Hey everyone! I recently spent a week in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and I absolutely LOVED it! It was such a fun city with so much good food and plenty of things to do and see. I will say though, I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. I didn’t know anyone to talk to that could give me any pointers beforehand, so I really just went and figured it out on the fly. I’m hoping that by sharing some of the things I learned, it will be easier for all of you! Here’s four things you need to know before you visit Montreal.
You Need to Know Some Basic French
French is the primary language in Quebec. I did know this before my trip, and thankfully I minored in French in college. Honestly though, I assumed it would be like a lot of European countries where they speak their own language but then pretty much everyone also speaks English. I know, I know – that was very spoiled American of me and it’s embarrassing in hindsight.
Nevertheless, I made the assumption that my college French class days would be enough. I didn’t brush up on anything and I’m pretty rusty. Turns out I was wrong! There are a lot of people in Montreal that do speak English, sure, but there are also lots who don’t.
A couple of examples: on one occasion we got in an Uber with a man who only spoke French. On another occasion we went to a grocery store where the employees only spoke French. I was able to piece together enough words on both occasions that I got us what we needed, but no one else in the group spoke any French at all. If you aren’t traveling with anyone who knows basic French, you need to learn some! The signs all over the city are in French so if you don’t know the basics you will quite literally not know where you’re going.
Recommendations: greeting and thank-you phrases, basic directional phrases, commonly asked questions (where is the restroom, etc.), and basic food phrases (if you plan of going to a supermarket).
Everything is Super Spread Out
There’s no cute way to say this – EVERY single thing we did was at least a 30 minute Uber or Metro journey. The city as a whole is just super spread out. My number one piece of advice: make an itinerary for this trip before you go! Study a map and if possible, try to plan things that are closest together on the same days. We made the mistake of just making a list of what we wanted to do while we were there, but not looking at a map. The end result was that we spent a lot of time traveling that maybe could have been avoided had we planned better.
Pick Your Hotel Location Intentionally
The issue mentioned in the above section will also affect where in the city you choose to stay. After you make your itinerary, pin everything on a map and try to stay in the most central location possible. We stayed in the cheapest (safest) AirBnb we could find, which at first glance saved us a ton of money.
Transportation in Montreal is fairly cheap as well, but the HUGE trade off is the amount of time we lost due to lengthy site-to-site travels. It’s an important thing to consider before you go – would you rather pay more money to be closer to what you want to do to save time? Or is saving money your priority and you don’t mind a little extra travel time?
Learn from my mistakes and plan out this trip in detail before you go! There’s no wrong answer – it totally depends on you and what your travel priorities are. Just know what you’re getting into and what you’re prioritizing before you go!
The Metro System
Montreal was actually my first experience with a metro system, and I feel like it spoiled me. It was super clean and I didn’t feel sketched out at all. I never felt unsafe and after getting the first trip under my belt, the system was extremely easy to use.
First things first: you’ll need a metro card! I’m sure if you’ve ever used a metro system in any city you know this, but like I said, this was my first experience. We tried to walk straight to the train and heads up, this is very wrong (LOL!). At each metro station there will be little kiosks when you walk in – go there first!
Use the kiosk to buy a metro card. In Montreal they use the OPUS system – I’m not sure if it’s the same system everywhere but the process is likely very similar. You’ll choose the type of card you want, with options ranging from a month unlimited down to a one day metro pass. We chose the three-day unlimited option. There will also be a fee to purchase the card, but it’s a one-time fee. As long as you don’t lose your card, you’ll never have to buy another one – you simply reload the one you have. We paid something around $18 total for three days of unlimited rides and the cost of the actual card.
Next step: if you haven’t already done so, climb out from under your rock and download the Uber app! This is one of their best kept secrets that absolutely SAVED us in Montreal – the Uber app has metro system maps! You’ll pull up the app and type in your destination, but instead of choosing the car option, scroll all the way to the bottom and there will be a metro option. Once you choose that, it will give you step by step instructions for free.
In Montreal, as well as most cities with metro systems, it might require you to get off one train and get on a second train to get where you’re going. If you aren’t local, and especially if you don’t speak the language, this can be a nightmare. The app looks something like this:
“Walk to the metro station on X road. Board the Green Line metro going west. Ride to X stop. At X stop, move to the Blue Line going north. Ride to X stop. Exit the metro station on X street facing east.”
With this tool, you can’t lose! We never got lost, it was easy to use, and it saved us a TON of money.
I hope this is helpful for your next trip to Montreal! Like I said, it is an amazing city with so much to offer and I truly think there’s something for everyone there. It just requires a little planning on the forefront! If you ever need any help planning, don’t hesitate to book a call with me on my website. I love planning and I’m happy to help! Please visit my website for more details.
Happy travels, everyone!
