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Tips & Traps
Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
- TipA place or a move worth it
- TrapWhat to avoid, and how
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Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
Join RALF to share your own tips and traps
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On July 1 Montreal has its Moving Day, when many leases end and around 200,000 people move at once, so streets fill with vans, trucks and loaded bikes. If you arrive or leave around that date, expect traffic and slow pick-ups, and give yourself extra time for airport or station transfers. Book accommodation and…
Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, above Central Station on René-Lévesque Boulevard, is where John Lennon and Yoko Ono held their 1969 bed-in in Room 1742. The suite was redesigned in 2017 with archive footage and virtual reality headsets, and the hotel still lists a John Lennon and Yoko Ono Suite. Even if you stay…
From May to October, Piknic Électronik fills Sunday afternoons at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Saint Helen's Island with DJs on two stages, the main stage and the Boisé stage. Take the Métro to Jean-Drapeau station and walk, since the site is a short stroll away. Bring snacks, because outside alcohol is not allowed, and check…
Every June since 2013 the free MURAL festival turns Saint-Laurent Boulevard into an open-air gallery, with new murals by Canadian and international artists plus concerts, installations and street performances. Walk the stretch between Sherbrooke Street and Mont-Royal Avenue to see works go up and take photos. Exact…
Casa del Popolo and La Sala Rossa face each other on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, a long-running stage for emerging artists plus a room with programming most nights. Casa has a café and gallery attached, and the Sala Rossa side serves snacks and drinks, so you can eat before the show. Look up the listing for the night you…
Upstairs Jazz Bar and Grill on MacKay Street downtown programs live jazz in the evenings, usually with an early and a late set, and posts the week's lineup on its own site. The mix goes from jam sessions to Cuban jazz tributes and trios. It is also listed among Montreal's venues for music with dinner, so you can eat…
Puces POP is a series of flea-market-style fairs for local designers and handmade goods, run by the team behind POP Montréal. Booths sell clothing, jewellery, screen prints, body care and home accessories, so it suits souvenir hunting that is not mass-produced. Editions happen at set times of the year, so look up the…
Atwater Market is an Art Deco market hall from 1933 in Saint-Henri, next to the Lachine Canal. Inside you will find butchers and a bakery, and outside there are farmers' stalls, two cheese shops, a fish shop and a wine store. Put together a picnic and eat it on the terrace by the canal in summer. The market is open…
Dieppe Park sits on a point at the eastern tip of Cité du Havre, with open views of the Old Port, the downtown skyline and the Jacques Cartier Bridge. It is open daily from 6 am to midnight and is popular with photographers. Go at sunrise for quiet, or on summer evenings when the lawns fill up. It is also a known spot…
Clock Tower Pier sits at the entrance of the Old Port and is a free place to look across the river, with the Jacques Cartier Bridge in view. The old clock tower works as a foreground, and the beach opposite is for looking and cooling off under the misting stations, not swimming. Come toward dusk for softer light, and…
Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, known as the Sailors' Church, stands on Saint-Paul Street east of the Old Port and is a quieter stop than the big basilica. The tower can be climbed for views over the Old Port and the river, and the small Marguerite Bourgeoys museum inside covers early Montreal. Treat it as a working…
Pointe-à-Callière is an archaeology and history museum in Old Montreal where part of the visit happens below street level. The archaeological crypt shows the remains of Fort Ville-Marie, and the William collector sewer is an exhibit of its own. It is a good rainy-day stop that pairs well with a walk through the…
RÉSO links about 33 km of passages between metro stations, malls and office towers, so you can walk from Complexe Desjardins to Place des Arts without stepping outside in snow or rain. Complexe Desjardins is a good place to go down into the network. Shops keep their own hours even when the passages are open, and the…
During Montreal's snow-loading operations the city bans parking on the affected streets, and cars left behind are towed so crews can clear. If you have a rental car in winter, obey the no-parking signs and check the 311 Montréal app, which has a real-time snow-removal map and alerts. If the car is gone, search…
The 747 runs around the clock between the airport and downtown, and its fare is higher than a regular bus ride, so do not assume a standard ticket will do. Near the downtown stops, use an STM fare box, enter 0747 on the keypad, follow the prompts and give the receipt to the driver. Do not count on getting change on…
The refrigerated rink in front of the Beaver Lake Pavilion on Mount Royal covers about 2,500 square metres of ice, and the pavilion has a café for warming up afterwards. You can rent skates at the pavilion if you did not bring your own. The rink is typically open daily from December to March, so check the park's site…
The Parks Canada path along the Lachine Canal runs about 13.5 km between the Old Port and Lake Saint-Louis, past five locks, and ends at the Lachine Marina. Start in the Old Port and ride toward the lake, or turn back earlier for a shorter outing. A pedestrian and cycle bridge links the canal paths to Atwater Market…
La Banquise is a long-running poutine stop on Rue Rachel Est in the Plateau, and it stays open around the clock, which makes it the answer after a late show or a long flight. The menu offers around thirty poutine versions, plus a rotating poutine of the month. If you are unsure, start with the classic and try one of…
Many Montreal restaurants are apportez votre vin, so you bring your own bottle to dinner. The Plateau and Mile End have the densest cluster, with places such as Monsieur B and Khyber Pass on local lists, though the style is getting rarer, so confirm a restaurant is still BYOW before you go. Call ahead for the day's…
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