16 Best Sights in Old Montreal (Vieux-Montreal), Montreal

Few churches in North America are as wow-inducing as Notre-Dame. Everything about the Gothic Revival–style church, which opened in 1829, seems designed to make you gasp—from the 228-foot twin towers out front to the tens of thousands of 24-karat gold stars that stud the soaring blue ceiling.

Nothing in a city renowned for churches matches Notre-Dame for sheer grandeur—or noisemaking capacity: its 12-ton brass bell is the largest in North America, and its 7,000-pipe Casavant organ can make the walls tremble. The pulpit is a work of art in itself, with an intricately curving staircase and fierce figures of Ezekiel and Jeremiah crouching at its base. The whole place is so overwhelming it's easy to miss such lesser features as the stained-glass windows from Limoges and the side altars dedicated to St. Marguerite d'Youville, Canada's first native-born saint; St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, Canada's first schoolteacher; and a group of Sulpician priests martyred in Paris during the French Revolution.

For a peek at the magnificent baptistery, decorated with frescoes by Ozias Leduc, you'll have to tiptoe through the glassed-off prayer room in the northwest corner of the church. Every year dozens of brides—including Céline Dion, in 1994—march up the aisle of Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur (Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Chapel), behind the main altar, to exchange vows with their grooms before a huge modern bronze sculpture that you either love or hate.

Notre-Dame is an active house of worship, so dress accordingly. The chapel can't be viewed weekdays during the 12:15 pm mass, and is often closed Saturday for weddings. Don't miss the 45-minute multimedia spectacle, Aura, which celebrates the basilica's exquisite features through light and sound. See website for schedule ( www.aurabasiliquemontreal.com/en).  The basilica has been under major restoration since 2020 and is not expected to be complete until 2040. Be prepared to see scaffolding at the very least.

A modern glass edifice built on the site of Montréal's first European settlement, the PAC impresses. The museum presents new local and international temporary exhibitions each year, but the real reason to visit the city's most ambitious archaeological museum is to take the elevator ride down to the 17th century.

It's dark down there, and just a little creepy thanks to the 350-year-old tombstones teetering in the gloom, but it's worth the trip. This is a serious archaeological dig that takes you to the very foundations of the city. A more lighthearted exhibit explores life and love in multicultural Montréal. For a spectacular view of the Old Port, the St. Lawrence River, and the Islands, ride the elevator to the top of the tower, or stop for lunch in the museum's glass-fronted bistro. In summer there are re-creations of period fairs and festivals on the grounds near the museum.

The Fort Ville-Marie pavilion showcases the remains of the forts and artifacts from the first Montrealers. The 360-foot underground William collector sewer, North America's first collector sewer built in the 1830s and considered a masterpiece of civil engineering at the time, connects the original museum space with the new pavilion and features a sound-and-light show projected onto the walls of the collector sewer.

You—or more likely, your kids—can design an energy-efficient bike, create a television news report, explore the impact that manufacturing one T-shirt has on the environment, find out what it's like to ride a unicycle 20 feet above the ground, create an animated film, or just watch an IMAX movie on a giant screen at Montréal's interactive science center. Games, puzzles, and hands-on experiments make it an ideal place for rainy days or even fair ones. The center has a cafe/bistro serving coffee, pastries and light meals and a lunch room where visitors can eat food they brought with them, though there are no microwaves.

Currently housed in three heritage buildings, all within minutes of each other, this nonprofit organization aims to showcase compelling contemporary art from around the world. The foundation presents two to three major exhibitions a year in addition to a series of public events, special collaborative projects, and a forward-thinking education program. A free app takes you through the exhibits, and podcasts provide a fascinating look at the artists themselves. Check the website or call before you visit as the Fondation PHI closes regularly for installations. PHI is to have a new space in 2028, called PHI Contemporain, consolidating the PHI Foundation and the PHI Centre under one roof.

Mariners have been popping into Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours for centuries to kneel before a little 17th-century statue of the Virgin Mary and pray for a safe passage—or give thanks for one. Often, they've expressed their gratitude by leaving votive lamps in the shape of small ships, many of which still hang from the barrel-vaulted ceiling. This is why most Montrealers call the chapel the Église des Matelots (the Sailors' Church), and why some people still stop by to say a prayer and light a candle before leaving on a long trip.

