Last updated August 30, 2023
Prices quoted here are in Canadian dollars.
General tourism information
View Larger MapLocationMontreal is located at 45°30 N / -73°36 W. It is the largest city in Quebec and the second largest in Canada, with an estimated metropolitan population of 4 million. Montreal is one of two large islands in this part of the St. Lawrence River (the other, Île Jésus, is the main part of the city of Laval) and its highest point, Mount Royal, is 232m/761 ft high.
The entire island of Montreal became a single municipality on January 1, 2002 although this was reversed January 1, 2006 in the case of 14 of the suburbs, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, of which Montreal is by far the largest, being divided into 19 boroughs (arrondissements) each of which has a borough mayor and a certain amount of autonomy. Wikipedia’s article on the 2002-06 municipal reorganization of Montreal goes into detail.
The current mayor of Montreal, re-elected in 2021, is Valérie Plante.
You can download a very detailed PDF city map and other maps from this page on the Montreal transit site.
You can check the seven-day forecast and have a look at current weather conditions as well as find information on weather statistics on the government’s weather site.
Montreal’s climate varies a lot over the year. The city is known for its cold winters, but its summers are hot and generally sunny, with occasional muggy days. May and October are arguably the pleasantest months for outdoor activities and walking. Evenings will often remain a little chilly except on the hottest days.
One thing worth understanding about Montreal is that it begins to snow in late November and although snow is quickly removed from roads and sidewalks, it piles up everywhere else and remains part of the landscape until it begins to retreat sometime in mid-March.
Average temperatures vary from -13° to 5°C (10 to 25°F) in January to 18°-27°C (65-80°F) in July.
Telephones:
The island of Montreal* uses the 514 and 438 area codes and will start using 263 by fall 2022. Laval, the North Shore, the South Shore, the Laurentians, Upper Richelieu, Lanaudière, Montérégie, Eastern Townships and Upper Yamaska use the area codes 450 and 579. A new code, 354, is expected to enter service soon for the area initially covered by 450.
Most calls from Montreal to Laval and Longueuil are local and do not require dialing 1.
A local call from a phone booth costs 50 cents – if you can find one.
*also Île Bizard, Île‑Perrot, Nuns’ Island (Île des Soeurs), Île Sainte‑Hélène and Île Notre‑Dame (the last two islands are parts of Parc Jean‑Drapeau and are not permanently inhabited)
Postal services:
Find a post office. Post offices have been closing around Montreal, so they can be hard to find.
Within Canada, regular letter stamps cost $1.07 individually. To the U.S., letters are $1.30 and elsewhere $2.71. There is no postcard rate – a postcard counts as a first-class letter. More details here. Canadian postal codes can be looked up on the Canada Post website. U.S. zip codes can be looked up here.
Internet:
Montreal has some areas with free wi-fi and there are cafés that offer free wi-fi. The metro is hooked up to LTE but not to wi-fi.
This page contains the current Canadian rules for entry, vaccination checking and quarantine. In Quebec, there is no mask mandate even in health care settings as of mid-2023 and no requirement for vaccination.
The unit of currency is the Canadian dollar. Coins are in denominations of 5, 10 and 25 cents, and $1 (a large gold-colored coin) and $2 (a large bimetallic coin). Bills in $5 (blue), $10 (purple) and $20 (green) are in common circulation and you can get $50s (red) and $100s (brown) from banks, though not from most automatic teller machines (ATMs).Canadian currency is made of plastic.
The copper penny was phased out in February 2013. Cash registers can show totals with pennies but they are rounded up during cash payments. The rules for rounding are outlined on this government page.Most stores and restaurants accept Visa and MasterCard and some accept American Express. You usually get the most favourable exchange rate by using your credit card. Most ATMs are networked to Cirrus and Interac and accept major credit cards if you have a PIN to enter into the machine.
There are many currency exchange centers throughout the downtown area. They either charge a fee or take a couple of percentage points off the exchange rate for their services. Banks can usually handle U.S. funds without any problem but may not be prepared to handle other currencies.
Sales taxes:
Most goods and services in Quebec are subject to two taxes, a federal Goods and Services Tax of 5% (usually listed as TPS on receipts – Taxe sur les produits et services) and a provincial sales tax of 9.975% (TVQ on receipts – Taxe de vente du Québec). An accommodation tax of 3.5% per night of hotel stay is also charged.
