Budget · 3-hour walk · Montreal
Vieux-Montreal in three hours
The basilica and the old square, the cobbled main street and the waterfront at the end.
Old Montreal is a few blocks of 17th to 19th-century stone beside the St Lawrence, and it is the only part of the city that predates the grid. Notre-Dame is the one ticket and it is worth it for the interior, which is deep blue and gold and looks like nothing else in North America.
The route, stop by stop
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Notre-Dame Basilica
Deep blue vaulting with twenty-four-carat gold stars. Timed tickets, and the evening light show is separate.
40 min here Walk here → -
Place d'Armes
Faces the basilica, with the oldest skyscraper in Canada and the Bank of Montreal head office on the other sides.
15 min here Walk here → -
Rue Saint-Paul
The oldest street in the city, cobbled and lined with galleries. Pedestrianised in summer.
35 min here Walk here → -
Place Jacques-Cartier
The sloping market square down to the waterfront, full of terraces and buskers in summer.
20 min here Walk here → -
Old Port of Montreal
Two kilometres of reclaimed waterfront: a big wheel, a beach and skating in winter.
30 min here Walk here →
More in Montreal
Every walking route in Montreal, or the full Montreal guide for where to stay and what a day costs.