These days, the statue of Our Lady of Perpetual Help guards the remains of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, who had the original chapel built in 1657 and is entombed in the side altar next to the east wall of the chapel. The current chapel dates from 1771; a renovation project in 1998 revealed some beautiful 18th-century murals that had been hidden under layers of paint.

The 69-step climb to the top of the steeple is worth the effort for the glorious view of the angels overlooking the harbor as is the steep climb down to the archaeological excavations under the chapel for a glimpse into the history of the chapel and the neighborhood. The dig is accessible through the adjacent Musée Marguerite Bourgeoys, which also has exhibits on the life of St. Marguerite and the daily lives of the colonists she served.

A few jagged stone walls are all that remain of Montréal's first general hospital. The ruins—which once formed the west wing and the transept of the chapel—have been preserved as a memorial to Canada's first native-born saint, Marguerite d'Youville (1701–71), who took over the hospital in 1747 and ran it until a fire destroyed the building in 1765. Ste-Marguerite's life was no walk in the park, as you'll find out if you visit the Maison de Mère d'Youville next door to the ruins. Marguerite started looking after the city's down-and-outers after the death of her abusive and disreputable husband. Amused that the widow of a whiskey trader should be helping the town drunks, locals took to calling Marguerite and her Soeurs de la Charité (Sisters of Charity) the Soeurs-Grises (Grey Nuns), slang for "tipsy nuns." The Maison has some remarkable reminders of her life, such as the kitchen where she worked, with its enormous fireplace and stone sink. Call ahead for tours of the house.  As of June 2025, the museum is still under renovation but the exterior is pretty.

The extensive five-year restoration and modernization of Montréal's Second Empire–style city hall was completed in 2024, at a price tag of C$211 million dollars. That's almost double the predicted cost, but it was worth it. During renovations of the interior, workers uncovered original moldings and plasterwork that had been hidden under more modern ceilings, as well as original wood and marble floors concealed by carpeting. Windows, doors, all made of wood, in addition to wrought iron grilles, light fixtures, bronzes, and stained glass windows were all restored to their original glory. As for the exterior, workers spent two and half years cleaning and repairing the facade, replacing some cornices and a hundred or so limestone stones, and polishing and replacing some parts of the copper roof. It's a place in which Montrealers can take pride.

The newly renovated city hall is brighter and more energy efficient, eco-friendly and user-friendly. It's also more welcoming and accessible. Visitors can view a permanent exhibition, art works and some areas previously closed to the public. A tour of the museum, including the permanent exhibition, is free.

Thick stone walls, a steep roof, and mullioned windows mark the Maison St-Gabriel as one of Montréal's rare surviving 17th-century houses. But it's the interior and the furnishings that will sweep you back to the colonial days when St. Marguerite Bourgeoys and the religious order she founded used this house to train les filles du roy (king's daughters) in the niceties of home management. Les filles were young women without family or fortune but plenty of spunk who volunteered to cross the Atlantic in leaky boats to become the wives and mothers of New France. It wasn't an easy life, as the Maison's hard narrow beds, primitive utensils, and drafty rooms attest—but it had its rewards, and the prize at the end was a respectable, settled life. St. Marguerite also had some state-of-the-art domestic equipment—the latest in looms and butter churns, labor-saving spit turners for roasting meat, and an ingenious granite sink with a drainage system that piped water straight out to the garden. Located on the little island of New France and deep in the gentrifying working-class neighborhood of Pointe-St-Charles, Maison St-Gabriel is off the beaten path, but it's well worth a 10-minute taxi ride from Old Montréal.

You can't buy fruits and vegetables in the Marché Bonsecours anymore, but you can view an exhibit; shop for local fashions, crafts, and souvenirs in the row of upscale boutiques that fill its main hall; lunch in one of the cafés or restaurants; or grab a craft beer. But the marché is best admired from the outside. Built in the 1840s as the city's main market, it is possibly the most beautifully proportioned neoclassical building in Montréal, with its six cast-iron Doric columns and two rows of meticulously even sash windows, all topped with a silvery dome. Perhaps the marché was too elegant to be just a farmers' market.

