Montreal is the largest city in Quebec and the second-largest in Canada. About 1.8 million people live here, on an island where the Ottawa River meets the Saint Lawrence. Founded in 1642 as Ville-Marie, it takes its name from Mount Royal, the three-peaked hill at its heart. French is the city's official language, and more than half of its residents speak both French and English.
Visitors come for the stone streets of Old Montreal, the parks and lookouts of Mount Royal, a famous food scene, a calendar of summer festivals and neighbourhoods each with its own personality. The city suits couples, families, food lovers, students and anyone curious about French-speaking North America, and it is a gateway to Quebec City and the Laurentian mountains. Vacation rentals here are shaped by strict rules: in most of the city, homes can be let to tourists for short stays only if they are the host's main residence and only in summer, so many visitors also choose longer stays or licensed tourist residences.
Old Montreal, beside the Old Port, has cobbled streets, 18th- and 19th-century buildings and the Notre-Dame Basilica, and is the most atmospheric base for a first visit. Downtown, in the borough of Ville-Marie, puts shopping streets, museums, the Quartier des Spectacles and the underground city on your doorstep, with metro lines in every direction.
Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, north-east of downtown, is a lively residential area of colourful row houses with outside staircases, cafés and restaurants along Saint-Laurent Boulevard and Saint-Denis Street, close to Mount Royal Park. Mile End, in the north-west of the same borough, is multicultural and creative and known for its bagels. Little Italy, in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, suits food lovers, while Griffintown and Saint-Henri, along the Lachine Canal, mix converted industrial buildings with new flats. Families often prefer quieter residential areas with good metro links.
Old Montreal grew from the fort that Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve built after founding Ville-Marie on 17 May 1642, and it keeps many buildings from the era of New France. Highlights include the Notre-Dame Basilica on Place d'Armes, the Sulpician Seminary of 1687, Château Ramezay of 1705, Place Jacques-Cartier, City Hall, Bonsecours Market and the Pointe-à-Callière museum of archaeology and history. The riverside Old Port has promenades, the Montreal Science Centre and views of the Saint Lawrence.
Mount Royal, immediately west of downtown, is the green heart of the city. Its park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also co-designed New York's Central Park, and opened in 1876. The highest of its three peaks rises to 233 m and is crowned by an illuminated cross 31.4 m high, installed in 1924 in memory of the cross Maisonneuve erected on the mountain in 1643. Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1967, stands on the mountain's Westmount Summit.
Long before the French arrived, the Saint Lawrence Iroquoians had a village called Hochelaga at the foot of the mountain, and archaeological evidence shows First Nations people on the island about 4,000 years ago. After its founding, Montreal grew into a centre of the fur trade, and the Lachine Canal and the Victoria Bridge later made it a hub of shipping and railways.
In the 20th century the city hosted the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, known as Expo 67, and the 1976 Summer Olympics, the only Summer Games held in Canada; the Olympic Stadium still stands in the east. The Montreal Botanical Garden, covering 75 hectares of themed gardens and greenhouses, faces it across Sherbrooke Street. Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design in 2006, and it is known for comedy, music and film as well as for the bagels, smoked meat and poutine that visitors seek out.
Montreal has a humid continental climate with four very distinct seasons. Winters are cold, snowy and windy, with average daily temperatures in January around minus 10 °C, and snow usually covers the ground from December until March. Summers are warm and often humid, and spring and autumn are short but beautiful, with bright foliage on Mount Royal in October.
Summer is festival season. The Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Just for Laughs comedy festival and Les Francos de Montréal, a French-language music festival, are among the best known, and the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One is held here in May. June to September is the busiest time, when accommodation is in highest demand. Winter has its own appeal: the underground city, officially called RÉSO, links shopping centres, universities and metro stations through about 32 km of tunnels, so you can cross much of downtown without going outside.
Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL), in Dorval, is about 15 km west of downtown, and buses and taxis connect it with the centre. Trains run to Quebec City, about 258 km to the north-east, Ottawa, about 196 km to the west, Toronto and New York. Within the city, the metro, opened in 1966, has four lines and 68 stations, and buses run by the STM fill the gaps. The Réseau express métropolitain (REM), a new automated light-rail network, is gradually opening across the region.
Montreal is one of North America's most bicycle-friendly cities, and the BIXI bike-share system, launched in 2009, has thousands of bicycles, including electric ones, at docking stations across the centre. A car is not needed for a city stay, and parking downtown is limited, but it helps for day trips to the Laurentians, the Eastern Townships or Mont-Tremblant. Canada uses the Canadian dollar.
Quebec law requires every tourist accommodation rented for 31 days or less to be registered with the Corporation de l'industrie touristique du Québec (CITQ), and online platforms may not publish a listing without a valid registration number and its expiry date. Hosts must also display their registration.
Montreal adds its own limits. A host may rent their principal residence to tourists only from 10 June to 10 September, for stays of 31 days or less, after obtaining a city permit, and this is not allowed in the boroughs of Lachine, Saint-Laurent and Saint-Léonard. Homes that are not the host's principal residence fall under separate rules for commercial tourist residences and need a certificate of occupancy in permitted zones. For visitors, this means short stays outside summer are mostly in licensed tourist residences, hotels or longer rentals. Rules can change, so check the city's and the CITQ's current guidance before booking.
Old Montreal is the most atmospheric for a first visit, and downtown is the most central, with metro lines and the underground city. Le Plateau-Mont-Royal and Mile End suit travellers who like cafés and local life near Mount Royal, while Little Italy and the Lachine Canal areas suit food lovers.
June to September brings warm weather and the summer festivals, but it is also the busiest time. Late September and October are lovely for autumn colour on Mount Royal. Winter is cold and snowy, though the underground city, winter events and museums make it a good season for hardy travellers.
In most cases, no. Montreal allows tourists to rent a host's principal residence only from 10 June to 10 September, for stays of 31 days or less, and not in Lachine, Saint-Laurent or Saint-Léonard. Other properties need commercial permits in permitted zones. Always check that a listing shows a valid CITQ number.
It is the registration number that the Corporation de l'industrie touristique du Québec issues to tourist accommodation rented for 31 days or less. Online platforms may not publish a Quebec listing without a valid number and its expiry date, so it is a quick way to check that a rental is legal.
Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL) is in Dorval, about 15 km west of downtown. Buses and taxis link it with the centre, and journey times depend heavily on traffic. Plan extra time at rush hour and in winter weather.
French is the official language and is spoken by most residents, but more than half of Montrealers speak both French and English, so English-speaking visitors usually manage well, especially downtown. Learning a few French greetings such as bonjour and merci is appreciated.
Three or four days cover Old Montreal, downtown, Mount Royal, the Plateau and a market or two. With a week you can add the Olympic Park and Botanical Garden, a festival evening and a day trip to Quebec City or the Laurentians.
Researched and written with AI assistance, then fact-checked against the sources below. Last checked .