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Sights Overview

Montréal and the island on which it stands both take their name from Mont-Royal, a stubby plug of tree-covered igneous rock that rises high above the surrounding cityscape. Although its height is unimpressive, "the mountain" forms one of Canada's finest urban parks, and its summit offers visitors a grand overview of what North America's only French-speaking metropolis has to offer. The views of the city from the Chalet du Mont-Royal in the Parc du Mont-Royal provide an excellent orientation to the city's layout and major landmarks.

Vieux-Montréal, the city's cultural center, holds museums, the municipal government, and the beautiful Basilique Notre-Dame-de-Montréal within its network of narrow, cobbled streets. Although Montréal's centre-ville, or downtown, bustles like many major metropolises on the surface, it is unusually active below street level as well. The trendy neighborhoods of the Quartier Latin Plateau Mont-Royal Mile-End, the Village, Westmount, and Outremont are abuzz with restaurants, nightclubs, art galleries, and cafés. The greener areas of town are composed of the Parc du Mont-Royal and the Jardin Botanique, where you can walk, bike, or take a horse-drawn carriage ride through miles of paths.

The best way to see Montréal is to walk and take public transportation. Streets, subways (Métro), and bus lines are clearly marked. The city is divided by a grid of streets roughly aligned east-west and north-south. North-south street numbers begin at the St. Lawrence River and increase as you head north; east-west street numbers begin at boulevard St-Laurent, which divides Montréal into east and west halves.