Montreal Travel Forum

Hi,

We are planning a trip to Montreal, and we are concerned about the size of old town. Will there be enough to do over a 3 or 4 day trip? We went to Quebec City last year and we were shocked at how small the old city was. We were bored after 2 days! I realize that Montreal is a large city but we are not into partying and don't care about the bar's, etc. We are more interested in shops and cafes. Any advice? Will it be just like Quebec City? Should we pick somewhere else???

Montreal is much bigger than Quebec City and has every type of shop and cafe you could possibly wish for. Of particular fascination to me was the RESO, which is Montreal's underground city within a city. There are also some great Continental-style cafe/patisseries such as Premiere Moisson (several outlets including Sherbrooke) and La Brioche Lyonnaise out on St Denis in the Latin Quarter.

There's also plenty of cultural and historical things to do as well as just wandering and so 3-4 days shouldn't see you bored.

BTW It's not just the Old and New Town - there are various other individual quarters outside of the main downtown area.

Enjoy Montreal!

I lived in Montreal for 20 years and I agree totally with the previous poster. Montreal is a vibrant and exciting city, with lots to do, wonderful shopping, superb food, an ednless choice of restaurants, and if you're bored after two days, I throw my hands up in horror!!

Totally agree - Montreal is so much fun! And if you have tired of the shops in the city -- just get on your car and go onto the nearbly little towns. There was one town I think called St. Katherine where my wife even got to buy an authentic Lacoste bag for only US$50! She and my mom went shopping crazy...but the town beside it had more ridiculously expensive items (forgot the name)...so the different towns have different characters and prices...and different cafes...Have fun, Norman :)

My friends come to visit me for the shopping. Their favorite place to walk and shop is rue (street) St.Denis. You'll also find lots of cafes in this area. I also highly recommend the cafe in the latin area mentioned by the first member.