New York City à la Montréal
The infectious energy of The Big Apple is echoed in Montréal’s up-all-night party atmosphere, jam-packed festival performance calendar and cultural neighbourhoods like Little Italy and Chinatown. You’ll find yourself dreaming of la grosse pomme once you’ve experienced New York City à la Montréal!
You’ll find all the big city hustle-bustle of NYC right here in Montréal, with a gastronomic, cultural and festival scene with flavours just as fresh and popping. The city’s latest restaurant openings guarantee the latest tastes and culinary innovations (not to mention some traditional Jewish favourites), and it all goes down smooth with after drinks at our IYKYK hidden bars and speakeasies.
Montréalers love live theatre, and local performance venues guarantee theatrical feats as sparkling as those on Broadway, while the Opéra de Montréal hits notes as high as those in the Metropolitan Opera House. The Montréal Symphony Orchestra is world-renowned for its musical prowess, the dancers of Les Grands Ballets are always on point and the city’s annual concert calendar is packed with international superstars and hyped-up newcomers. And if all of that wasn’t guaranteed to keep you more than busy, Montréal’s status as one of the world’s leading festival cities features international trend-setters like the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, the M.A.D. Fashion, Arts and Design Festival and the outdoor winter dance party Igloofest.
Montréal’s old school Italian community congregates in Little Italy and Villeray, home to some of the city’s best eats, street fests and whatsamattayou accents while behind the gates of Chinatown, all the tastes of Asia await with buzzing hot-tip restaurants and night markets feeding the masses. And when it comes to bagels, sorry NYC but it’s no question Montréal’s traditional honey-boiled are the best.
While NYC’s got the Big Apple, we’re just as proud of our Big Orange and glowing Biosphère, a design marvel created by Buckminster Fuller for Expo 67. Visit the first for some hot dogs and fries (which we’ve also improved in the form of poutine) and gaze upon the second in Parc Jean-Drapeau’s massive gathering place Espace 67.
Mark Hamilton
Mark Hamilton is the community director for QueerMTL, an internationally-touring musician with his projects Woodpigeon and Frontperson and a graduate studies student of history researching LGBTQ+ activism in the city. He’s lived in Montréal since 2015, during which time he’s most often spotted atop a BIXI bike usally running a few minutes late.