Montreal Travel Forum

My husband and I are going to Montreal for the week between Christmas and New Year's. We've been several times and enjoy the city very much, but this time he's decided he wants to do "non-touristy" things. So what do you Montrealers do in your free time? I know this is a purely subjective question but any thing off the beaten path would be great. Je parle francais...c'est pas bien, parce-que je n'ai jamais l'opportunite de pratiquer. We're staying at the new Embassy Suites on rue Sainte-Antoine Ouest because we have free Hilton points to burn. We plan to do some shopping and visit Mont-Royal, but we've been to many of the museums, Olympic Stadium et al, Old Montreal, etc. Thanks!

Non touristy and touristy people tend to do similar things in the middle of winter (although thank goodness you're not there in feb) - we stay indoors and do outdoor activities in limited amts. mount royal is great for walking around as well as cross country skiing - if there's enough snow, and you can buy hot chocolate at the 2 chalets - check out the museums and tons of yummy boulangeries and cafes downtown, on st laurent - and go to bernard street especially. go to old mtl or beaver lake to rent skates and go ice skating. find micro breweries to hang out in. walk around st denis and plateau. walk in underground malls to stay warm and look around....see films...find good byob restos and bring bottles of wine for dinner - or just go to some of the many fabulous mtl restaurants to enjoy....

Hi Vermontstergirl,

I'm in the same boat as you. I don't get the chance to speak French where I live either.

I've been to Montreal two times between Christmas and New Year's. I usually arrive on Boxing Day and stay until after New Year's. If you look up my Montreal VT page, you'll see some of the things I've done there.

Oh, I should explain. My boyfriend's originally from Montreal, and his entire family (parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) still live there, so whenever I visit, I'm usually experiencing Montreal as a local would.

Things I've done:

- shopped the Boxing Day sales on St-Laurent
- drank Spanish coffees to keep warm at the cafes!
- had tea and sandwiches at Santropol
- browsed the shops on Rue St-Denis
- ate Greek food on Rue St-Denis
- ate smoked meat sandwiches
- Purchased a bottle of wine from the SAQ and took it to a casual BYOB Italian restaurant on Duluth/St-Denis. Mostly local French-speaking families there.
- had fresh, out-of-the-oven poppyseed/sesame bagels from St-Viateur bakery
- had caffe latte's and croissants from the Croissanterie
- had coffee from "Open da Night"
- watched a local band at Casa de Popolo
- had late night drinks at the Jello Bar and Pub Quartier Latin

The more touristy things I did was
- see the indoor Christmas displays at the botanical gardens at night
- went to the Biodome
- went to the McCord Museum to learn about Canadian/Montreal history

- shopped the Boxing Day sales on St-Laurent
- drank Spanish coffees to keep warm at the cafes!
- had tea and sandwiches at Santropol
- browsed the shops on Rue St-Denis
- ate Greek food on Rue St-Denis
- ate smoked meat sandwiches
- Purchased a bottle of wine from the SAQ and took it to a casual BYOB Italian restaurant on Duluth/St-Denis. Mostly local French-speaking families there.
- had fresh, out-of-the-oven poppyseed/sesame bagels from St-Viateur bakery
- had caffe latte's and croissants from the Croissanterie
- had coffee from "Open da Night"
- watched a local band at Casa de Popolo
- had late night drinks at the Jello Bar and Pub Quartier Latin

OK, the suggestions above are pretty good coming from a Vancouverite :)

I've lived here all my life, so I'm sure I can come up with something, though it's always a bit different for locals, as we can just stay home and visit family. Going to Schwartz's is always fun, because everything else is closed. The whole city seems to show up for a day on the mountain if the weather is nice, and there's not much that's more Montreal than that. The movie theatres are always full over Christmas too. Get some hot bagels and lox, and have brunch in bed at the hotel. Make crumbs everywhere.

Would you like to experience something different?

Then try the O.Noir restaurant that employs a blind and visually impaired (50% - 90% vision loss) wait staff and where the customers enjoy their meals in complete darkness. Seriously. I haven't been there yet, but i intend to go.

http://www.martiniboys.com/Montreal/O.Noir-review.html

Another idea is to drive 45 min from Montreal to Santa's Village in Val-David and have fun like kids have.
http://www.noel.qc.ca/

Also close to Val-David (accross the street, or the village :-)is Far Hills Inn, a nice cross-country ski resort - we go there in the summer to hike and swim and in the fall for the foliage and year round for their renowned chef and his French cuisine

http://www.farhillsinn.com/ANGLAIS/index2.html

Have fun!

Hey, just curious (MILAN2003) why you said thank goodness you are not coming in Feburary. My friend and I, we love to travel together and are considering Valentine's Day weekend to visit Montreal. I've never been but he has once. We want to go for a long weekend (drive from Boston). I hope you were just referring to the extreme temperatures??

I think that must be it. February is the coldest time to be there. Saying that, apparently it's raining today in Montreal. Go figure.