Where to stay

Bienvenue à Montréal!

If it’s your first time visiting Montréal youre in for a treat. Its a truly wonderful city that is very unique within North America for its distinctive culture and historical atmosphere compared to many other big cities in Canada and the USA.

Known for having art and culture at it’s heart, the city is filled with interesting cultural activities and spaces. Montréal also boasts - in our humble opinion - an absolutely phenomenal food scene and one of the highest concentrations of great places to eat of anywhere this side of the Atlantic. That counts for Poutine, too.

The city is a big size by Canadian standards but is still easy to get around, and the different neighbourhoods feel well connected to each other. The Metro system works great and is clean and safe and we definitely recommend taking advantage of it. Driving in Montréal is a wild journey into your inner self: construction everywhere, all the time, completely insane and unpredictable drivers and potholes, potholes, potholes. Unless you plan to travel outside of the city, I wouldn’t bother with a car.

Quebec is a french speaking province, and the vast majority of people in Montréal are French speakers, however Montréalers are famously bilingual, switching between languages effortlessly. If you don’t speak French, don’t worry, it is very unlikely that the person you are interacting with is unable to also speak English.

Pointe St Charles

Our hood! We love PSC for its slower small-town-within-the-city vibe, pretty streets and location along the lovely Lachine canal. Its an up-an-coming area with quite a lot of development happening, which has brought with it nice cafés and restaurants and things to do, whilst still retaining its community vibe. There are many AirBnBs tucked away around here and we would definitely recommend it as an area to stay if you want to avoid the busier areas and want to feel more like a local.

Old Port

The city’s historic area, with narrow cobbled streets and architecture that feels much more like Europe than North America. While definitely a tourist destination, it’s a fun place to visit and would make for a lovely place to stay. It is also where the famous Basilica Notre Dame is.

Le Plateau

We always call this “postcard Montréal”. Hip, vibrant and packed with cool cafés, restaurants and shops, the Plateau is the place to be. Wander the lovely side streets to see colorful houses and the distinctive Montréal quirk of having the staircases to the different apartments on the outside of the building (it’s to save space inside, apparently). This is where we recommend people to both stay and hang out when they’re coming to the city.

Mile End & Little Italy

Next to Le Plateau, this is the epicentre of cool in Montréal. Continuing the vibes of Le Plateau but with a bit more of an off-the-beaten-path vibe. Home to the famous St-Viateur and Fairmount bagel bakeries (try both and decide which side of the rivalry you consider the winner)

St Henri

Voted one of the coolest places in Canada, St Henri is situated on the other side of the canal from our home in Pointe St Charles. Think peaceful parks, hip young families and good restaurants. A great option to stay in if you’re after that “live like a local” feeling from your visit.

Little Burgundy & Griffintown

On the bougie end of things, with tons of new glass condo buildings springing up all the time. Both are nice areas with cool places to eat, drink or hang out.

Downtown

Downtown Montréal is nothing much to write home about and has all of the things you expect from a big urban centre. It is very much in the middle of the city however and would be a good base for being able to experience much of Montréal.