Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art)
Adjoining the plaza at the place des Arts, the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Arts is Canada’s only museum devoted exclusively to contemporary art. The museum’s permanent collection is on display in one wing, on a rotating basis – the collection of works by Québécois artists, such as Jean-Paul Riopelle and Paul-Emile Borduas, whose expressive canvases typify the Automatistes of the mid-20th century, is particularly strong. The other wing features temporary exhibitions focusing on one or more artists. A small sculpture garden makes for a quiet retreat.

185 rue Ste-Catherine West
Tel: (514) 847 6226.
Website: www.macm.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1100-1800 (until 2100 Wed).
Admission charge (free Wed 1800-2100).

Oratoire St-Joseph (St Joseph’s Oratory)
St Joseph’s Oratory can be found on the northwest side of Mount Royal. This magnificent basilica was begun in 1924 by Brother André, a celebrated healer, and completed in 1967, after his death. The 97m (318ft) high dome is one of the largest in the world and there is room for 10,000 worshippers beneath it. The votive chapel and crypt are worth investigating and there is a good view over the city from the terrace.

3800 chemin Queen-Mary
Tel: (514) 733 8211.
Website: www.saint-joseph.org
Opening hours: Daily 0700-1900 (until 2200 when there is an evening service). Hours for individual parts of the complex vary.
Free admission.

Parc Olympique (Olympic Park)
The Olympic Park was the site of the 1976 Olympic Games. The unique and costly (over C$1 billion) Olympic Stadium is now the venue for concerts and features a sports center with four large swimming pools. Half-hour guided tours are available and visitors can also take a funicular (cable car) ride up the world’s tallest inclined tower (175m/575ft). Nearby, the former velodrome is now a major and extremely popular attraction – the Biodôme de Montréal is a recreation of four ecosystems under one roof. Visitors can move from a tropical rainforest to a polar world, with stops in a Laurentian forest and St Lawrence marine environment en route.

Parc Olympique
4141 avenue Pierre de Coubertin
Tel: (514) 252 4737 or 1 877 997 0919.
Website: www.rio.gouv.qc.ca
Opening hours: Funicular: daily 0900-1700 (until 1900 mid-Jun-early Sep). Closed early Jan-mid-Feb.
Admission charge.

Biodôme de Montréal
4777 avenue Pierre de Coubertin
Tel: (514) 868 3000.
Website: www.biodome.qc.ca
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 0900-1700 (early Sep-late Jun); daily 0900-1800 (late Jun-early Sep).
Admission charge.

Jardin Botanique de Montréal (Montreal Botanical Garden)
The Montreal Botanical Garden, opposite the Olympic Stadium, covers 73 hectares (180 acres) and includes a Chinese garden, Japanese garden and the Tree House, which displays information on Quebec’s forests. The installation of the First Nations Garden in 2001 marked the tercentenary of the Great Peace of Montreal. Also in the grounds is the Insectarium, full of crawling and flying creatures.

4581 rue Sherbrooke East
Tel: (514) 872 1400.
Website: www.ville.montreal.qc.ca/jardin or www.ville.montreal.qc.ca/insectarium
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1700 (Jan-mid May and Nov-Dec); daily 0900-1600 (mid May-early Sep); daily 0900-2100 (early Sep-Oct).
Admission charge.

Center Canadien d’Architecture (CCA)
The Canadian Center for Architecture should be seen as much for its own architecture as for the fascinating temporary exhibitions on buildings, architects and architectural movements inside. Peter Rose designed the modern building, whose austere limestone façade contrasts with the adjoining Shaughnessy House typical of the residences of Montreal’s wealthy elite at the turn of the century. The area behind the museum is the CCA sculpture garden, designed by Melvin Charney.

1920 rue Baile
Tel: (514) 939 7026.
Website: www.cca.qc.ca
Opening hours: Wed-Sun 1000-1700; Thu until 2100.
Admission charge (free Thu after 1730); garden free.

Further Distractions:

Parc Jean-Drapeau
Montreal’s largest park (tel: (514) 872 6120; website: www.parcjeandrapeau.com) comprises two islands (Ile Ste-Hélène and Ile Notre-Dame) and was the site of the city’s monumental Expo 67 World Fair. Today, the islands are a great spot for exploring on foot, bicycle or rollerblades. Ile Notre-Dame draws motor-sports fans for the Grand Prix every June and is home to the Casino de Montréal (see Nightlife).

Half of Ile Ste-Hélène is taken up by La Ronde amusement park. Elsewhere on the island is the Stewart Museum, located in Montreal’s only fort. It recalls the region’s martial history with costumed guides and re-enactments. Nearby, the geodesic dome that was the American pavilion for Expo 67 now contains the Biosphère – a museum devoted to educating the public about major issues associated with water in general and the ecology of the St Lawrence River in particular.

La Ronde
Tel: (514) 397 2000.
Website: www.laronde.com
Admission charge (closed in winter).

Stewart Museum
Tel: (514) 861 6701.
Website: www.stewart-museum.org
Admission charge.

Biosphère
Tel: (514) 283 5000.
Website: http://biosphere.ec.gc.ca
Admission charge.

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