Hot summer. Find a nice public pool, go when it is not crowded. Avoid hot afternoon sun! There is a minor charge for the large Parc Jean-Drapeau pool (and beach) and totally worth it. Easy access from the metro to this Aquatic Complex.
Bixi monthly pass this year was just $20 and even though bike availability and dock availability was not good, most of the time it was usable so worth getting it.
Also see Montreal Summer 2017
Quebec has a nice bike trail system: La Route Verte.
Montreal biking, especially in Verdun, means great views riding along the St Lawrence river.
This post is about a ride from Verdun Beach to Estacade du Pont Champlain and Chemin de la Petite Voie du Fleuve.
It crosses two bridges over the St Lawrence river.
La Route Verte 5 from Verdun Beach is the starting point for this bike ride going north and east.
Then to Route Verte 1 and Nun’s Island (Île-Des-Sœurs) bridge bikeway. This runs along side highway Rt 15.
Then cross the island bikeway to get to the 2.3 km Estacade du Pont Champlain.
That ends in Chemin de la Petite Voie du Fleuve which is a long thin strip of land in the river and has bikeable non-paved gravel bike paths. That part of the land only accessible by the bike path!
The above round-trip path is around 11km. That can be easily extended before the start or after the end to cover 30km or more.
The effort required is low – mostly flat path with elevations around bridge entry points.
From the Montreal city bridges web site: Looking for an exceptional view of the St. Lawrence River? During the day and evening, cyclists and pedestrians can take the 2-km bicycle path over the Estacade from Île des Sœurs to the seaway dike bicycle path network.
Night ride
Summer days are hot so good to ride at night. Clear moonlight and street light offer good views, but a couple of important points to note. Bugs! So many, in some parts of the ride. Should wear clear or night-lens closed eyewear to avoid bugs getting into eyes. And keep mouth closed.
And on the night of Fri Aug 5 2022, at 9pm, a long stretch of the Estacade was being used by birds! Lots of birds. Biking through them was scary – they would fly at you but go over your head.
On the Chemin de la Petite Voie du Fleuve end of the Estacade also got covered by many cobwebs! No spiders though (I think, I hope), thankfully.
Still all worth it – the views are great and the night was cool at 75F/23C. Only saw a couple of other riders and people walking at that time.
Should also try this in winter months. The trail is open April through December, so November would be a good bug-free time for night rides before it closes.
Parc René Lévesque
Another good ride on the south side from Verdun is to the Parc René Lévesque.
Two options: ride via Bd LaSalle next to the river, or the bike path along the Lachine Canal. This is around 10km one way.
Tour la Nuit is the Montreal Night Bike Ride event.
It is part of the Go Bike Montréal Festival (GVO – Go Velo MTL) which ran from May 26-June 2 (2019).
Friday May 31 2019 was the Tour La Nuit biking event, a 21 km course in downtown Montreal, on regular streets which were closed to all car traffic.
It was a wonderful experience, though marred by incomplete information about the event (Velo Quebec #fail) and Bixi bike-rental app and organization foul ups.
On the plus side: when one finally gets on the bike and rides on the street, the crisp cool breeze, the wide open streets and night lights makes for an unforgettable experience. Luckily, too, there was no rain during this event while it rained on the Sunday’s full day Montreal Bike Ride event!
Along many inside neighborhood streets, such as Rue Dandurand, many sidewalk corners were filled with adults and kids cheering on the thousands of passing cyclists. The whole city likes to join in and party!
The highlight of the whole ride was the section of the ride that went inside the Olympic Stadium! They also had a number of marching band groups going full blast inside the stadium with cyclists riding around, cool stuff.
Tour La Nuit inside the Olympic Stadium Video
Photos:
As with all public Montreal events, the facilities and services were outstanding. Plenty of port-a-potties restrooms at the start, many volunteers along the way guiding the cyclists, and big blow out at the end with DJ, music, food, drink, even a ferris wheel on the park. And free chocolate milk at end of the ride! All very nice.
