Montreal in September
 

My husband and I are travelling to Montreal next month in September for 5 days.. Would love ideas are where to stay and what to do. Will have a car so day trips are good.
Just a few museums. Are there any free walking tours with guides? Restaurants. What should try?

wow - big questions!
Montreal 101: the 3 major neighborhoods of interest - Old Montreal - very picturesque, lots to see on the waterfront. Many restaurants, lots of tourists. Several boutique type hotels
Downtown - department stores, skyscrapers, McGill campus. Busy during the day, somewhat quieter at night except for Crescent st. Lots of large chain hotels.
Plateau/mile End - More residential, more French & ethnic. Lots of small restaurants (many BYOB), cafes, funky shops, parks. Several small hotels and b&b's.
Things to see - Notre Dame basillica, waterfront promenade, botanical gardens, fine arts museum, Jean Talon market, bike trails, strolling the old city and interesting neighborhoods on the plateau.
There are hundreds of good restaurants all over the city. Restomontreal is a good web site to explore. I prefer the casual BYOB places on the Plateau, but there are so many options.
You won't need a car to get around- public transportation, bicycles and by foot are great options.
I believe there are free guided tours, never done one. Get a copy of the free 'Montreal Visitor's Guide' which lays out several interesting neighborhood walks, also lots of info on neighborhoods, museums, etc. This book is worth it's weight in gold. You can order one at the Quebecoriginal web site.

You can get a lot of good tourist information at this website
https://www.mtl.org/en
More details on the different neighborhoods described in zootsi's post plus others is under Explore, here
https://www.mtl.org/en/deals/sweet-deal
Some hotels offer special deals through the website and it is worth checking these out
https://www.mtl.org/en/deals/sweet-deal

For museums, I'd recommend the Fine Arts museum and the Archaeology museum in Old Montreal https://pacmusee.qc.ca/en/
There are lots of other good ones depending on your interests

"I prefer the casual BYOB places on the Plateau"

Have you been to the Indian restaurant Atma? Looks good. Thanks.

https://www.fodors.com/world/north-a...uebec/montreal

A useful site for restaurants is https://www.restomontreal.ca/?lang=en which sorts places by location, style of cuisine, and even whether you can bring your own wine at no charge. It includes some reader feedback.

I have posted lots of advice on Montreal over the years. Why should I start over? Your part of the deal is to go to the Destinations menu at the top of this page, click your way to Montreal and start reading through its piles of ideas and suggestions. If you come back with more specific questions I will do my best to help.