Montreal
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Montreal - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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10 Recommendations
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1. Basilique Notre-Dame-de-Montréal
Old MontréalFew churches in North America are as wow-inducing as Notre-Dame. Everything about the Gothic Revival–style church, which opened in 1829, seems designed to make you gasp—from the 228-foot twin towers out front to the tens of thousands of 24-karat gold stars that stud the soaring blue ceiling. Nothing in a city renowned for churches matches Notre-Dame for sheer grandeur—or noise-making capacity: its 12-ton brass bell is the largest in North America, and its 7,000-pipe Casavant organ can make the walls tremble. The pulpit is a work of art in itself, with an intricately curving staircase and fierce figures of Ezekiel and Jeremiah crouching at its base. The whole place is so overwhelming it's easy to miss such lesser features as the stained-glass windows from Limoges and the side altars dedicated to St. Marguerite d'Youville, Canada's first native-born saint; St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, Canada's first schoolteacher; and a group of Sulpician priests martyred in Paris during the French Revolution. For a peek at the magnificent baptistery, decorated with frescoes by Ozias Leduc, you'll have to tiptoe through the glassed-off prayer room in the northwest corner of the church. Every year dozens of brides—including Céline Dion, in 1994—march up the aisle of Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur (Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Chapel), behind the main altar, to exchange vows with their grooms before a huge modern bronze sculpture that you either love or hate. Notre-Dame is an active house of worship, so dress accordingly. The chapel can't be viewed weekdays during the 12:15 pm mass, and is often closed Saturday for weddings. Don't miss the 45-minute multimedia spectacle, "Aura," which celebrates the basilica's exquisite features through light and sound. See website for schedule (www.aurabasiliquemontreal.com/en).
110 rue Notre-Dame Ouest, Montréal, Québec, H2Y 1T1, Canada514-842–2925Sight Details
Rate Includes: C$14 +C$1 service fee (self-guided tour); multimedia show \"Aura\" C$32.00 + C$2 service fee, Reserve online or by phone. -
2. Christ Church Cathedral
DowntownThe seat of the Anglican (Episcopalian) bishop of Montréal offers downtown shoppers and strollers a respite from the hustle and bustle of rue Ste-Catherine, with free noontime concerts and organ recitals. Built in 1859, the cathedral is modeled on Snettisham Parish Church in Norfolk, England, with some distinctly Canadian touches. The steeple, for example, is made with aluminum plates molded to simulate stone, and inside, the Gothic arches are crowned with carvings of the types of foliage growing on Mont-Royal when the church was built. The stained-glass windows behind the main altar, installed in the early 1920s as a memorial to the dead of World War I, show scenes from the life of Christ. On the wall just above and to the left of the pulpit is the Coventry Cross; it's made of nails taken from the ruins of Britain's Coventry Cathedral, destroyed by German bombing in 1940. Free Saturday group tours can be arranged by calling the office.
635 rue Ste-Catherine Ouest, Montréal, Québec, H3A 2B8, Canada514-843–6577-ext. 241Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Sat. tour not offered during COVID -
3. Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde
DowntownThe best reason to visit this cathedral is that it's a quarter-scale replica of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome—complete with a magnificent reproduction of Bernini's ornate baldachin (canopy) over the main altar and an ornately coffered ceiling. When Bishop Ignace Bourget (1799–1885) decided to build his cathedral in the heart of the city's Protestant-dominated commercial quarter, many fellow Catholics thought he was crazy. But the bishop was determined to assert the Church's authority—and its loyalty to Rome—in the British-ruled city. Bourget didn't live to see the cathedral dedicated in 1894, but his tomb holds a place of honor among those of his successors in the burial chapel on the east side of the nave.
1085 rue de la Cathédrale, Montréal, Québec, H3B 2V3, Canada514-866–1661Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
4. Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours
Old MontréalMariners have been popping into Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours for centuries to kneel before a little 17th-century statue of the Virgin Mary and pray for a safe passage—or give thanks for one. Often, they've expressed their gratitude by leaving votive lamps in the shape of small ships, many of which still hang from the barrel-vaulted ceiling. This is why most Montrealers call the chapel the Église des Matelots (the Sailors' Church), and why many people still stop by to say a prayer and light a candle before leaving on a long trip. These days, the statue of Our Lady of Perpetual Help guards the remains of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, who had the original chapel built in 1657 and is entombed in the side altar next to the east wall of the chapel. The current chapel dates from 1771; a renovation project in 1998 revealed some beautiful 18th-century murals that had been hidden under layers of paint. The 69-step climb to the top of the steeple is worth the effort for the glorious view of the harbor, as is the equally steep climb down to the archaeological excavations under the chapel for a glimpse into the history of the chapel and the neighborhood. The dig is accessible through the adjacent Musée Marguerite Bourgeoys, which also has exhibits on the life of St. Marguerite and the daily lives of the colonists she served. The chapel is closed weekdays January through February except for the 10:30 am mass on Sunday.
