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

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.

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.

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.