22 Best Sights in Montreal, Quebec

The seat of the Anglican (Episcopalian) bishop of Montréal offers downtown shoppers and strollers a respite from the hustle and bustle of rue Ste-Catherine. Built in 1859, the cathedral is modeled on Snettisham Parish Church in Norfolk, England, with some distinctly Canadian touches. The steeple, for example, is made with aluminum plates molded to simulate stone, and inside, the Gothic arches are crowned with carvings of the types of foliage growing on Mont-Royal when the church was built. The stained-glass windows behind the main altar, installed in the early 1920s as a memorial to the dead of World War I, show scenes from the life of Christ. On the wall just above and to the left of the pulpit is the Coventry Cross; it's made of nails taken from the ruins of Britain's Coventry Cathedral, destroyed by German bombing in 1940.The church building is a National Historic Site of Canada.  Free Saturday group tours can be arranged by calling the office.

Built in 1847, this is one of the purest examples of the Gothic Revival style in Canada, with a high vaulted ceiling glowing with green and gold mosaics. The tall, slender columns are actually pine logs lashed together and decorated to look like marble, so that if you stand in one of the back corners and look toward the altar you really do feel as if you're peering at the sacred through a grove of trees. St. Pat's—as most of its parishioners call it—is to Montréal's anglophone Catholics what the Basilique Notre-Dame-de-Montréal is to their French-speaking brethren—the mother church and a monument to faith and courage. One of the joys of visiting the place is that you'll probably be the only tourist there, so you'll have plenty of time to check out the old pulpit and the huge lamp decorated with six angels two meters (six feet) tall hanging over the main altar. And if you're named after some relatively obscure saint like Scholastica or Aeden of Fleury, you can search for your namesake's portrait among the 170 painted panels on the walls of the nave. For a solemn experience, visit on the third Sunday of the month (September through June), when the mass is sung completely in Latin.

You have to be at least 18 to visit Montréal's government-owned casino, but you don't have to be a gambler. The casino is currently home to four bars, a summer restaurant/bar, and three restaurants, ranging from casual deli style to gourmet. You can even come just to look at the architecture—the main building was the French pavilion at Expo '67. But if you do want to risk the family fortune, there are more than 3,000 slot machines, a keno lounge, a high-stakes gaming area, and 120 tables for playing blackjack, baccarat, roulette, craps, and various types of poker. There is also music, including cabaret.

The best reason to visit this cathedral is that it's a quarter-scale replica of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome—complete with a magnificent reproduction of Bernini's ornate baldachin (canopy) over the main altar and an ornately coffered ceiling. When Bishop Ignace Bourget (1799–1885) decided to build his cathedral in the heart of the city's Protestant-dominated commercial quarter, many fellow Catholics thought he was crazy. But the bishop was determined to assert the Church's authority—and its loyalty to Rome—in the British-ruled city. Bourget didn't live to see the cathedral dedicated in 1894, but his tomb holds a place of honor among those of his successors in the burial chapel on the east side of the nave.

Artist and architect Napoléon Bourassa called his work here l'oeuvre de mes amours, or a labor of love—and it shows. He designed the little Byzantine-style building himself and set about decorating it with the exuberance of an eight-year-old making a Mother's Day card. He covered the walls with murals and encrusted the altar and pillars with gilt and ornamental carving. It's not Montréal's biggest monument to the Virgin Mary, but it's the most unabashedly sentimental.

Montréal's largest Presbyterian church—sometimes affectionately called the A&P—is worth a visit, if only to see the glorious stained-glass window of the risen Christ that dominates the sanctuary behind the white-stone communion table. It's a memorial to members of the Royal Highland Regiment of Canada (the Black Watch) who were killed in World War I.

Blanc is an open-air art gallery whose mission is to bring the general public closer to art. Open 24/7, rain, snow, or shine, exhibitions showcase the work of different artists and change regularly. The gallery is open to anyone and there is no admission fee. It's located on rue Ste-Catherine E. between rue Wolfe and rue Atateken.

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.

Mont-Royal's single body of water, actually a reclaimed bog, is a great place for kids (and parents) to float model boats or rent a rowboat in the summertime (See  www.lemontroyal.qc.ca/en/rowboats-and-outdoor-games for rowboat, mölkky, spikeball, and cornhole game rentals). In winter, the lake's frozen surface attracts whole families of skaters, and nearby there's a groomed slope where kids of all ages can ride inner tubes. The glass-fronted Beaver Lake Pavilion is a pleasant bistro that serves lunch and dinner. Skate, snowshoe, and cross-country-ski rentals are available downstairs.

