72 Hours in Montreal
Headed to Montreal? Here is our 72 Hours in Montreal Travel Guide that includes the best eats, must do activities, and places you absolutely have to visit if you're headed to Montreal.
What We LEARNED.
Montréal is the largest city in Canada's Québec province, build on an island in the Saint Lawrence River and named after the hill at its center, Mt. Royal.
One thing that I definitely was not aware of before planning our trip is that Montreal is known for its festivals, hosting more annually than any other place in the world. That being said, I would highly recommend trying to schedule your visit so it overlaps with one. While we were there we got tickets to festival Lumiere, and it was fantastic for so many reasons. They offered ziplining through the city, Henry and Oliver had a blast going down these awesome slides made of ice, and there was even a ferris wheel which looked so beautiful lit up at night!
Another thing we learned from talking to the locals was how fierce the neighborhood loyalty was within the city limits. Many of Montreal’s boroughs used to be independent towns, including neighborhoods ranging from French cobblestoned Vieux-Montréal which houses the Notre-Dame Basilica, to the bohemian Plateau.
Cold. When they say it is cold, they mean it. The temps are intense but the wind makes them even more extreme. You are going to want to pack LAYERS. Lots and lots of layers. It is an incredibly beautiful city in the winter, and totally worth going then because the way they do winter is truly unique, but seriously, LAYERS.
What We ATE.
Fairmount and St. Viateur.
We knew right away after doing some research that we had to experience first hand a city rivalry that stretched back nearly 60 years. Montreal is known for its bagels, and some people (okay a lot of people) say that Montreal has better bagels than NYC. I consider New York City bagels one of my all time favorite foods, so it seemed pretty unlikely to me. However Canadian locals were pretty adamant that their bagels reigned supreme, so we decided to check it out for ourselves.
There are a lot of bagel shops in the city, but the two that stand above the rest in Montreal are Fairmount and St. Viateur. We visited Fairmount first, before walking a few blocks to St. Viateur to see how it measured up against the competition. Johnny and I purposefully kept one another in the dark as to which we bagel we preferred until we had eaten both, so a truly unbiased opinion could form before deciding on which we liked the most.
So at the count of three, we simultaneously declared out into the world the bagerie we thought was a cut above the rest...and we said different things. In the end, Johnny wrongly picked St. Viateur, and I decided correctly on Fairmount. You should definitely go and decide for yourself, but honestly I still prefer New York City’s.
And to continue the pastry trend, the following day we headed to Patisserie au kouign amann, a unassuming and utterly adorable bakery. Kouign amann is like a croissant folded into and hugging itself, the Breton words translate to "butter cake," containing layers of dough, butter, and sugar that bake into caramelized crispiness. It is a must!
Tommy Cafe. This freaking cafe you guys. Holy woah. First of all, it is so beautiful, filled to the brim with plants and soaked in natural light. Second, it is still some of the best coffee and breakfast I've had in my travels. The pastries, the lattes, the ambience, yes yes yes!
What We DID.
One thing you have to do if you visit is make your way to Mount Royal Park and spend the day exploring. Mount Royal is just as cool if not more cool than central park! It is absurd and bizarre, but also so normal and accessible. We launched the drone up in the air and got such a really cool overview of just how big the park is. There were people passing us by on skis, hiking, and sledding, a great place to visit with kids because there is so much you can do as a family.
Johnny and I treated ourselves to an afternoon at the spa, which also happened to be on a boat. It’s called Bota Bota, spa-sur-l'eau, and their known for something called the water cycle. We spent the day alternating between three different levels of hot and cold water, while enjoying some incredible views of the city.
One of our last days there we went ice skating on beaver lake , which was an absolute blast to do as a family. Since the kids were still a little shaky at skating, we rented some sleds for them to hold onto as we made our way around.