20 Fun Things to Do in Montreal, Tours, Food, Experiences
Sitting on an island in the St. Lawrence River, Montreal is the kind of city that feels like several places at once. French roots run deep here, but layered on top is a tangle of influences from everywhere else, which is exactly what makes it so fun to explore.
The food, the architecture, the festivals, the neighborhoods that change personality from one block to the next: there is a lot to take in. One of the easiest ways to get your bearings is to book a tour. A good guide hands you the city’s backstory, points out the architecture you would have walked right past, and gives you the kind of local context you can’t get from a map app.
As an affiliate partner of various brands and sponsored content, HerPaperRoute may earn commission on qualifying purchases. Disclaimer
Tours are also a sneaky-good way to meet people, since Montreal happens to be one of the friendlier cities you’ll ever visit. Below you’ll find my roundup of the best tours in Montreal, from rolling your own bagels to chasing ghosts through the old quarter to escaping the city entirely for a day in the mountains. Any one of these will make your trip more memorable.
Why book a tour in Montreal?
A tour gives you a fast, painless overview of the city and a guide who can answer the questions a guidebook never anticipated. Most tours run in both English and French, so you can pick the language you’d rather hear.
Montreal is also big. Really big. Booking a tour helps you cover more ground and squeeze more into your days than you would wandering solo and hoping you stumble onto the good stuff.
Best company to book tours in Montreal
Best company to book tours in Montreal There are plenty of tour operators out there, but the two I reach for again and again are Viator and Get Your Guide. Here’s why I keep coming back to Viator.
The selection via both tour companies is huge, so finding a tour that fits your style is almost guaranteed. The guides know their stuff, which means you actually walk away having learned something.
Viator Pricing stays competitive, so you’re not overpaying for the experience. And on the rare occasion something goes sideways, their customer service sorts it out fast. For all those reasons, Viator is an easy recommendation.
Fun Things to Do in Montreal & The best Montreal tours
Historical Tours
History buffs, this is your section. A good historical tour brings the past to life and walks you through the places that shaped the city. When you’re choosing one, look for a tour that hits the eras and topics you actually care about, led by someone who knows the material cold.
History Walking Tour of Old Montreal
This guided walk takes you through the beating heart of historic Montreal. You’ll dig into the history, heritage, and architecture of the city’s oldest quarter, with roots stretching back to the days of New France. Pick a shorter loop around either the east or west side, or go for the longer version that covers both. Either way you’ll see landmarks like Notre-Dame Basilica, Place Jacques-Cartier, Bonsecours Market, City Hall, and Champ de Mars.
Beyond the Basilica a Walking Tour in Montreal
This route carries you from Old Montreal up into the Plateau Mont-Royal borough. You’ll start at the ornate Basilica, then meander the streets of Vieux-Montréal soaking up the history and street art before passing through the entertainment district and Chinatown.
Old Montreal Ghost Walking Tour
If you like your history with a chill down the spine, this evening ghost walk delivers. Once the sun goes down, your guide leads you through the tucked-away streets of Old Montreal, spinning tales of the city’s hauntings. Expect stories of outlaws, witchcraft, and the grim happenings that supposedly still linger on these old streets.
Foodie tours
If eating your way through a new place is your idea of a perfect day, a food tour belongs at the top of your list. It’s a tasty shortcut to understanding a city’s culture, its history, and the people who actually live there.
Montreal Bagel Making Workshop
Montrealers are fiercely proud of their bagels, and rightly so. In this hands-on, small-group class, you’ll learn the secrets behind that signature crisp-and-chewy texture. You’ll make your own way to a cozy Mile End apartment kitchen, then work alongside your instructor to understand flour types, proper kneading technique, the steps that make a Montreal bagel different from any other bread, and how to finish them off with your topping of choice.
Secret Food Tours Montreal
Montreal is one of the country’s great eating cities, with a range that runs from refined dining to old-school French classics to street food worth crossing town for. This tasting tour winds through neighborhoods like Little Italy and Mile End with a local guide, ducking into bars, bakeries, restaurants, and delis along the way. Expect to sample everything from gnocchi to Alsatian tarts to those famous bagels, with Quebecois beer and sweet crepes rounding things out.
The Sip of Montreal Brew Tour
Beer fans, this one’s for you. You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at how the good stuff gets made at local microbreweries, with plenty of samples so you can find your next favorite pour. No need to figure out a ride afterward either, since a minibus shuttles you between stops. It’s a great way to kick off a night out.
Beyond the Market Food Tour in Montreal
This market-focused tour pairs lively eateries with busy bars for a proper taste of the city. You’ll explore Jean-Talon Market and a slice of Little Italy with your guide, getting a Canadian spin on farm-to-table eating.
You’ll see why locals are so devoted to fresh ingredients, sample the goods at a few hole-in-the-wall favorites, and meet the producers keeping standards sky-high. Along the way you’ll pick up on the Vietnamese, Italian, and Latino flavors that have worked their way into the local food scene.
Sightseeing tours
When you want the big picture fast, a sightseeing tour is hard to beat. These give you the lay of the land, a crash course in local history and culture, and a tick through the marquee landmarks, usually with a local guide who knows the city inside out.
Montreal City Sightseeing Tour with Live Commentary
This guided tour serves up a proper overview of the city, rolling past top sights like Notre-Dame Basilica, Chinatown, Mount Royal Park, Olympic Stadium, Saint Joseph’s Oratory, the Old Port, and Old Montreal. You’ll ride a comfortable motorcoach while a professional guide narrates the highlights of Quebec’s largest city. Hotel pickup and drop-off are included.
