Montreal (كندا) - information for visitors and tourists

Montreal : General information Montreal, Canada

Montreal 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, includes Laval and several other communities) 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.

Getting to montreal

The choices of transportation are endless for getting to Montreal. The city of Montreal can be reached by highways, trains, buses, and there are also several airports service the city of Montreal. This makes Montreal accessible from the U.S.A., Europe, and the rest of Canada.

GETTING TO MONTREAL BY AIR

Montreal’s main airport is Pierre-Elliot Trudeau International Airport. This airport is commonly known as Montreal-Trudeau and its previous name used to be Dorval International Airport. Its international Airport code is YUL. Many of the world’s major airline companies fly into Montreal through this airport. Montreal’s other airport, Mirable is very rarely used.

GETTING TO MONTREAL FROM THE AIRPORT

From the airport, you have several choices getting to downtown Montreal. Taxis will charge a fixed rate of around $45 plus tip to take you from the airport to downtown Montreal. The airport shuttle, known as l’Aerobus will bring you from the airport to downtown Montreal, stopping at Montreal’s central bus terminal, commonly known as Station Central d’Autobus. You can also use public transportation thanks to Montreal’s 747 express bus, which travels from the airport to downtown Montreal.

MONTREAL’S 747 EXPRESS BUS

Featuring nine stops in each direction, the 747 service is provided 24 hours a day, 365 days a year between Montreal’s central bus terminal (Berri-UQAM metro station) and Montreal-Trudeau airport. Buses on the 747 route are equipped with three luggage racks for the convenience of travellers. The $8 fare is payable in cash aboard the bus – coins only, bills are not accepted. It also provides travellers with a transit pass valid on the STM bus and metro network for the next 24 hours.

GETTING TO MONTREAL BY CAR

If you are arriving to Montreal by car, then there are two possibilities. New York State’s I-87, which is Canada’s route 50, will take you from New York City to Montreal. US I-89 eventually becomes route 133 in Canada and then becomes Highway 35 Eventually Hwy. 10, which leads directly to downtown Montreal. If traveling from Massachusetts, you can follow I-91 until it becomes route 55 which eventually becomes route to. From Boston, you have several options, including I-93, I-89 and Route 133. If you are coming from anywhere in Canada, they are several TransCanada highways available across the city from several popular Canadian cities such as Toronto and Ottawa.

GETTING TO MONTREAL BY TRAIN

Canadian trains are run by VIA rail and US trains are operated by Amtrak. All of these train companies will bring you into Montreal’s main railway station, commonly known as the Gare Central or central station, which is located behind the Fairmount Queen Elizabeth hotel. Montreal’s central station is also connected to the underground city and to the Bonaventure Metro station.

GETTING TO MONTREAL BY BUS

Montreal’s central bus station, known as Station Centrale d’Autobus handles all Greyhound, and other long-distance buses from Canada and other US cities. The central bus station has connections to the Beri-UQAM Metro station. Buses from New York City to Montreal take approximately eight hours while buses from Boston take seven hours. Buses from Québec city and Ottawa take about 2 hours while buses from Toronto take five hours.
 

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Location

Montreal 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, includes Laval and several other communities) 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 is Denis Coderre.

You can download a very detailed PDF city map and other maps from this page on the Montreal transit site.

The official city site has a map portal with many kinds of maps.

Climate

Montréal, QC
-13°C
Clear

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.

Communications

Telephones:

The island of Montreal* uses the 514 area code. Laval, the North Shore, the South Shore, the Laurentians, Upper Richelieu, Lanaudière, Montérégie, Eastern Townships and Upper Yamaska use the area code 450. Some calls from 514 to 450 are local, some are not; most calls from Montreal to Laval and Longueuil are local and do not require dialing 1. A new code, 438, is being gradually introduced, mostly for cell phone service, because 514 is nearly full up. 450 is growing so fast that it will soon be joined by another code, 579.

A local call from a phone booth costs 50 cents.

*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 inhabited)

Postal services:

Find a post office.

Within Canada letters (up to 30 g) cost $0.85 if you buy stamps in bulk, $1.00 individually. To the U.S., letters are $1.20 and elsewhere $2.50. 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 wireless connections and there are cafés that offer free wi-fi. The city has installed some free wi-fi in Old Montreal.

You may want to consider joining the free wireless group Île Sans Fil and creating an account there before coming to Montreal. They provide free wifi in many cafés and other public places.

