Montreal
Canada
A French city with North American winters and a festival for everything
Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash
Photos by Matthias Mullie, Jackie Hutchinson, daniel baylis and andrew welch on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Canada
June to September
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 114mm in Oct
Where it is
45.50°N, 73.57°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Walk up Mont Royal for the view over the city
- Eat a bagel straight out of the wood oven at 2am
- Wander Old Montreal early, before the tour buses
- Spend a Saturday at Jean-Talon market
- Go to whichever festival is on — there is always one
- Cycle the Lachine Canal to the Atwater market
Montreal travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Canada
Mid-rangeQuebec adds 5% GST and 9.975% QST at the till. Tipping is 15-20%, and the card machine calculates it on the taxed total unless you change it. Cards everywhere; the metro takes contactless.
ATMs & cards
The big banks — Desjardins is the Quebec one, plus RBC, TD and BMO — rather than the white-label machines in dépanneurs, which charge C$3-4. Decline conversion.
Avoid these
- dépanneur machines, which charge several dollars
Use these instead
- Desjardins
- RBC
- TD
- BMO
Quebec adds 5% GST and 9.975% QST at the till.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Canada
Very safeVery safe, walkable late, and the main risk is winter: −14°C lows in January, ice underfoot and snow that arrives in quantity. Speak French first or at least open with bonjour — it is not a safety matter but it changes every interaction. Cyclists have right of way in ways drivers from elsewhere find surprising.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Berri-UQAM — the station area at night
- Ice underfoot from December to March, which is the actual injury statistic here
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Canada visa rules
Travel authorisation requiredup to 180 daysC$7
An eTA is required to fly to Canada and is valid five years. It is not needed if you are arriving by land or sea. Apply only through the canada.ca site — C$7 is the whole fee.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 180 days
Visa required in advanceC$100
A visitor visa, applied for online with biometrics.
How to get it: Apply for the eTA at canada.ca; most are approved within minutes but some are held for days, so do it well before booking anything non-refundable.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: travel authorisation
Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA)RequiredCAN$7
Before you book, ideally. Most are approved in minutes.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- a credit or debit card
- an email address
Valid five years or until the passport expires. Anyone flying in needs one; driving across does not.
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of Canada
Good but costlyRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
Excellent, and expensive for visitors — there is no reciprocal arrangement with most countries, and an emergency admission runs to thousands of dollars. Travel insurance with a high medical limit is essential. In the Rockies, mountain rescue is coordinated by Parks Canada and is not billed, but the helicopter and hospital that follow are.
Wildlife and weather rather than illness. Carry bear spray on trails and know how to use it. Hypothermia is possible in any month at altitude, and snow closes passes well outside winter.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingBagels — wood-fired, sweeter and better than New York’s, from St-Viateur or Fairmount at any hour — smoked meat at Schwartz’s, and poutine, which is a late-night food and not a lunch. The Jean-Talon and Atwater markets are worth a morning each, and the restaurant scene punches far above the city’s size.
Nightlife
The latest closing time in North America and a bilingual scene that treats a Tuesday as a legitimate night out.
- Boulevard Saint-Laurent — "the Main", and the length of it
- Mile End — the bars, and the bagels after
- Crescent Street — the anglophone night
- Quartier des Spectacles — the festivals, all summer
Closing: 03:00, and after-hours clubs run to 09:00 without alcohol.
A beer in a bar: C$7–9
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- LyftWorks here
- BoltNot here
- Against a taxi
- A little under the meter, and thinner on the ground in the cities that allowed ride-hailing late.
Time zone and your working day
America/Toronto — the same time as you
8 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–17:00 your time, 09:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 09:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 09:00–17:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Canada
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.7× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Good. Maps, calls and streaming, and enough to tether a laptop for an afternoon. Mobile runs at about the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Canada, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
French (Québécois)
- HelloBonjourbon-ZHOOR
- Hello / hi (Montreal)Bonjour-hibon-zhoor HI
- PleaseS'il vous plaîtseel voo PLEH
- Thank youMercimer-SEE
6 more phrases
- Yes / NoOui / Nonwee / non
- Excuse meExcusez-moiex-koo-zay MWA
- How much is it?C'est combien ?say com-BYEN
- Corner shopDépanneurday-pa-NEUR
- CheersSanté !son-TAY
- You’re welcomeBienvenuebyen-ve-NOO
Open with bonjour and the whole interaction changes, even where everyone speaks English. In Montreal you will be greeted with "bonjour-hi" and may answer in either; in Quebec City, French comes first and the effort is noticed. The accent is not Parisian and neither is the vocabulary — a corner shop is a dépanneur and a car is a char.
Religion
Christian majority, and secular
Christian by heritage with a fast-growing share reporting no religion. Indigenous spiritual traditions are recognised, and their sites carry protocols worth respecting.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Queue properly, hold doors, and apologise reflexively — it really is the norm
- Tip 15-20% in restaurants and for taxis; staff wages assume it
- Carry bear spray on Rockies trails and know how to use it
- Take note of which province you are in — rules on alcohol, cannabis and driving differ
Don't
- Do not assume Canada is a variant of the United States; it lands badly
- Do not approach or feed wildlife, and never get between a bear and its cubs
- Do not underestimate distances — the Rockies are far bigger than the map suggests
- Do not litter or leave food out at a campsite; it is both a fine and a genuine danger
Where to stay in Montreal
No Holistay rentals in Montreal yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Montreal on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Trudeau YUL
45 minfrom the airport· 14 km as the crow flies
747 bus to downtown, 45 min.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
