Canada City Guide
The nearby islands in the St Lawrence – Ile Ste-Hélène and Ile Notre-Dame – were the site of the Expo 67 World Fair, and now comprise the city’s largest park, Parc Jean-Drapeau. The other tourist must-see is the legacy of another international event: the 1976 Summer Olympics. The Big ‘O’ (the Olympic Stadium) has the world’s tallest inclined tower and is next door to the city’s expansive Botanical Garden.
The ‘real’ Montreal, though, exists in neighbourhoods that celebrate their ethnic origins – like Little Italy and Chinatown and especially the multicultural Plateau Mont-Royal. Boulevard St-Laurent (‘The Main’), which runs through the Plateau and divides Montreal into east and west, is the city’s most lively street, where the shops, bars and ethnic restaurants draw crowds until well into the night.
The best time to visit Montreal is in the summer, when even the nights can be sultry and the whole city seems to be partying, as the festival season moves into high gear. The cooler autumns bring out the colours in the leaves and are a great time to visit the forested Laurentians or the rolling hills of the Eastern Townships. Even the cold and snowy winters are bearable – inside the Underground City’s network of shops and entertainment spots, if not on the ski slopes.
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