A day in Montreal

Any recommendations for a day in Montreal. Will be in VT for a long weekend, and the trip up is only about  2.5 hours. TIA

Will you be traveling with kids?  Any special interests?   Its a great city - enjoy!

Here are some favorites

Climb Mont Royal

Or spend the day walking around Old Montreal, eat at Bonaparte's, go to a museum

 the History Museum (Centre d’Histoire) - you start in the basement with excavations and work your way up to modern history
http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=9077,101943699&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Chateau Ramezay is a small (relatively) colonial house
https://www.chateauramezay.qc.ca

The Cathedral of Notre Dame - there are tours or you can take yourself around.

The Science Museum is also in Old Montreal.  http://www.montrealsciencecentre.com

If you are a Leonard Cohen fan, he lived off St Laurent.  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/travel/leonard-cohen-musician-montreal-canada.html

Walking the old port.

If you like beer, save about $75. At customs, there are boxes of mixed local beers. I bought 6 last year. You will be sorry when you run out.

I believe you can rent a bike (bixi) like you have in NYC now, with your US credit card. They''re clustered around subway (metro) stations. From the Atwater metro, grab a bixi & ride along the Lachine canal. Completely flat.

If you only have 2.5 hours, I'd suggest walking the old city, seeing the catherdral and grabbing a meal in that area.

Its a beautiful city. Enjoy.

thanks all! cubby, the drive from VT is only 2.5 hours. We’ll leave early and spend the whole day.

Check out the Plateau, Jean Talon market, Little Burgundy, Parc Lafontaine, and Old Montreal for touristy crap. 

Overall, worthy of a long weekend at a minimum.

Excellent town.

Remember to take your passport.

Was just there.  Adding botanical gardens to the list - New Chinese garden exhibit is worth seeing.  Also  try the poutine - so bad for you (I’m sure) but it tastes so good. 

Do a search on MOL for past threads on Montreal.  Lots of great stuff to see and do.

The above are all great ideas.  I would add in a trip to Schwartz's if you can--there are better delis in Montreal, but this is the classic one.  Get a smoked meat sandwich.  To me, it is far better than corned beef.

I am quite partial to Montreal bagels from St Viateur Bagels (although Fairmount Bagels are also good).  They are light, crisp, sweet, and make anything down here look like a load of wet dough (IMHO).

Montreal's Chinatown has some really interesting restaurants, and, once again, the food is distinctly different from what you will find in American Chinese restaurants.

POUTINE!

Sparky123 said:
Was just there.  Adding botanical gardens to the list - New Chinese garden exhibit is worth seeing.  Also  try the poutine - so bad for you (I’m sure) but it tastes so good. 

 Oh, yes, the botanical gardens are beautiful. A bit out of the way but worth it.

Glad you have more than 2.5 hours there! Its a lovely place.