Registration is required and is $35 for adults.
Many kids also participate in the event, so it is a whole family event.
Riders deck out their bikes with lights and such.
Here’s the 2018 Tour La Nuit video of the previous year’s event.
Things to know: It would have good to know about the actual event. Velo Quebec organized the event but their web site was missing key information which would have made the event far more enjoyable!
First of all, they say the gates will open at 20:15 hours and last riders can leave at 21:15. And they said the ride takes about 90 minutes at average speed.
But – it is a mess at the starting line! There are thousands of cyclists, and only 5-7 cyclists go out at one time. So it took over 40 minutes of inching along Ave Parc even before we could get on our bikes to ride on. It is all festive and such, but knowing this would make the delay much more understanda
In addition to 40 minutes delay at the start, add another 30-40 minutes along the course when people had to dismount and walk their bikes due to congestion or steep inclines.
Add even more time to slow down and enjoy the Montreal night sights along the way, especially special events like biking inside the Olympic Stadium, and it takes a good 2.5 to 3 hours to complete the course, far more than the 75 minutes I thought it would take based on the FAQ at the Velo Quebec site.
Far worse mess for me was the Bixi #fail. I decided to rent a Bixi, to support more of Montreal business, but their app and organization was a major letdown. The app refused to accept the promo code for the event. I tried many things (restart app, phone) and Velo Quebec booth guys also checked the code and confirmed it was right, Bixi app continually popped up “Invalid Code” message and their customer support was totally useless. I needed a bike, so I then bought a day pass on the Bixi app. I was hoping to dock the bike and re-rent every 30-45 minutes to minimize total cost. I did make around 3 stops, but would have made 4 or 5 optimally. Bixi charges $3 for every 15 minutes over, so the charges crept up fast when every Bixi dock along the second half of the ride was full (even though the app said 1 dock free or such).
So that is the second thing to note: if using Bixi, expect things to mess up. Ride is still enjoyable 🙂
And after the ride, I contacted Bixi e-mail support detailing all the problems and they were much more helpful than their phone support. They refunded all the excess charges, so in the end, Bixi is not too bad.
Around 10 km from Montreal, in Lachine, is this huge park. Actually a couple of parks, and a couple of museums.
It is nice bike ride on bike trails along the river.
Parc Rene-Levesque is huge, and having bike to see it all is actually quite convenient. In addition to the greenery, the park has a number of large and interesting sculptures by local artists. From a large engraved stone to metal structures. And all on a thin sliver of land jutting out into the river.
To the north of that park is another similar sliver of land that has a park and houses the Lachine Canal Historic Site.
That too has some sculptures scattered around the park, and the bike trail there goes next to the old Lachine Canal, with interesting looking houses on the side.
Found a great crepe place! Had a favorite in the past that closed down, now finally found a great crepe place again.
Spanel Crêperie, great crepes, breakfast and lunch. 1960 Notre-Dame St W, Montreal. A nice long walk from the metro station Lionel-Groulx. Walk on Notre-Dame to see a bunch of other great restaurants.
And many other things in Montreal, always a good time to be had! Christmas parade, old cafe, new cafe (Iranian), mini ComicCom, Ska Music Festival, street art animation. Japanese Izakaya – Imadake – Miso marinated grilled cod yummy with rice!
Many photos here, including description of each photo:
Nice, cozy cafe near Metro Papineau.
Wall decor is a tribute to the singer and actress Dalinda!
Photos:
A fall event that will light up the three Jardin botanique cultural gardens in grand style. It is a must-see event, and only from Sep 7 – Oct 31 (2018 dates). The lighted trees and sculptures are enchanting to see in the dark night.
The three spaces are:
The Chinese Garden is the most elaborate presentation. There is a good Circle of Life presentation, projected on a tree, at the First Nations Garden.
Allow 90+ minutes for entire visit.
The Gardens of Light ticket is purchased separately and allows entry only at a specific time.
