A Walk in Old Montreal

An image of a Walking Map of Old Montreal

This Tour Comes From...

The National Geographic Traveler: Canada

For more National Geographic travel guides—from Europe to Antarctica and everywhere in between—visit National Geographic Books >>

The historic core of Montreal, with its wonderful array of old buildings, is once more a fashionable place to live and work, and is the best place to begin your exploration of this fascinating, many-sided metropolis. The 18th-century stone walls have long since been pulled down, but Old Montreal, on its low ridge overlooking the St. Lawrence, is still well defined and a pure delight to stroll around. CONTINUED

(Continued From Top)

The main east-west streets, Rue Saint-Jacques, Rue Notre-Dame, and Rue Saint-Paul, still follow the alignment traced out in the 1670s. There are boutiques, bars, restaurants, and the occasional bed-and-breakfast in an 18th-century house built from Montreal’s hard, gray limestone. Running north-south, the cross streets descend to what was once a busy dockside. Commerce has retreated from the Vieux-Port, giving way to riverside parkland and recreational facilities. Take Montreal’s squeaky clean Metro to Champ-de-Mars and leave the station by the south exit. Walk diagonally across the Champ-de-Mars, the old parade ground that for many years served as a popular space for gatherings of all kinds.

From here there are views westward of the soaring towers of the downtown area, but below and in front of you are the bases of Montreal’s old walls, a double line of defense erected early in the 18th century. Resist the temptation to go down Place Jacques-Cartier and instead walk east along Rue Notre-Dame, past bulky Hôtel de Ville on the left and modest Château de Ramezay on the right.
As you turn right down Rue Bonsecours, there is a charming view downhill of the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours at the foot of the street. Rue Bonsecours has a number of fine old houses, including the 1785 Maison Papineau (No. 440) and the Maison du Calvet (No. 401) at the corner by the chapel.
Walk west past the 500-foot [152-meter] facade of Marché Bonsecours, then turn left and cross the railroad track to get a taste of the Vieux-Port. From the upper levels of the Pavillon Jacques-Cartier unfolds a panorama of the long, irregular line of mostly 19th-century shipping offices and storehouses that once marked the boundary between city and waterfront.

Recross the railroad tracks and enjoy the lively (summertime) ambience of Place Jacques-Cartier. Walk west along narrow Rue Saint-Amable, then down Rue Saint-Vincent and west again on Rue Saint-Paul, perhaps the most picturesque of all the streets in Old Montreal. At Place Royale, turn left to Pointe-à-Callière and the Musée d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de Montréal. Go west again on Place d’Youville, where, as well as the Centre d’Histoire de Montréal, there are splendid old stone buildings that once housed the Écuries d’Youville (Nos. 298-300) and the Gray Nuns’ Convent founded in 1693 (Rue Saint-Pierre).

Go north on Rue Saint-Pierre and turn right onto Rue Saint-Jacques, which, under its English name of St. James’ Street, was the Wall Street of Canada until well into the 20th century. Among the ostentatious bank buildings the Banque de Montreal (No. 119) is outstanding, a Roman temple built to house the financing of Canada’s imperial expansion. Its neighbors on Place d’Armes include the city’s first skyscraper, the New York Life Insurance Building of 1889, and the art deco Aldred Building. To the south are the twin towers of the Basilique Notre-Dame.