Claude de Ramezay, the city's 11th governor, was probably daydreaming of home when he built his Montréal residence, now one of the UNESCO-listed "1001 Historic Sites You Must See Before You Die." Its thick stone walls, dormer windows, and steeply pitched roof make it look like a little bit of 18th-century Normandy dropped into the middle of North America—although the round, squat tower is a 19th-century addition. The extravagant mahogany paneling in the Salon de Nantes was installed when Louis XV was still king of France. The British used the château as headquarters after their conquest in 1760, and so did the American commanders Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold. Benjamin Franklin, who came north in a failed attempt to persuade the locals to join the American Revolution, stayed here during that winter adventure.

Most of the château's exhibits are a little staid—guns, uniforms, and documents on the main floor and tableaux depicting colonial life in the cellars—but they include some unexpected little eccentricities that make it worth the visit. Head outside, through the back door, and you'll enter gardens of 18th-century tranquility.

Montréal's favorite waterfront park is your ideal gateway to the St. Lawrence River. Rent a pedal boat, take a ferry to Île Ste-Hélène, sign up for a dinner cruise, or, if you're really adventurous, ride a raft or a jet boat through the turbulent Lachine Rapids. If you're determined to stay ashore, however, there's still plenty to do, including riding the Grande Roue, the tallest Ferris wheel in Canada; soaking in the rays at the Clock Tower Beach (you can't swim, though); and enjoying street performances, sound-and-light shows, or art displays and exhibitions.

Visiting warships from the Canadian navy and other countries often dock here and open their decks to the public. You can rent a bicycle or a pair of in-line skates at one of the shops along rue de la Commune and explore the waterfront at your leisure. In winter, rent a pair of skates and glide around the outdoor rink. You can also, quite literally, lose the kids in Shed 16's Labyrinthe, a maze of alleys, surprises, and obstacles built inside an old waterfront warehouse. With the rope and aerial courses aboard life-size replicas of pirate and royal ships, kids will also go crazy for the Voiles en Voiles adventure park.

If you're looking for peace and quiet, the narrow strip of grass and trees on Place d'Youville (the former name) just east of Place Royale is an appropriate place to find it. It was here, after all, that the French signed a major peace treaty with dozens of Indigenous nations in 1702. It was also here that the first French colonists to settle in Montréal landed their four boats on May 17, 1642. An obelisk records the settlers' names.

The cobbled square at the heart of Old Montréal is part carnival, part flower market, and part sheer fun. You can pause here to have your portrait painted, buy an ice cream, or watch the street performers. If you have more time, try to get a table at one of the sidewalk cafés, order a beer or a glass of wine, and watch the passing parade. During the holiday season you can order a mulled wine or hot cider in the market and warm up by one of the wood-burning stoves from your perch on an Adirondack chair. At the top of the slope, you'll notice a monument to Lord Nelson. It honors Nelson's victory over Napoléon Bonaparte's French navy at Trafalgar and is a source of anger for some modern-day Québec nationalists. The campaign to raise money for the 1809 monument was led by Sulpician priests, who were engaged in delicate land negotiations with the British government at the time and were eager to show what good subjects they were.

The oldest public square in Montréal, dating to the 17th century, was a market during the French regime and later became a Victorian garden.

When Montréal was under attack, citizens and soldiers would rally at Place-d'Armes, but these days the only rallying is done by tourists, lunching office workers, and flocks of voracious pigeons. The pigeons are particularly fond of the triumphant statue of Montréal's founder, Paul de Chomedey, with his lance upraised, perched above the fountain in the middle of the cobblestoned square. Tunnels beneath the square protected the colonists from the winter weather and provided an escape route; unfortunately, they are too small and dangerous to visit.

Although Square Victoria officially lies within the Quartier International, or International District, Montrealers consider it a part of Old Montréal. The square nicely blends its French and English heritage with an 1872 statue of Queen Victoria on one side and an authentic Parisian métro entrance and a flower market on the other. Both are framed by a two-block stretch of trees, benches, and fountains that makes the square a pleasant place to relax and admire the handsome 1920s office buildings on the east side. The Art Nouveau métro entrance, incidentally, was a gift from the French capital's transit commission.