That same ticket also allows access to the greenhouses in the botanical garden on that day. Touring that takes 90+ minutes and is worth visiting too. The greenhouses have plants and trees from all over the world.
So arrive a couple of hours before your Gardens of Light time and visit both the greenhouses as well the lighted cultural gardens.
Photo album:
C’est mon été (it’s my summer)
Vive 375 Montreal, et ses 375 printemps (Alive Montreal, and its 375 springs)
Five weeks that started on July 1. In addition to the usual festivals, it was also an anniversary year: Canada 150 and Montreal 375. Which meant even more festivals and events around the city. Nearly all of the events described below are free events, and very well organized.
Photos: Summer 2017 & Videos: Summer 2017
Montreal Jazz Festival 2017 June 28 through July 7.
This is a huge event. Four stages where free live music is played. At Place des Festivals and 2 blocks around it. Great music, great setting, very well organized. Details here.
Just for Laughs, outdoor festival July 15 to 30.
A great fun festival with lot of interactive areas with board games, human foosball game, ambulatory street performers, and so on. And some good music events too. The final event was a great band, Kool and the Gang, but it was a major letdown since they started 40 minutes after the scheduled start time, wasted time on a opening act band (Jazz Festival organizers would not have allowed this!) and resetting the stage equipment. Messy! Other than this poorly executed “key” event, it was a fun festival.
Montreal Completement Cirque, outdoor festival from July 6 to 16. At various spots around Berri-UQAM metro. St-Denis street was filled with participatory games – including trampoline for kids. And various performers – street bands, stilts, shows, on that street. Very cool: two Aquamen from France, heads stuck in water-filled fish bowls with goldfish swimming around, walking on the street.
Nuits d’Afrique, outdoor festival from July 18 to 23. This was right next door to Just for Laughs, near Metro St Laurent. Great music, and also new, interesting, good food.
Osheaga Block Party at an highway underpass. I like Osheaga music, but have no desire to commit to a full day of hanging out in such densely crowded festivals (and I avoid the island Parc Jean-Drapeau since it can’t really move such crowds well). So this July 22 free block party event was just awesome! The Van-Horne Underpass near Metro Rosemont is actually a pretty large area, with well organized spaces. I saw two groups: 8-10pm DJ Premier & the Badder Band, and 6:45-8pm Killa-Jewel DJing. Jump-up and jump-down music, fun!
À nous la rue! (The streets are ours!)
Vive 375 Montreal Special Events
Two of these were spectacular! Color of Time was a Holi-inspired performance by artists from France. The air and ground on Ste-Catherine St around Berri-UQAM was filled with color powders which also made it to people’s faces and clothes!
Place des Anges was an aerial acrobatic show with feathers dropped from the sky and ejected up from the ground! Feathers everywhere video with cool music. The acrobatic portion went on for 45 minutes, then when all the acrobats were on ground, they pumped features from bins in the ground, filling the air with even more feathers. The music was absolutely fantastic, eerie and ethereal, and suited to the event. After that, the DJs started playing, which got everyone dancing while playing with the feathers!
My 7×35 Permafocus Binocular was very useful in seeing the details of the aerial acrobats who were 10+ stories high up in the air.
In addition to all the many free outdoor events, there were many indoor ticketed events too. I went to a couple of them:
Rêveurs Définitifs at St-Denis Theater. Apparitions, levitations, transformations, a mind-blowing magic show.
MozART Group show at Place des Arts, Theatre Jean-Duceppe. Four classical musicians playing Mozart (of course), and injecting humor in the music. And then they also played popular music from Abba to Beatles!
The Just for Laughs had day-of-show heavily discounted tickets for many of the shows going on during this festival.