400 rue St-Paul Est, Montréal, Québec, H2Y 1H4, Canada514-282–8670Sight Details
Rate Includes: Museum (includes archaeological site) and tower C$14; Chapel free, Closed Mon. mid-Oct.–mid-May -
5. Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes
Latin QuarterArtist and architect Napoléon Bourassa called his work here l'oeuvre de mes amours, or a labor of love—and it shows. He designed the little Byzantine-style building himself and set about decorating it with the exuberance of an eight-year-old making a Mother's Day card. He covered the walls with murals and encrusted the altar and pillars with gilt and ornamental carving. It's not Montréal's biggest monument to the Virgin Mary, but it's the most unabashedly sentimental.
430 rue Ste-Catherine Est, Montréal, Québec, H2L 2C5, Canada514-845–8278Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Chiesa della Madonna della Difesa
Little ItalyIf you look up at the cupola behind the main altar of Little Italy's most famous church, you'll spot Montréal's most infamous piece of ecclesiastical portraiture. Yes, indeed, that lantern-jaw fellow on horseback who looks so pleased with himself is Benito Mussolini, the dictator who led Italy into World War II—on the wrong side. The mural, by Guido Nincheri (1885–1973), was completed long before the war and commemorates the signing of the Lateran Pact with Pope Pius XI, one of Il Duce's few lasting achievements. The controversy shouldn't distract you from the beauties of the rest of the richly decorated church.
6800 av. Henri-Julien, Montréal, Québec, H2S 2V4, Canada514-277–6522Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Closed Sat. and Sun. -
7. Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul
DowntownMontréal's largest Presbyterian church—sometimes affectionately called the A&P—is worth a visit, if only to see the glorious stained-glass window of the risen Christ that dominates the sanctuary behind the white-stone communion table. It's a memorial to members of the Royal Highland Regiment of Canada (the Black Watch) who were killed in World War I.
3415 rue Redpath (main entrance on rue Sherbrooke), Montréal, Québec, H3G 2G2, Canada514-842–3431Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, For guided visit, phone in advance to make arrangements -
8. Église de la Visitation de la Bienheureuse Vierge Marie
Montréal NorthA bit off the beaten tourist path, the oldest church on the island, the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is found in North Montréal. It's not a must-see, but it is worth the trek if you have time and don't mind a little walking through some rather ordinary neighborhoods. The church had its stone walls raised in the 1750s, and the beautifully proportioned Palladian front was added in 1850. Ornamentation lasted from 1764 until 1837, with stunning results. The altar and the pulpit are as elaborate as wedding cakes but still delicate. The church's most notable treasure is a rendering of the Visitation attributed to Pierre Mignard, a painter at the 17th-century court of Louis XIV. Parkland surrounds the church, and the nearby Îles de la Visitation (reachable by footbridge) make for a very good walk.
1847 boul. Gouin Est, Montréal, Québec, H2C 1C8, Canada514-388–4050Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
9. St. George's Anglican Church
DowntownThis is possibly the prettiest Anglican (Episcopalian) church in Montréal. Step into its dim, candle-scented interior and you'll feel you've been transported to some prosperous market town in East Anglia, England. The double hammer-beam roof, the rich stained-glass windows, and the Lady Chapel on the east side of the main altar all add to the effect. It certainly seems a world away from Centre Bell, the modern temple to professional hockey that's across the street.
1001 av. des Canadiens-de-Montréal, Montréal, Québec, H3B 3B3, Canada514-866–7113Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
10. St. Patrick's Basilica
DowntownBuilt in 1847, this is one of the purest examples of the Gothic Revival style in Canada, with a high-vaulted ceiling glowing with green and gold mosaics. The tall, slender columns are actually pine logs lashed together and decorated to look like marble, so that if you stand in one of the back corners and look toward the altar you really do feel as if you're peering at the sacred through a grove of trees. St. Pat's—as most of its parishioners call it—is to Montréal's Anglophone Catholics what the Basilique Notre-Dame is to their French-speaking brethren—the mother church and a monument to faith and courage. One of the joys of visiting the place is that you'll probably be the only tourist there, so you'll have plenty of time to check out the old pulpit and the huge lamp decorated with six 2-meter- (6-foot-) tall angels hanging over the main altar. And if you're named after some relatively obscure saint like Scholastica or Aeden of Fleury, you can search for your namesake's portrait among the 170 painted panels on the walls of the nave. For a solemn experience visit on the third Sunday of the month (September through June), when the mass is sung completely in Latin.
454 boul. René-Lévesque Ouest, Montréal, Québec, H2Z 1A7, Canada514-866–7379Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free
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