The canal is all about leisure—biking, rollerblading, strolling along the water, and picnicking—but it wasn't always so. Built in 1825 to get boats and cargo around the treacherous Lachine Rapids, it quickly became a magnet for all sorts of industries. But when the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing large cargo ships to sail straight from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes without stopping in Montréal, the canal closed to navigation and became an illicit dumping ground for old cars and the bodies of victims of underworld killings. The area around it degenerated into an industrial slum.

A federal agency rescued the site in 1978, planting lawns and trees along the old canal, transforming it into a long, narrow park, or parc linéaire. Some of the abandoned canneries, sugar refineries, and steelworks have since been converted into desirable residential and commercial condominiums. The bicycle path is the first link in the more than 97 km (60 miles) of bike trails that make up the Pôle des Rapides ( 514/364–4490).

Two permanent exhibits at the Lachine Canal Visitor Services Centre, at the western end of the canal, explain its history and construction. The center also has a shop and lookout terrace.

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.

Merchant and fur trader James McGill would probably be horrified to know that the university that he helped found in 1828 has developed an international reputation as one of North America's top party schools. McGill also happens to be one of the two or three best universities in Canada, and certainly one of the prettiest. Its campus is an island of grass and trees in a sea of traffic and skyscrapers. The statue of James McGill himself was removed in Summer 2021 after several bouts of vandalism aimed at the representation of the deceased slave owner. Take the time to stroll up the drive that leads from the Greek Revival Roddick Gates to the austere neoclassical Arts Building and meander over to the splendid Romanesque Redpath Hall building. McGill's first dedicated library is now a grand 300-seat concert hall ( www.mcgill.ca/music/about-us/halls/redpath-hall), though the newer library building next door still bears the generous benefactor's name. If you have an hour or so, drop into the temple-like Redpath Museum of Natural History ( www.mcgill.ca/redpath) to browse its eclectic collection of dinosaur bones, old coins, African art, and shrunken heads.

You could say that Parc Lafontaine is a microcosm of Montréal: the eastern half is French, with paths, gardens, and lawns laid out in geometric shapes; the western half is English, with meandering paths and irregularly shaped ponds that follow the natural contours of the land. In summer, you can take advantage of bowling greens, tennis courts, an open-air theater, (Théâtre de Verdure), and two artificial lakes with paddle boats. The Théâtre de Verdure puts on free musical, dance, theater, and circus arts performances, as well as films. In winter, one lake becomes a large skating rink. The park is named for Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine (1807–64), a pioneer of responsible government in Canada.

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.

On sunny summer days you can join the folks who gather in these two green squares, located across from each other on boulevard René Lévesque in the center of the city, to eat lunch under the trees and perhaps listen to an open-air concert. Dorchester Square features a Victorian-style fountain designed to appear cut in half and two arched footbridges. Even the vespasienne, the public toilets built in the 1930s as make-work projects just after the Depression, was restored and turned into a little summer café with outdoor tables.

This large, leafy square is an oasis in the middle of Montréal's urban jungle of noise, traffic jams, and chronic road works. Entering the square, which is surrounded by colorful and ornate Second Empire–style graystone homes, feels a little like entering a children's picture book, especially in winter, when the ground and the houses are blanketed with snow and the white stuff muffles all sound. In summer, locals spread out on the grass by the fountain or take a bistro table at the little gray kiosk (a public toilet, once upon a time) café that serves coffee, sandwiches, salads, ice cream, and other cold refreshments—it even offers a book exchange. And for an unexpected bonus, some of the lanes to the side and rear of the square's beautiful houses have been lovingly "greened up" with street art and vegetation, thanks to a lot of hard work and effort on the part of the residents.

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.

This is possibly the prettiest Anglican (Episcopalian) church in Montréal. Step into its dim, candle-scented interior and you'll feel you've been transported to some prosperous market town in East Anglia, England. The double hammer-beam roof, the rich stained-glass windows, and the Lady Chapel on the east side of the main altar all add to the effect. It certainly seems a world away from Centre Bell, the modern temple to professional hockey that's across the street.