Montréal Avudo, a spectacular show that pays tribute to the St. Lawrence River. Images and scenes projected on rippling water walls. The larger-than-life projections will come alive primarily on the water. Water jets from 30 or so fountains will create massive 30 X 11.5 meter tall screens of water. The projection screens also include 94 shipping containers, creating the world’s highest container tower at 11 stories tall. Booking free tickets was necessary for this show, sadly they sold-out online very quickly. But they had day of show tickets available starting at 7PM at the venue. This was standing room tickets only, but it was only a 30 minute event, so it was just fine.
Formula E Racing in downtown Montreal, Sat & Sun, July 29 & 30.
I only watched this for a few minutes, from outside the barriers at Rene Levesque around Rue Cartier. Electric cars Formula 1 racing. Crazy to see cars drive so fast on a city street! They also had a Formula E driver-less Roborace car doing the laps. Photos links has one photo that shows a pissed-off local resident – looks like most Montreal residents were not happy how this event paralyzed key downtown streets and residential neighborhoods for over three weeks.
La Balade de la Paix / An Open-Air Museum on Sherbrooke street from the McCord Museum to Museum of Fine Arts.
Art works along the street, and flags of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada and the world’s 200-odd countries flying over the street.
Cultural Events in Montreal. French-only site, but is good to visit to find all the events going around in the city, organized by the City of Montreal. Another such site created by the city: About Montreal. I was lucky to have stumbled on the À nous Montréal free magazine, which was French only, but I understood the program schedule pages, which was the key! Otherwise, I would have missed all these events. The great thing about these events was they they were held all across the city, so I got to visit parks that I’d never visited in my decades of visits here. Sadly, a bunch of these were cancelled (which I only found out after reaching the park) due to rain or threat of rain. And this summer there were too many such days in Montreal.
Two of the best music events: Bluebell Sisters (Blues, Swing, Doowop), Dawn Tyler Watson (Blues).
Montreal International Fireworks Festival is on every summer, Saturdays and some Wednesdays at 10PM. Large crowds visit here, even though it is a long walk from the Metro station Papineau and the event only lasts 30 minutes. And isn’t one fireworks show same as the other? No matter, it is still well-attended. Details here.
Unrelated, but of note is the Village au Pied-du-Courant which is in this area, a beach area built every summer. Good place for food, music, and watching the Montreal 375th Anniversary Jacques-Cartier bridge lights.
La Grande Tournée, 19 boroughs, 19 weekends. One such weekend: August 4th to 6th – Parc Ahuntsic, near Metro Henri-Bourassa. Whole day family events, workshops, food. Great park, just a handful of food trucks, but enough for the small crowds. This place also had a McCord Museum exhibit La ville suspendue with photos and stories of Montreal.
Nova Stella, with byline The art of being different together, as part of the Montreal First People’s Festival at Place des Festivals, Saturday Aug 5. Afternoon parade by the 65-troupe-strong Amitié Nuestroamericana. And then music at night – Sonido Pesao was great Latin Urban/Rap!
And of course, great food every day. In addition to my standard usual favorites, found two new cool food-items: great pastry Kouign Amann from a bakery near Metro Mont-Royal. And great sausage sandwiches and clam chowders and more at the new Marché public de Longueuil (this requires a car to get to). More info onthe Public Markets.
Photos: Summer 2017 & Videos: Summer 2017
I also tried to learn ice-skating at the Atrium Le 1000 Made 10 visits, 3 of them with falls and one serious face-plant injury (lot of blood, but it all healed in just couple of days, so all good! Hats off to Atrium 1000 employees who quickly bandaged me up). Still can’t ice-skate well, but hey, having fun learning.
Weather was pleasant most of the days, though this summer there were more rainy days or thundershowers, more than the normal. Towards early August, it got cool at night (60°F and below) so hot afternoons combined with cool late evenings makes it confusing to dress correctly!
And don’t forget sunscreen, especially on face. My face got extra-tanned and I only found that out when I returned home and people told me. So, remember sunscreen every day on all uncovered skin. Sunset is after 8PM, so even if you skip afternoons, you need sunscreen.
