A Weekend in Montréal, Québec

Before this trip I had never taken the opportunity to explore Montréal or anywhere in Québec for that matter despite living right next door in Ontario for 5 years! To my surprise, this trip was very underwhelming and made me realize maybe I’m just not a city person!

My favourite part of Montréal was Mount Royal. You’ll definitely feel your booty pop after walking up 400 stairs for about 2km’s to the viewpoint, especially if you walk uphill to the starting point from town! Aside from the viewpoint there are multiple picnic benches and amazing aged trees of all kind swaying all around you, which was an amazing sight to see during autumn.

My second favourite part of Montréal was the food! The city is known for its fresh bagels especially from St.Viateur Bagel as well as its poutine from Schwartz’s. On top of these two classics, we also loved stopping by Slice and Soda for some pizza and gnocchi each day for a quick cheap lunch!
Other eats to try: Kampai, William Grey, Crew Cafe, Banquise Poutine, Sammi and Soupe Dumpling

Montréal is also known for its nightlife, giving us the opportunity to try some local bars by recommendation such as Tiki Bar, and Darling. In my opinion the drinks were the same quality you could get in any city, for the same price, with a longer wait to get into anywhere so it really wasn’t worth travelling for! In saying that, I’m not one for nightlife too often so if you like to drink and mingle this could totally be your vibe!
Other bars to try: Terrace Bonsecceures, The Far Sides, Moose Bar (university bar — cheap and vibey!), La Voute, Bordelle, The Cold Room

Aside from eating and drinking we loved walking around the older areas of town and hitting up all the thrift shops we could find, Eva-B being one of our favourites! We also spent quite some time in the Old Port where there is a harbour with small local vendors and a ferris wheel along with a long alley way full of shopping. We also found a funny little Barbie exhibit in the middle of town if you’re looking for a way to kill a bit of time! The city itself I felt was very dirty with a large homeless population and drug use. I don’t think I would go exploring at night alone!
Tip: if you’re not keen in walking, there are bike racks all over the city with inexpensive bikes for rent — normal and electric! We also picked up a multi-day bus pass when leaving the airport which definitely saved our butts getting from place to place a few times!

All in all Montréal wasn’t a city for me but I’m glad I got to experience it and check it off my bucket list!