Montréal is a city in south east Canada that’s great to explore for a couple of days. A cute cobblestone street, some wonderful suburbs to explore and a park with a great view of the city, there’s heaps to keep you entertained. So read ahead to see what we recommend for some great free things to see in Montréal.
Old Montréal
This lovely area on the St Lawrence River was founded by French Settlers in 1642. The nearest metro station is Champ-de-Mars, but it’s also easy to walk to from the city centre. There are cobblestone streets, beautiful old buildings and horse drawn carts driving around. Some buildings worth seeing are Montréal city hall, the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel and the Bonsecours Market.
You can go into all of these landmarks if you’re interested, however some are free and some cost. When we visited, we went to the Bonsecours Market which is open 10am-6pm every day. This small heritage building built in 1847 has 15 shops with products all made in Québec. There are also restaurants that cook local produce and have outdoor seating open in warm weather.
It really is a lovely area to explore and is one of the great free things to see in Montréal.
Downtown Montréal and McGill University
After you’re done looking around the old town, head to downtown Montréal which is right next door. Here you can visit Underground City, an underground shopping centre with shops and restaurants. This really is a LIFESAVER in winter when it gets too cold and you need a break. You’ll also find the Montréal Time Out Market in this shopping centre.
Aside from shopping, there’s lots of amazing museums in Downtown Montréal. There’s the Museum of contemporary art for modern art lovers or the The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts for art history lovers. Plus there is also the McCord Stewart Museum which explores the history of the city. There is also the amazing Barbie Expo, which houses over 1000 different Barbies, and is completely free!
While in Downtown, it’s worth a walk around McGill university’s main campus. The university was founded in 1813 and there are currently almost 35,000 students enrolled. The main campus is at the base of Mount Royal and is a really nice place to wander around. There’s also lots of squirrels on the campus which, as Australians, was super exciting.
Mile End
Just next to Mount Royal, Mile End was named the 5th coolest neighbourhood in the world by Time Out in 2022. The area has some great architecture, and has a very unique feel. Jewish Settlers make up a large section of the population of Mile End, so you can also find some great Jewish bakeries. The area also attracts the younger generation, as a popular gaming company set up it’s headquarters there. So it really does have quite the mix of locals!
Apart from the architecture and the people, you have to visit Mile End for the food and the shops. There are heaps of independent clothing and product shops, as well as vintage shops and a great bookstore called Drawn & Quarterly. There are also lots of great restaurants, cafes and bagel shops like Fairmount Bagel and St-Viateur Bagel. It really is a great place to explore, especially coupled with a trip to our next recommendation.
Little Italy
If you’re a food lover, Little Italy is the place to go in Montréal. Situated right next to Mile End, it is also in the middle of four metro stations so is super easy to get to. There are so many incredible Italian eateries from fancy pasta places to more casual pizza places. For dessert there’s a couple of Italian bakeries for some delicious Italian pastries and sweets. Of course there’s also lots of other amazing eateries from other cuisines, so there’s a lot to pick from!
However, the main thing to see in Little Italy is the Jean-Talon Market. This is the biggest open-air public market in North America. It is open from 8am to 6pm Monday to Saturdays and until 5pm on Sundays and is free to visit. The market sells seasonal local produce including food, fresh flowers and ready to eat food from the Québec region. It’s not the largest area so won’t take too long to wander around, but is worth a look if you’re in the area anyway or are interested in buying some produce.
As well as all the eating and local produce, the architecture in Little Italy is really cool. There are tree lined streets where cute houses with spiral staircases live. Walking around it reminded us a bit of parts of New York. It’s a lovely little area to visit and really is one of the great free things to see in Montréal.
Mount Royal Park
Mount Royal is a mountain in the middle of the city that was part of a volcanic complex around 125 million years ago. This mountain is actually the namesake for Montréal. The mountain has some residential areas, small parks, and cemeteries, but is mostly taken up by Mount Royal Park.
It is one of the biggest parks in the city, designed by a co-designer of Central Park in NYC. In the park is a visitor centre, Beaver Lake, a sculpture garden, and Kondiaronk Belvedere which is a terrace with a view of the city. There’s also skiing and walking trails, a snow tube, a taboggan run, and an ice skating rink on the lake in winter. There really is so much to see and do and it’s absolutely one of our favourite free things to see in Montréal.
One of the ways into the park is the Grand Staircase of Mount Royal. However there are 537 steps so we highly suggest entering the park somewhere else and exiting via the staircase. It also ends down basically in McGill University so its easy to couple it with a trip to the uni.
Montréal Village
The Gay Village is slightly out of the city closest to the Beaudry and Papineau metro stations. It is the largest gay village in North America and is surrounded by Berri, Maisonneuve and Papineau streets and René-Lévesque Boulevard. There are rainbows all around the village, including outside Beaudry metro station. Most of the cities gay businesses now reside in this area with over 300 businesses that identify with the LGBTQ+ community.
In summer, the section of road from Émilie-Gamelin Place up to Papineau station turns pedestrian only on St Catherine Street. There’s lots of live music, dancing, street art and places to sit and eat. It would be such a fun place to visit during the warmer months if you’re there!
The gay village is also of course where Montréal Pride or Fierté Montréal is held every year. It goes for 11 days in August where more than 3 million people will visit the area. The pride festival holds free talks, shows, films, activities as well as workshops on fighting against discrimination. The main event is the pride parade, which goes for 2.2km and is held on the final day of the event.
Rue Wellington
Rue Wellington, or Wellington Street, was named the coolest street in the world by Time Out in 2022. The street is longer, but the best part of it to visit is the Promenade which is a 1.3km strip from 6th Avenue down to Regina Street. From June to September the promenade is pedestrian only and there’s heaps of outdoor seating and people around which makes for a great vibe. On the street you’ll find some of the best restaurants and cafes in the city as well as some wonderful independent shops. We visited in winter and while there were some great decorations around, it definitely would be an amazing place to visit as it gets warmer and sunnier.
Christmas Villages
As you’ve read there are heaps of cool things to see and do in summer in Montréal, but there’s some great free things to see in Montréal in winter too! There are two Christmas markets that we visited, the Great Montréal Christmas Market and the Montréal Christmas Village. Both run from late November to late December and are free to visit. They have little European style chalets selling delicious hot food and drinks, live music and the latter village has a Christmas tree market too.
There are lots of other holiday markets happening in Montréal at that time too. If you’re interested we have a full blog post on the best Christmas markets in Canada that you can read about here.
We really hope you enjoy this list of some great free things to see in Montréal. From some trendy neighbourhoods with great food, a cobblestoned old town, a wonderful park with a great view of the city to some cute Christmas Markets, there really is SO much to see and do. No matter what season you’re visiting in there will be something amazing on so we really hope your visit to Montréal is fabulous!
To see everything we got up to on our visit, check out our vlog:
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