Books are not provincially taxed, and most groceries are not taxed at all unless something counts as ready-to-eat. Almost everything else is taxable.
Tipping:
A tip of 15-20% is customarily left for waiters and waitresses at the table, calculated on the pre-tax total of your bill. It will not be calculated for you – the additional charges on a restaurant bill are taxes, not service charges, and are not voluntary. You are free to leave more or less if circumstances warrant. In bars, the tip tends to be offered as you pay for each drink or round. Taxi drivers also normally get a tip of 10 to 15% as do those who render personal services such as haircuts. Many counter service establishments have a tip jar: whether you drop in a bit of change is entirely up to you.
A recent article on local tipping guidelines (in French) may be useful. Many people have noticed “tip creep” with prompts to tip even included on ordinary retail interactions. The general view till mid-2023 is that if you haven’t received a service, you don’t need to tip.
Canada Border Services Agency website
Official information on travelling to, from and within Canada
Visitors need a valid passport to enter Canada. They may also require a visa (see below). For information, check with a Canadian embassy or consulate.
Persons under 18 years of age travelling without their parents should have a letter of authorization from a parent or guardian to travel into Canada. The U.S. government has a useful page with further tips for U.S. residents visiting Canada.
Visitors from non-visa countries can stay for three months in Canada and can arrange an extension of a further three months on application to Immigration Canada.
If you are divorced, separated or travelling without your spouse and are bringing your children to Canada, you should bring a document demonstrating the permission of the other spouse, proof of legal custody or a notarized letter from the other custodian(s) which gives travel permission for the specific duration of the trip.
Each adult visitor may import, duty free, a maximum of 40 ounces (1.1 litres) of liquor, or 24 12-oz cans of beer or ale into Canada as personal luggage. Up to 50 cigars, 200 cigarettes, and 400 grams of tobacco and 400 tobacco sticks may be allowed entry duty free. There are many rules for importing firearms into Canada.
This government page lists countries according to visa requirements as well as special categories of visitor not requiring a visa.
You can check this page to find the addresses of foreign embassies in Canada.
U.S. consulate in Montreal: 514-398-9695
U.K. consulate: 514-866-5863
Consulate of France: 514-878-4381Getting into and out of Montreal
Airports:
Pierre Elliott Trudeau International, 22 km west of downtown, now serves all domestic, U.S. and international passenger flights. Locals still sometimes call it Dorval Airport. Call sign is YUL.
Mirabel International, 55 km northwest of downtown, call sign YMX, no longer serves passenger flights.
Saint-Hubert airport, call sign YHU, is 16 km east of downtown Montreal, mostly serves flights local to Quebec.
A taxi ride from the downtown area to Trudeau Airport costs a flat rate of $48.40 from 5 am to 11 pm, $55.65 from 11 pm to 5 am. Information on airport taxis and limousines. Uber is also available in Montreal.
A public airport shuttle, the 747, runs from the downtown area to the airport. It is equipped with luggage racks and accepts regular STM tickets and passes although cash fare (coins only) is $10, which also buys you a pass good for 24 hours on the entire STM system. If you’re in town, you can buy a ticket for the 747 bus with a credit card at any parking terminal, but it won’t include the day-long pass.
Aéroports de Montréal’s site has arrival and departure notices and other useful updates.
Intercity buses:
Montreal has bus connections to other cities within Quebec, in the rest of Canada and in the United States. Intercity bus travel does not carry the same stigma as in the U.S. and the buses to Quebec City and Toronto, for example, are quite clean and pleasant. The main bus terminus is the Gare d’autocars de Montréal on Berri between Ontario and de Maisonneuve, tel. 514-842-2281, metro station Berri-UQÀM.
Trains:
Montreal is on Via Rail‘s Windsor-Quebec corridor. You can reserve tickets on their website or get them from your travel agent.
Amtrak runs the Adirondack from Montreal to New York daily. Tickets can be priced and reserved on the site. This is currently the only passenger train connection from Montreal to the United States.
There are two major downtown train stations, Central Station (Gare Centrale) and Lucien-L’Allier. Both are connected to the Bonaventure Metro station and thus to the underground city. Lucien-L’Allier, also connected to the metro station of the same name, is only used for commuter trains.