This conference page has a lot of information on bringing phones to Canada and getting SIM cards for Montreal. Please note that it dates from 2014 so some of the charges and details may have changed.

Currency, taxes and tipping

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).

New Canadian currency is made of plastic. Paper bills are going out of circulation.

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. Bank branches are commonly open from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m. during the week, often with extended hours on Thursday or Friday, but all Canadian banks have reduced the number of their branches in recent years and, in some cases, reduced the hours of existing branches.

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% 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 than a 15% tip 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.

Customs and immigration

Canada Border Services Agency website

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: 514-878-4381

Getting 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 will 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.

A taxi ride from the downtown area to Trudeau Airport costs a flat rate of $40.00 not including tip. 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 km

Time

Montreal 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

Electricity in Canada is 110V 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.

Weights and measures

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, and these are usually still well understood if you use them.

Holidays

Canada has several federal statutory holidays. Provinces also have their own holidays.

Holidays in 2017:

January 1: New Year's Day
January 2: Day after New Year's Day
April 14: 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 Day

Some 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 also 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 is held on a Sunday near St. Patrick's Day (March 17) whose connection with Ireland is by now only a notional one. It will be held Sunday, March 19 in 2017.

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, and many other unionized workers take these two weeks off as well.

This is a useful listing of pretty much all the holidays relevant in Montreal.

Language

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 and Chinese. The variety of Chinese is not specified.

Health and safety

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 and our tap water is drinkable. You do not need any special immunizations to visit Canada and you do not need to drink bottled water here.

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. There are a few sketchy parts of town but none that are categorically dangerous.

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; some do without a license and customers can bring their own wine. Eater recently ran a list of the best bring-your-own-wine restaurants.

Beer and wine can be sold in stores until 11 p.m. and bars must stop selling alcohol at 3 a.m.

Smoking is 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. Vaping is regarded as the same as smoking, legally.

The usual recreational drugs are still illegal in Canada, although the legalization of recreational marijuana may finally happen in 2017. Purchase and consumption of small amounts of marijuana is unofficially tolerated, but is still technically illegal, so be circumspect.

Minors can't buy lottery tickets or scratch games and can't go to the Casino.

Getting around the city

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, 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, sometimes 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 in Montreal, although this is now permitted in Quebec off Montreal island.

Montreal presents some hazards for drivers. Pedestrians are 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 when driving around town in the summer.

Seatbelts are mandatory even in back seats. Helmets are required for motorcyclists. 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 white cars with a blue stripe (although they also have several stealth cars in white or black, with very faint markings). Parking infractions are monitored by city employees in reddish-orange cars – these folks wear green uniforms and are sometimes known as Green Onions.

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 people with numbered stickers. 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.

Because parking can be so difficult, sightseeing on foot and by Metro is encouraged, at least within downtown, the Plateau and Old Montreal, unless you have mobility problems.

The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) patrols on highways, both inside and outside the city, usually in white cars with a double stripe, black and yellow. 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 iPod Touch and for Android which gives scheduled timing for bus routes near one's location. The STM is gradually introducing real-time GPS-based bus data but it isn't yet displayed via any app.

The Metro shuts down around 12:30 a.m. after which the whole system shifts over to the night bus service until 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 manned ticket booths and ticket machines. If you pay a fare with change, 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 with you to show transit police if they ask (and they do).

A monthly regular adult pass (CAM – carte autobus-métro) giving full access to the STM metro and bus system costs $83.00. A single fare is $3.25 and in the bus must be paid with exact change. For tourists a special card giving full access for a day costs $10 and for three consecutive days costs $18. Full fare information including other options and points of sale.

People who are not Montreal 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. A regular STM pass or bus/metro ticket does not include access to commuter trains or off-island bus systems.

Bicycles

If you're comfortable on a bicycle it would be interesting to see Montreal en vélo. Bicycling magazine named Montreal the top bicycling city for 1999. However, keep in mind that motorists tend to be aggressive and you have to ride circumspectly.

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: after paying one's five dollars for 24 hours of access, the bikes are free to use for trips taking less than half an hour, but the rates rise pretty fast if you keep a bike longer than an hour. There are several iPhone apps that track Bixi availability in real time. Bixi racks are removed toward the end of November for winter, and reappear in late April or May.

Helmets are not mandatory for cyclists, but 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.

Newspapers and news sites

Montreal has four daily newspapers. Only one, The Gazette, is in English. There are three French-language dailies, Le Devoir, La Presse and Le Journal de Montréal. Of these, only the Journal still prints a Sunday edition, and La Presse only prints a paper edition on Saturdays.