Guided Scooter Sightseeing Tour in Montreal
For something with a bit more zip, this scooter tour zips you through back streets and past the city’s headline attractions. You’ll learn about the neighborhoods you pass while cruising along on an electric scooter.
Helicopter Tour Over Montreal
Want the ultimate vantage point? This helicopter tour lifts you 1,500 feet (457 meters) above the city for sweeping views of the Olympic Stadium, downtown, Mount Royal, and beyond. You’ll get a safety briefing and a chance to settle in before takeoff.
4 Hour Montreal Architecture & City Bike Tour with Wine or Beer
Skip the crowds on this half-day bike tour covering Montreal’s architecture, food, neighborhood life, and history with a local guide. Choose between two routes, each exploring a different side of the city’s diverse boroughs. The best part: your bike rental is yours for the rest of the day once the tour wraps. You also get a helmet, a 21-speed bike, bottled water, a food tasting, and a glass of beer or wine in Old Montreal.
Montreal City Hop-on Hop-off Tour
This narrated double-decker bus tour lets you explore at your own pace. You’ll roll past favorites like Notre-Dame Basilica, Chinatown, Mount Royal Park, Crescent Street, the Old Port, and Old Montreal. The two-day pass means you can hop on and off at any of the ten stops, with live bilingual commentary keeping you company along the way.
Admission to La Grande Roue de Montréal
For some of the best views in the city, take a spin on La Grande Roue de Montréal. Your ticket gets you a gondola ride 197 feet (60 meters) up, with panoramas stretching from the Old Port to downtown to Mount Royal. Come by day for the cityscape or after dark for the glittering skyline. Either way, the views are tough to beat.
Best hotels the area: Manoir Sherbrooke, Auberge du Carre St-Louis, Auberge du Carre St-Louis and Auberge du Plateau
Le Bateau-Mouche Sightseeing Cruise in Montreal
This 1.5-hour cruise pushes off from Jacques-Cartier Pier at the Old Port and treats you to panoramic water views. Keep an eye out for the Olympic Stadium, the Clock Tower, the Montréal Science Centre, Jacques Cartier Bridge, and Habitat 67.
St. Lawrence River Sightseeing Guided Cruise
See Montreal from the water aboard the Cavalier Maxim river vessel. As you glide past the waterfront, a certified guide narrates the city’s history with a steady supply of anecdotes to keep things lively.
Where to stay in Montreal
If you’re partial to cute cafes and neighborhoods with character (same), I’d point you toward Plateau Mont-Royal.
For one thing, the area is stacked with some of the city’s best restaurants and cafes, so a great meal is never far away. For another, the Plateau is one of Montreal’s liveliest pockets, with cobblestone streets and indie boutiques practically begging to be wandered. And it’s central, which makes getting around the rest of the city simple.
- Capsule Plus (in Old Montreal)
- Maison Sainte-Thérèse By Maisons & co (in Old Montreal)
- Manoir Sherbrooke (Plateau Mont Royal)
- Auberge du Carre St-Louis
- Auberge du Plateau
Facts about Montreal
- The city takes its name from Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill at its center. The early settlement was built right around it. Mount Royal Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the same landscape architect behind New York City’s Central Park.
- A local bylaw says no building can rise higher than the cross on top of Mount Royal, so the skyline stays politely beneath it. Montreal is the largest primarily French-speaking city in the Americas, and one of the most bilingual cities in the country, with well over half the population fluent in both French and English.
- Just like Manhattan, Montreal sits on an island, this one in the St. Lawrence River. It’s home to the RÉSO, the largest underground city in North America, where you can shop, eat, and move between Metro stations without ever facing the winter air. The world’s first recorded indoor ice hockey game was played here on March 3, 1875, at the Victoria Skating Rink, organized by a McGill student and played with a wooden puck.
- The Montreal Canadiens have won more Stanley Cup titles than any other team in NHL history. John Lennon wrote and recorded “Give Peace a Chance” in a room at the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel during his 1969 bed-in with Yoko Ono.
- Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design in 2006, a nod to its architecture, creativity, and craftsmanship.
- It hosts one of the world’s biggest cultural exports: Cirque du Soleil, the largest contemporary circus producer on the planet, got its start here.
- The 1987 Montreal Protocol, the international treaty that phased out ozone-depleting substances, was signed at the city’s convention center and is often called the most successful environmental agreement ever made.
- Montreal has 50 National Historic Sites of Canada, more than any other city in the country.
- The illuminated cross on Mount Royal dates to 1924 and was put up to honor a vow made in 1642 when a flood threatened the early colony. It usually glows white but can switch colors for special occasions.
- The city is festival-obsessed. The Montreal International Jazz Festival and Just for Laughs are both among the largest of their kind anywhere. For your money, Montreal is a relative bargain, ranking as one of the more affordable big cities in North America.
- The new Réseau express métropolitain (REM) is set to become the fourth-largest automated transit network in the world once fully complete.
- The city is laced with hidden outdoor staircases, the “escaliers,” especially around the Plateau, a quirk of its row-house architecture.
Fun Things to Do in Montreal – Conclusion
Montreal rewards the curious. You can plan your days down to the minute or just follow your nose toward whatever smells like fresh bagels, and either way the city tends to hand you something you didn’t expect: a hidden staircase, a mural that stops you mid-stride, a tiny bistro that turns into a three-hour dinner.
Whenever you go, however you go, that mix of French soul and big-city energy is what keeps people coming back. So pick a few things from this list, leave room for the detours, and let Montreal do the rest. You’ll be planning your return trip before you’ve even left.
For more travel tips, follow me on Instagram.