Central Station, unlike major train stations in many other cities, is functionally invisible. It’s located underground below the Queen Elizabeth Hotel and just north of Place Bonaventure. It’s easily reached from Ste-Catherine Street by strolling through the Place Ville-Marie mall and looking for the wayfinding signs, or via Bonaventure metro station. Any taxi driver can bring you directly there. But don’t expect to find a physical train station at street level.
Highway distances:
Québec 257 km
Ottawa 204 km
Toronto 546 km
Boston 512 km
New York 608 km
Chicago 1363 km
Detroit 915 km
Washington 971 km
Pittsburgh 978 kmMontreal is in the Eastern time zone of North America, 4 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time during the summer (Eastern Daylight, EDT) and 5 hours during the winter (Eastern Standard, EST). Daylight Savings Time is observed from the second Sunday in March till the first Sunday in November.
In French and sometimes in English you will see times quoted in 24-hour format, e.g. 20h30 is the same as 8:30 p.m. Keep this in mind for the times of events and for parking restrictions noted on official signs.
Opening hours:
Common retail hours are from 9 a.m. till 6 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, from 9 a.m. till 9 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. Saturdays. There are exceptions: many large pharmacies, some grocery stores and some bookstores stay open late all week, and some smaller boutiques may open their doors later in the morning; noontime opening Sunday is not unusual. If you are uncertain about a store’s hours it is wise to phone ahead.
Electricity in Canada is 110V at 60Hz and the plugs are the same as in the U.S. If you come from a country that uses 220V electricity, you will have to bring a converter for any appliances you bring along.
Officially, Canada is metric. Temperatures are given in Celsius (we really don’t use Fahrenheit any more) and road distances and speed limits are in kilometres: cars are calibrated in km. That said, many Canadians will still give casual measures in feet, inches, pounds and ounces, depending on circumstances.
Canada has several federal statutory holidays. Provinces also have their own holidays.
Holidays in 2023:
January 1: New Year’s Day
January 2: Day after New Year’s Day
April 7: Good Friday (businesses in Quebec usually give Good Friday as a holiday although sometimes Easter Monday is substituted)
May 22: Victoria Day/Journée nationale des Patriotes(observed)
June 24: St-Jean-Baptiste/Fête de la Saint-Jean/Fête Nationale (Quebec national day, not moveable)
July 1: Canada Day (also moving day in Montreal) (not moveable)
September 4: Labour Day
October 9: Thanksgiving
December 25: Christmas
December 26: Boxing DayHolidays in 2024:
January 1: New Year’s Day
January 2: Day after New Year’s Day
March 29: Good Friday (businesses in Quebec usually give Good Friday as a holiday although sometimes Easter Monday is substituted)
May 20: Victoria Day/Journée nationale des Patriotes(observed)
June 24: St-Jean-Baptiste/Fête de la Saint-Jean/Fête Nationale (Quebec national day, not moveable)
July 1: Canada Day (also moving day in Montreal) (not moveable)
September 2: Labour Day
October 14: Thanksgiving
December 25: Christmas
December 26: Boxing DayMany stores open on holidays, although Christmas is all but universally a closing day. Easter Monday seems to be declining in importance and is mostly observed now only by government offices, which also close on Remembrance Day, November 11. Businesses and schools stay open on November 11, but civic ceremonies are held to honour war veterans and two minutes of silence are traditionally observed at 11 a.m.
Montrealers often observe Valentine’s Day (February 14), Mother’s Day (second Sunday in May), Father’s Day(third Sunday in June) and Halloween (October 31), although these are not legal holidays. Depending on their origins, Montrealers might also celebrate Muslim holidays or Jewish holidays, the Asian lunar new year, or other saints’ days or national holidays. A major parade has traditionally been held on a Sunday near St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) whose connection with Ireland is by now only a notional one.
Montreal has a longstanding tradition of ending residential leases on June 30. As a result, July 1 is moving day for a significant percentage of tenants in the city.
The last two full weeks of July are traditionally the Quebec construction holiday. Related businesses and trades may shut down, and many other workers take these two weeks off as well.
This is a useful listing of pretty much all the holidays relevant in Montreal in 2023. However, note that Quebec has no August statutory holiday, unlike most of the rest of Canada, and no day off in February either.