Two free tabloid dailies publish only on weekdays: 24H, belonging to Quebecor, which also owns the Journal de Montréal, which is distributed mostly outside metro stations, and Métro, which belongs to Transcontinental, owner of many community weeklies, which you can find inside the metro system and generally around town.

Voir, which used to be an alt weekly, then was published on paper every two weeks, will cease this type of print publication in 2016. A monthly magazine has been mentioned as a possibility. The English-language cultural site Cult MTL publishes one edition monthly. These can be picked up in many cafés and public places.

Fugues is a monthly small-size magazine and website by and for the local gay community, and can be found in the Village and in many other cultural locations around town. There are also publications produced by the city's many ethnic communities. Corriere Italiano is probably the oldest of these and may no longer be available on paper.

For international papers, check any Maison de la Presse Internationale or Multimags or drop into the Grande Bibliothèque ground-floor periodicals section any day but Monday.

Tourist information centre

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.

Top attractions in Montreal

Updated February 8, 2017

The Underground City
Notre-Dame Basilica
Mount Royal
The Olympic Stadium and environs

The Underground City

pdf map from the STM
Wikipedia article

Many people come to Montreal to shop in its wide range of international boutiques. Possibly the most famous shopping area in Montreal is the Underground City, waymarked by its official name RÉSO (from the French réseau, meaning network). Constantly growing, the "city" – which links many major buildings and multi-level shopping malls in the downtown area – is a shopper's paradise in any season.

Shown above is a reflection of Place Ville-Marie, whose underground mall was one of the initial segments of the Underground City. The building, designed by Henry N. Cobb and I.M. Pei design, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012.

The major portion of the underground city is reached via Peel and McGill metro stations on the green line, which links via passageways to Bonaventure station on the orange line. East of McGill station is another axis from Place-des-Arts metro down through Complexe Desjardins and beyond.

Safe and sheltered from the elements, the underground city offers a huge range of goods and services, food courts, cinemas and entertainment, as well as a handy way to get from place to place without weather or traffic problems.

Notre-Dame Basilica

Metro Place d'Armes
Official site
Wikipedia article

Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica has nothing in common with Paris's except the name. It's a neogothic building originally built in 1829, constructed on the site of a much older and smaller church which had been outgrown by its parishioners. Work continued on the towers and the interior throughout the 19th century. Montreal's Notre-Dame is not a cathedral. The Roman Catholic cathedral is Mary Queen of the World on René-Lévesque Boulevard.

Notre-Dame is noted for its lavish and beautiful interior – stained glass windows, paintings, statues, gold-tipped polychrome carvings, rich altarpiece. It also has a notable Casavant organ and its largest bell, le Gros Bourdon, is the biggest on the continent.

Céline Dion got married at Notre-Dame, it's typically the site of funerals of significant people such as Pierre Trudeau and Maurice Richard, and classical and choral concerts are held there. A son et lumière that tells about the church's history is often shown in the evening.

A ticket price of $5.00 is now charged to enter the church unless you are going inside to say a prayer (hint).

Notre-Dame shares Place d'Armes with the Vieux Séminaire, dating from 1685, the red sandstone New York Life building (1888) – Montreal's first skyscraper – the elegant deco Aldred Building (1931), the imposing Roman-style Bank of Montreal building, and the central monument to de Maisonneuve, founder of the original settlement of Ville-Marie. Place d'Armes was recently renovated to 21st-century tastes.

Notre-Dame is only one of many beautiful churches in the city.

Mount Royal

11 bus (eastbound | westbound) then walk. Or park in one of the mountaintop lots and walk. Or, walk up from the top of Peel Street.
Official website
montreal.com page about the park

The lookout on top of Mount Royal is an excellent goal for an urban walk. It's part of Mount Royal Park, laid out long ago by Frederick Law Olmsted, best known for landscaping New York's Central Park.

From the beautifully appointed lookout terrace, downtown Montreal is at your feet, with a view to the river and beyond to the other Monteregian hills. Some sight lines to landmarks are marked along the parapet wall. The chalet by the lookout is open in the daytime and offers shelter and bathrooms, as do Smith House and the Beaver Lake chalet.

Mount Royal is an attraction in Montreal in all seasons. In summertime it's a cool airy refuge from the heat of the city, in autumn the changing colours of the trees are a joy, and in winter there's a range of sports from cross-country skiing and snowshoeing to skating and tobogganing or inner-tubing down the slopes.

