How to spend 72 hours in Montréal like a local
The city
One of the things that makes Montréal so accessible is how friendly locals are, but also how easy it is to feel at home here. Part of it is affordability — no need to shell out moolah to get access to the coolest things — but also its walkability, and the interconnectedness of its varied neighbourhoods. Here’s a three-day trajectory peppered with budget suggestions for where to eat, drink and spend time like a local. Get ready to build memories the tourist clichés won't provide.
DAY 1
Downtown & Little Burgundy
Wherever in the city you booked your stay, downtown Montréal is a good place to start any visit. Unlike other cities whose city centre might be dominated by enterprise or tourism, Montréal’s mixes both business and play for resident Montrealers — it’s the epicentre of a cultural scene packed with live music, comedy, sports, dance, theatre, dining and drinking.
A stellar coffee and a little breakfast seem like a wonderful way to start any day, and downtown has lots of little nooks locals like to frequent before work. Stop by Pikolo, Améa, Sfouf or one of the other indie coffee shops in the area, and chill alongside locals with your laptop or a good book.
Lunch calls? Stroll westward into the student haven of Shaughnessy Village, also known as Little Korea, for a restorative stop at local fave Sammi & Soupe Dumpling. Right on Sainte-Catherine Street West near Concordia University, it’s known for its cucumber chili salad and lamb and coriander dumplings, made fresh right in front of you.
Grab a BIXI bike and cycle south until you hit the Lachine Canal, lined by one of the city’s most used and most picturesque bike paths. Ride westward all the way to Atwater Market in Little Burgundy, where you can stock up on regional produce, cheeses and flowers for your Airbnb. Ditch your bike and walk along the nearby designer mecca of Rue Notre-Dame, dotted with fashion, antique and décor shops to peruse, before chilling and people watching on the canal banks.
Dinner and drinks at Foiegwa would be a perfect end to a typical Montréal day — whether you choose a steak tartare and frites here or go for another famous restaurant on the Notre-Dame strip (from Vin Papillon to Perles et Paddock), you’ll rub shoulders with lively locals on every side, and may just end up being scooped up to some party afterwards, if you start chatting. To work off the feast, stroll back to base along Notre-Dame to really get a sense of the changing city-scape from west to centre.
DAY 2
Mile End & Plateau
Saturday morning in Montréal calls for brunch, there’s just no two ways about it! Your destination today: Larry’s, a famous Mile End spot that still warrants weekend lineups after decades in business. The menu is full of British-leaning comfort food, including a breakfast sandwich that’s worth writing home about.
After brunch you’ll want to walk around this signature Montréal neighbourhood, where artists and novelists live alongside startup CEOs. Explore at all the cool vintage shops along Boulevard Saint-Laurent between Laurier and Bernard, then check out Rue Saint-Viateur and Avenue Bernard between Saint-Laurent and Parc for a good browse in indie shops of all sorts, including the Drawn & Quarterly, publisher of preeminent Canadian comics and great all-around bookshop.
Need a Homer Simpson hit? Stop into Bernie Beigne on Bernard, for their Simpsons donut (but don’t leave without trying the apple fritter, too, which is the size of book). If you overdid it at brunch, grab one for later — you’ll thank us!
To head back southward to the cool residential neighbourhood of the Plateau you can grab a BIXI again, or the bus, or slowly walk down the picturesque streets over to Rue Saint-Denis near Avenue Mont-Royal, to grab a revitalizing coffee at the Plateau location of the small chain Myriade, with its big breathy space, stylish white-painted brick and cute terrasse.
For a fun night look into what’s playing at MainLine Theatre, where there are always entertaining English-language plays, dance performances, parties and quirky-queer events like the Montreal Slowdance Night and the Strip Spelling Bee.
Dinner and drinks for after are readily available along Saint-Laurent, aka the Main: grab a quick burger at Patati Patata and drinks at Big in Japan (among Montréal’s top hidden bars) or the more casual Biftek before returning to base. If you’re a night owl, however, you’ll always find great indie live music at Casa del Popolo.
DAY 3
Westmount & NDG
Rise and shine softly-softly by grabbing the 24 bus westward and heading all the way along Sherbrooke Street West to the corner of Landsdowne, to explore Westmount Park.
Westmount is a beautiful residential neighbourhood, a cool mix of mansions (the houses get bigger and bigger as you head up the hill northward) and regular homes and apartment blocks with a commercial strip that runs through its core in the form of Sherbrooke Street.
Grab a scrumptious salad from the local Mandy’s, and either enjoy it on the spot, or, weather permitting, grab it to go and take it to Westmount Park where you can find a sweet nook, a bench or a rugby, soccer or baseball game going on for some live lunchtime entertainment.
Try to time your visit to the park to coincide with the opening hours of the Westmount Conservatory and Greenhouses — it’s like a mini botanical garden no one knows about. Enjoy a browse through the Westmount Public Library, too, while you’re at it.
After exploring the shopping strip of Sherbrooke (don’t miss Hogg’s Hardware Store, it’s full of col home décor finds), walk up and down Victoria Street for unique shops like La Cookery bookstore (all cookbooks, all the time) and the Visual Arts Centre, where there’s a free art gallery with great programming.
To get to the neighbouring hood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, known to locals as NDG, you can simply walk west along Sherbrooke, or you can take the metro to Villa-Maria station. Your goal is Monkland Village, a charming stretch of Monkland Street surrounded by pretty residential streets and dotted with all sorts of standalone shops and restaurants.
Get your afternoon pick-me-up coffee at MELK, and settle in for a break — it’s a comfortable place to soak up the neighborhood vibes.
When your appetite says “it’s dinner time,” you’ve got a few mouth-watering choices along this strip, including Lucille’s Oyster Dive and Monkland Taverne. Are you feeling more seafood tower or brasserie classics with a good bottle of red?
Grab the metro back to base from Villa Maria station, a hop away from either restaurant — and savour the memories of a legit Montréal weekend all the way home.
Isa Tousignant
Isa Tousignant is a Montréal-based editor and storyteller with a curiosity that runs deeper than most. She has chatted life philosophies with celebrity chefs, gemologists, arena rockers and furries. (All were transformative.) Her free time is spent designing jewellery and laughing at her husband’s jokes.