Montreal is a cosmopolitan city. Quebec’s language laws impose restrictions on outdoor signs in languages other than French so you will see few signs in English, but in the parts of Montreal where most travellers go, services are available in English as well as in French. French is heard throughout the city but in many neighbourhoods other languages will also be heard. Roughly half of Montreal’s residents speak French at home.
The Wikipedia page on the demographics of Montreal shows that, after French and English, the next languages commonly spoken are Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Haitian Creole, Greek, Chinese and Portuguese. The variety of Chinese is not specified.
Ambulance, fire, police, health emergencies: dial 911. For non-emergency police matters, dial 514-280-2222. For health inquiries that are not emergency: dial 811.
Health care in Canada is of a high standard but it is advised that you get travellers’ insurance before leaving home because it is not free for visitors. Keep the insurance documentation with you in case of emergency. You should bring any medications you need with you, especially sufficient quantities of prescription medicines. These should be kept in their original containers to avoid difficulties at borders.
Sanitation is equal to any developed country. Our tap water is drinkable so you do not need to drink bottled water here. You do not need any special immunizations to visit Canada.
Montreal has a relatively low crime rate. Nonetheless it is a large city and you should remain normally vigilant about your possessions and your person. It is not unheard of for thieves to make off with electronic devices from the bags and backpacks of patrons in cafés, so be circumspect.
There are a few sketchy parts of town but none that are dangerous. None of them are places most visitors are likely to stray into by chance.
Drinking, smoking and gambling
The age of majority and legal drinking age in Quebec is 18.
You can buy beer and wine at grocery stores and many corner stores (dépanneurs), but for a better selection of wine and for stronger liquors you must go to a government store (Société des Alcools).
Many restaurants have a liquor license; a few do without a license and customers can bring their own wine, but you can’t bring your own to restaurants that have a license. Best to inquire.
Beer and wine can be sold in stores until 11 p.m. End of service for bars has traditionally been 3 a.m. but this has varied in recent years.
Smoking and vaping are not permitted on any form of public transit, in restaurants and bars including terrasses (patios), stores, shopping centres, in cinemas, in elevators, in government offices or in banks, and inside office buildings. It’s illegal to smoke in a vehicle with children under 16. Many buildings have cigarette disposal arrangements outside and a 9-meter smoke-free distance is obligatory from the entrances of public buildings like schools, hospitals and libraries.
You must be 18 years or older to buy tobacco in Quebec and you must be 21 to buy cannabis products at SQDC outlets or online.
Minors can’t buy lottery tickets or scratch games and can’t go to the Casino.
Montreal’s original street grid was laid out long ago relative to the old port on the St. Lawrence River waterfront so our “north” is actually northwest, or close to it. Some people find it disorienting or annoying to discover that in Montreal the sun apparently rises in the south and sets in the north. It’s probably too late to do anything about this convention but it may be helpful to understand that it exists. This also explains why the South Shore is actually mostly to the east on maps.
As you go north, away from the St. Lawrence river, address numbers increment. If an address includes “east” or “west” this is relative to Boulevard Saint-Laurent (also known as St. Lawrence or “the Main”, sketched as a red line on the map at right) from which addresses increment both eastward and westward, into the five figures.Driving:
Distances and speed limits are posted in kilometers throughout Canada. 60 mph roughly equals 100 kmh. Gasoline prices are in litres.
You may not turn right on red lights on the island of Montreal.
Montreal presents some hazards for drivers. Pedestrians can be pretty blasé about crossing on red lights, and most road construction and repairs have to be done in the summer months so you are likely to run into occasional detours around town in the summer.
Seatbelts are mandatory even in back seats. Helmets are required for motorcyclists and operators of any powered vehicle.
It is obligatory to stop when a school bus is stopping, regardless of the direction in which you are driving.
On a few major streets, bus lanes are marked with a large white diamond shape and you should not use and absolutely must not stop or park in these lanes within the hours noted on the accompanying signs. Some streets have bike lanes: these will be marked.