The top of Mount Royal is divided between the park and two large cemeteries, the Catholic Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery and the nondenominational Mount Royal cemetery. Both of these can be interesting walks: together they form a necropolis among the largest in the world.

The Olympic Stadium and Espace pour la vie

Metro Pie-IX
Official website of the stadium
Official website of the Espace pour la vie

The Olympic Stadium was built for Montreal's 1976 Summer Olympics and is used today for occasional sports events and concerts. An elevator ascends the world's tallest inclined tower to a lookout on top; tickets are for sale at the base. The stadium is one of Montreal's most curious pieces of architecture and is accompanied by the Biodome (originally used for cycle racing during the 1976 games, now a kind of indoor zoo), shown at left above.

The stadium dominates an area now known as Espace pour la vie, which includes the Botanical Garden (best in summertime, but with large greenhouses worth a visit any time of year), the Insectarium, the Planetarium and the Biodome; tickets can be bought to enjoy more than one of these installations during a single visit – see the official website grouping them all.

Across Pie-IX from the stadium is the Dufresne-Nincheri museum, originally built as a grand mansion. The Olympic park also contains Saputo Stadium, home of the Impact soccer team, a cineplex, the Maurice Richard arena, and also an internationally known, if unofficial, skateboarding venue.

Canada : General informaiton

Requirements for Entering Canada (Passports and Visas)

Visitors must hold a valid passport; a visa or an eTA may be required. For more information about visas, please consult the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website. You may also consult the nearest Canadian embassy, the consulate, a customs broker or your travel agent. For foreign Canadian visitors who do not require a visa, you need an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA). For more information, please consult the CIC website. If you require an invitation letter, contact the organizers. This procedure was developed to facilitate obtaining a visitor's visa or permission to attend the Conference, not for covering registration fees and other expenses. The letter of invitation in no way commits the conference organizers to providing financial or other support.

Currency

The legal currency is the Canadian dollar, which is divided into 100 cents. Bills are available in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars. Coins are available in denominations of 5, 10 and 25 cents, plus 1 and 2 dollars. Canadian and US currencies are not at parity. US currency is accepted at most places with varying exchange rates. Consult http://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/exchange/daily-converter/ for exchange rates. To avoid any inconvenience, we recommend that visitors obtain Canadian currency at the official exchange rate at a financial institution or travel agency when they arrive.

Units of Measure

Canada uses the metric system.

Electricity

In Canada, electricity is 110 volts, as in the rest of North America. Appliances from other countries outside North America require a power adaptor.

Taxes

The federal goods and services tax (GST) of 5% and the Quebec sales tax (QST) of 9.975% are added to all purchases. Taxes are subject to change. For more information, visit the Web sites of the Canada Revenue Agency and the Ministère du Revenu du Québec.

Tipping

In Canada, tips are not included on restaurant bills, but are left to the customer's discretion. A tip of 15% of the total cost before taxes is recommended. We suggest you do the same for taxis. Porters expect $1 CDN per bag.

Safety

Quebec City is a small, welcoming and safe North American city. Quebeckers have built a stable, peaceful society through their open, tolerant culture, with 400 years of incorporating influences from France and England, and now Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. However, caution should still be used in order to avoid falling victims to petty crime.

Insurance

The fees for the Conference do not include any provisions for the insurance of participants against personal injury, sickness, theft, or property damage. This also applies to any event held during the Conference period. Participants and accompanying persons are advised to arrange for any insurance they consider necessary. Neither the Organizing Committee nor the agencies or partners involved in the organization of the Conference assume any responsibility for loss, injury or damage to persons or belongings, whatever the cause may be. Access to health care is costly for non-residents and we therefore recommend that participants arrange their own travel insurance (health and accident coverage). We also recommend that you arrange insurance for lost luggage and other incidents.

Climate

Québec's climate is humid continental. July is in the middle of the Quebec summer season. For more weather information, visit Environment Canada.

Language

English and French are the main languages in Canada.

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تنويه: نحن نهدف إلى توفير المعلومات الصحيحة والموثوقة حول الأحداث القادمة، لكن لا يمكن أن نقبل المسؤولية عن نص الإعلانات أو حسن نية منظمي الحدث. لا تتردد في الاتصال بنا إذا لاحظت معلومات غير صحيحة أو مضللة وسنحاول تصحيحها.