And since it is not that all events or experiences were good, here are some that were just not worth the time or effort!.
In addition to all the events above that I attended, there was no way to attend all the cool events going on at the same time. Some such shows I could not attend: Haïti en folie, July 26-30 at Parc Lafontaine, Montréal. And the Rouge Event – circus at Jardins Gamelin, part of Montreal Completement Cirque. And other events that required full day tickets, which I’d no time for: Comiccon July 7-9, Otakuthon anime convention Aug 4-6, Osheaga music festival Aug 4-6.
I also wanted to, but had no time to visit the nearby public swimming pool which looked very uncrowded and very tempting on hot weekday afternoons: Baldwin Pool.
Finally, have to give huge credit to the City of Montreal, the STM Metro employees, on how well they handle the huge crowds for these key special events and keep people moving safely. It makes everything just so much nicer and stress-free. There will be extra buses run (#45 going north from Papineau), there will be more STM employees deployed at Berri-UQAM, Place des Arts and other Metro stations making sure crowds are controlled as they swarm the subway. All wonderful.
Six years later … Summer 2023!
So after decades of travel here for the good things, there are certainly experiences that are just not worth the time or the effort.
There are so many alternatives to the items listed below – from tourist-friendly but also gritty and unique streets such as Ste Catherine, St Laurent, St Denis, to nice parks even in far boroughs, and of course, to good food everywhere in the Greater Montreal region.
Some items below are good to visit once, just not worth going on repeat visits. Other items are not worth it even for one visit.
Places
Events
Eats
All public markets have grocery stands, fish market, cheeses, cooked sandwiches, fish, and other food.
The biggest one, so has the most vendors and the most variety. And the neighboring area is chock-full of good restaurants (such as Le Petit Alep).
Marché Jean-Talon is at 7070 Henri-Julien St, south of Jean-Talon St, 10 minutes walk from Jean-Talon Metro.
Jean-Talon Market bustles with activity in summer certainly and is open in winter too. It is truly a fantastic market – all fresh vegetables, fruits you need, as well as bakeries, food stalls (sandwiches, plates, crepes, fried fish, tacos, oyster bar, and so on). Worth the trip: fried calamari at Aqua Mare. Good cheese available – inside the market, as well as at La Fromagerie Hamel at 202 Jean-Talon St. East.
On your first day at Montreal, get down here, get yourself a supply of fruits, continue to replenish every few days. The effort is worth it – the prunes, the cherries, the oranges, are just so much better, sweeter, fresher than any fancy fruits available at standard grocery stores. Even the croissants at the bakery chain Première Moisson branch here are much better – soft interior, slightly crunchy crust, just fantastic.
Just outside the market is Marché des saveurs du Québec selling local products, at 280 Place du marché du nord, on a side street.
Atwater Market is at 138 Atwater Ave, near the Lionel-Groulx Metro (Note: not near the Atwater metro!).
Good cheese shop – La Fromagerie Hamel is here too.
Marché public de Longueuil is at 4200 Chemin de la Savane, Longueuil, a 20-40 minute drive from Montreal, and not near any Metro station, though it is near a commuter rail station.
Best sausage sandwich shop is here! Meyer’s German Sausages has a large variety of sausages. They also sell grilled sandwiches. Perfect snap when you bite into the sausage, bread is just the right texture (not too soft, not too hard, just crusty enough). The owner indicated that the Currywurst is his best-seller – Indian influence on a German staple!
They also sold a Columbiana at Nuits d’Afrique 2017 in Montreal, which was a great sausage.
One of the best clam chowders is here too, at La Galerie de la Mer. They have a number of other fish dishes too.
The clam chowder is nice and thick, with potatoes cubed nice and small, and fresh crunchy celery pieces add a good crunch.
This is a new market, opened in 2014, so looks very nice. It is great seating areas, including big wooden-swing seats overlooking the St Hubert airport. Eat, and once in a while, you can see the small planes take-off and land.
Lot of greenery around in summer too.