City police patrol in dark cars with markings, although they are known to have some stealth vehicles as well. Parking infractions are monitored by city employees. The older part of Montreal was built up before the automobile and streets can be narrow and cramped, so parking conditions can sometimes be frustrating. Be wary of neighbourhoods where certain parking spots are reserved for local residents with numbered stickers. In addition, on residential streets, days and times for street cleaning or snow removal should be visible on a sign and at those times you need to move your car if it’s on the side to be cleaned. After heavy snowfall you may see small no-parking signs stuck right into snowbanks. Pay attention. If you don’t move your car during the allotted window after a snowstorm, it may be towed away.
Because parking can be so difficult, sightseeing on foot and by Metro is encouraged, at least within downtown, the Plateau and Old Montreal, for those without mobility problems.
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) patrols on highways, both inside and outside the city. Outside the city, local municipalities can also ticket you if you commit an infraction on a road in their territory.
Public transit:
Montreal has an excellent public transit system, the STM (Société des transports de Montréal) operating the Metro subway system (see map), 186 daytime bus routes and 23 night routes. Google Maps offers excellent transit routing throughout the whole metropolitan area.
Maps and information about the transit system are also available in every Metro station and at tourist information points. There’s also an excellent app called Transit for iPhone and for Android which gives scheduled timing for bus routes near one’s location.
The Metro shuts down around 12:30 a.m. after which the whole system shifts over to the night bus service until around 5:30 a.m.
The STM fare system consists of the Opus smart card and one-trip magnetic cards. Bus drivers neither make change nor sell tickets, but all metro stations have ticket machines and most have manned ticket booths. As of 2022, the ticket booth clerk will not accept cash. You must buy a ticket card with a bank card or credit card.
If you buy a single fare, take the card from the machine and keep it to use as a transfer if necessary. You do not need a ticket or pass to exit the metro system as you do in some cities but you are obliged to have a valid fare on you to show transit police if they ask (and they do).
In mid 2022, a reorganization of the fare system was done, assigning zones to areas on and off the island. All of Montreal island is Zone A. As of mid-2023, a monthly regular adult pass giving full access to the STM metro and bus system for Zone A costs $97.00. A single fare is $3.75 and in the bus must be paid with exact change. A card giving full access for three consecutive days costs $21.25. Full fare information (PDF) including other options and points of sale.
As of mid-2023, residents 65 and over can ride Zone A for free. Non-residents don’t qualify for seniors’ reductions or student fares on the STM system.
Surrounding Montreal are other transit systems including the large STL serving Laval and RTL serving the South Shore. There are also six commuter train lines serving various suburbs, mostly during conventional rush hours. A regular STM pass or bus/metro ticket does not include access to commuter trains or off-island bus systems.
An entirely new light rail transit system called the REM is currently under construction and the first segment opened in summer 2023, operating between downtown’s Central Station and south shore Brossard. You need Zone AB tickets to go to Brossard.
Cycling
If you’re comfortable on a bicycle it would be interesting to see Montreal en vélo.However, keep in mind that motorists tend to be aggressive and you have to ride carefully.
Montreal has pioneered Bixi, a system of short-term rental bicycles available in a large area of central Montreal. These beautifully designed, adjustable and comfortable three-speed aluminum bicycles have been adopted by locals and tourists alike. The fare structure is geared toward short-term use Bixi racks are removed toward the end of November for winter, and tend to reappear in mid-April. Some electrically assisted bicycles are available.
Helmets are not mandatory for cyclists, but personal bicycles should be equipped with reflectors if you will be riding after dark, and if you’re using your own bike or a longer term rental bike you should have a good lock: bicycle theft is endemic. The Maison des Cyclistes, 1251 Rachel East, 514-521-8356, rents bikes and sells maps of bike paths in and around the city. There is also bicycle rental in the Old Port (514-847-0666).
You can bring a bicycle into the metro, but you must follow the rules and you may find bicycles barred during crowded events.
Newspapers, news media and news sites
Montreal has four daily news media deriving from traditional paid newspaper formats. Only one, The Gazette, is in English. There are three French-language dailies, Le Devoir, La Presse and Le Journal de Montréal.
Radio-Canada and CBC offer radio and television services, Quebecor offers the Journal de Montréal, TVA and other services, CTV and Global have a Montreal presence.
The main tourist information centre – Infotouriste – in Montreal is located near the corner of Peel and Ste‑Catherine at 1255 Peel, metro Peel, 514‑873‑2015 or 1‑877‑266‑5687.
For general information on city affairs, dial 311.