Sean Horgan

Travel Guides

Montreal - Old Town

Sean Horgan

Trip notes

We spent 3 days in Montreal in early January 2025.

We stayed at ale Petit Hotel on St Paul St W, which is in the middle of old town and charming. It's part of a bigger chain (Gray Hotels) that appears to be very well run.

January seems like a great time of year to visit as it wasn't super busy but everything was still open. We got lucky with the weather as it was cold (20s F) but mostly clear.

Old town is super walkable with little coffee shops, bars and restaurants tucked away in every corner.

Easy to get reservations which is still needed for many of the most popular places but you shouldn't have trouble walking in to other great spots

Sidewalks weren't shoveled so bring decent boots in winter

Metro is fast, clean and easy to use. Wished we explored more of the city but we wanted to focus on old town.

We found most places using reviews and public lists in Google Maps. Ratings felt a bit inflated as you often see in places with lots of tourists but overall there tons of photos and great descriptions.

Here's the Google map list I put together which was drawn from recommendations from friends, reddit, guide books, and stuff we walked by. We didn't go to all of these but all sounded fun.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/DZPnLtz3XZddnvPW7?g_st=ac⁠

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Friday

Checked in early at the hotel

Appetizers at Wolf and Workman

MEM museum

Mile in my shoes exhibit was the best part of this

Rest felt like a tourist board pamphlet of how wonderful and diverse the city is. Would skip it

Explored Place Des Arts

Hot chocolate at Chocolate Favoris

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https://maps.app.goo.gl/Fns2pokmtednE51A7⁠

Great chocolate gifts

You can choose from a ton of different chocolate types to make hot chocolate with milk

Dinner at Maggie Oakes

Drinks at Coldroom

Cool little speakeasy that is hard to find as there is no sign on the door, just a doorbell with a note to be patient.

Sat at the bar and got some local recommendations from the bartender Cam..

Saturday

Bota Bota in the morning, 9am to almost 1pm

Remember to bring sandals and a bag for wet things

Lunch at La Cartet

Great gift shopping

Walked around old town and Bonsecours market

Interesting maple taffy thing where they pour out some hot maple syrup onto some shaved ice that you then roll up into a ball.

Gyoza and drinks at Pub St. Pierre

Oysters at Monarch

Aura show at Notre Dame Basilica

Dinner at Mondavie

Live jazz music upstairs

Specialize in lamb

Drinks at Bisou Bisou

Great fortified wine selection. Ali liked the vermouth

Sunday

Breakfast at Tommy Cafe on Rue St Paul

Just down the street from the hotel

Bunch of these cafes around town

Nice light food and coffee drinks

Comfortable place to read and plan out the day

Checked out the Metro

PHI Centre

Went to the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Grabbed coffee at micro espresso

Eye over Montreal

15 to 20 minutes ride. 3 spins around.

Great views of the city and port. Pricey but worth it.

Uber to airport

Leave a bit earlier than you think as traffic around the airport always seems bad. Plan for it to take 35 minutes from old town, not the 20 minutes it takes to get to old town from the airport.

Picked curbside option.. express seems dicey as you are relying on a shuttle. Not sure if that was the right call