What to do in Montreal

December 4, 2005 4:07 PM

What to do in Old Montreal? My wife and I will be spending Saturday through Tuesday in Montreal. Much of the time will be spent visiting with "the kid" who is there from L.A. to shoot a movie.. But we'll have some time to kill...

We'll be staying at the Hotel Le Saint-Sulpice. I'm avoiding renting a car so would love some suggestions for things to do within walking distance of the hotel. At this point I'm not sure if we'll have free time in the morning or later in the day, depends on the shoot schedule for the film.... so any ideas are welcome. TIA.

posted by HuronBob to Travel & Transportation around Montréal, QC (9 answers total)

Old Montreal is essentially the old waterfront part of Montreal, so you must expect it to be somewhat chilly with the wind coming off the river. The outdoor skating rink just opened this weekend - you can rent skates there. There's an Imax cinema in the Science Centre on the Old Port - some of the shows are in English, some are in French. There are two history museums, the Pointe-à-Callière archaeology museum, and the Centre d'histoire de Montréal. Both will have material in English and French. And you should really see Notre-Dame and, if you can stand another church, the nearby Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours.

If you like views, you can climb up quite high in Bonsecours Church or the archaeology museum.

Old Montreal has recently experienced something of a renaissance with new hotels and restaurants springing up. Let me dig around and I'll post more about these in a bit.
posted by zadcat at 4:31 PM on December 4, 2005

I was just at the St Sulpice last week. Very nice hotel.

The Basilique Notre-Dame is right up the street, and has a Sound and Light show most evenings.

The Museum of Archaeology and History is less than five minutes away by foot.
posted by blue mustard at 4:38 PM on December 4, 2005

There will also be plenty of curious little boutiques if you wish to shop. You could have a look inside Marché Bonsecours, one of the dominant buildings on the waterfront, which contains a lot of boutiques and galleries.

The official site of Old Montreal has photos, lots of notes on history, and an events calendar.

Local wisdom is that it's a nice idea to eat lunch at Olive et Gourmando and dinner at Chez l'Épicier but there are many more.
posted by zadcat at 4:41 PM on December 4, 2005

Oh, and Old Montreal is not all that far from other parts of town. It basically stretches south of a line drawn between Square-Victoria and Champ-de-Mars metro stations. You could easily walk to Place d'Armes metro from your hotel, and then you're anywhere you want to be. Montreal has an extensive underground city in which you can spend an entire day shopping, lunching, seeing movies, even skating (indoors).
posted by zadcat at 5:07 PM on December 4, 2005

If you are meat-eaters, I can heartily recommend a trip to Schwartz's on Saint Laurent Boulevard. Glorious.
posted by coach_mcguirk at 3:57 AM on December 5, 2005

St. Laurent and St. Denis are both good streets for walking - tons of food and shopping to enjoy.
posted by k8t at 6:18 AM on December 5, 2005

The salon des metiers d'art is a great, high-end arts and crafts fair that happens once a year. This is the 50'th year, and I think it should be particularly impressive. Great fun to walk through whether or not you buy anything, and has the advantage of being indoors and quite close to your hotel - in the Bonaventure convention center, 900 de la Gauchetiere Ouest.
posted by louigi at 7:25 AM on December 5, 2005

Also see the threads tagged Montreal.
posted by zadcat at 9:17 AM on December 5, 2005

Response by poster: You guys are great....! But now I have about 10 days worth of stuff to do in four days, and I can see this is gonna cost me an arm and a leg. :)

Thanks to all for taking the time to post these tips...the thread is bookmarked and ready to travel on the powerbook with me!
posted by HuronBob at 5:07 PM on December 5, 2005