Destinations
Trip Planner: A Must-Do List For Your First Trip to Montréal
From charming neighbourhood strolls and exploring world-class museums to shopping and dining, here’s your ultimate must-do list for a first-time visit to the charming city of Montréal.
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Montréal is a city with a unique blend of European charm and North American spirit. This multicultural metropolis offers a mix of culture, history and gastronomy and an array of must-do activities for first time visitors.
Walk through history
No visit to Montréal is complete without a stroll around Old Montréal’s cobblestone streets. Admire the historic architecture, visit some of the small boutiques, catch an exhibit at the Phi Centre, and bask in the splendor of the Notre-Dame Basilica.
Climb the mountain
Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (creator of New York’s Central Park), the Mount Royal Park is Montréal’s green lung. Head there for a stroll around Beaver Lake, to bike the trails, or to hike up to the Chalet and the Kondiaronk for the best views of the city and the St. Lawrence River beyond. In winter, enjoy ice skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing or tobogganing.
Shop and museum hop
Downtown Montréal is the ideal destination for a shopping spree in the boutiques lining up Sainte Catherine Street or around the famed underground city, a pedestrian network linking metro stations and shopping malls such as the Eaton Centre or Place Ville-Marie. Art lovers should check out some of the downtown museums such as the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts or the MAC (Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal).
Explore the Mile End
One of Canada’s trendiest neighbourhoods, Mile End is the hotbed of Montréal’s vibrant art and music scenes and home to many independent boutiques and bookstores such as Drawn and Quarterly. Hang out at Café Olimpico, an old school coffee shop ideal for people watching, or grab dinner at Lawrence, a tiny eatery featuring local ingredients. While you’re in the neighbourhood, you can join the city’s most heated debate: which of Montréal’s two famous bagel shops is the best? St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel are only a couple of blocks apart.
Eat and drink
With one of the highest number of restaurants per capita in North America, Montréal’s incredibly diverse dining scene is reason enough to visit. Start your day with a coffee and croissant from Hof Kelsten, an independent café and bakery. For lunch, sample a Montréal-style smoked meat sandwich at Schwart's Deli or a Wilensky special.
You’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to dinner with so many restaurants vying for attention, from Canada’s 100 Best’s number one restaurant Mon Lapin to other great options such as Beba, Candide, Bar St-Denis, Hoogan et Beaufort, Juliette Plaza, Restaurant Gus, and so many more.
Cap your evening at the Atwater Cocktail Club or El Pequeño Bar, two of the city’s award-winning establishments. And don’t forget to visit the Jean Talon Market, one of the largest open-air farmers markets in North America in operation since 1933.
Mayssam Samaha
Contributor
Mayssam Samaha is a food and travel writer and the founder of the Will Travel for Food blog. She travels the world in search of the next culinary discovery. From Iceland to South Africa, she’s already visited over 36 countries and there’s nothing she enjoys more than wandering around a farmers’ market in a foreign city.
