Exploring Montreal’s bike paths and hipster enclaves
Many a Pinterest board is dedicated to the beauty of Montreal at Christmastime. Visit the site and you’ll see endless images of the old town’s cozy snow-covered, twinkle-lit lanes.
But no one ever seems to talk about Montreal in the summertime. I wondered: Would the famed winter wonderland be as charming under the hot sun?
In August 2019, as we drove toward French Canada’s biggest city, I realized I had few expectations. I’d done very little advance research — just enough to find the perfect neighborhood base not far from the picturesque old town and the city’s sprawling urban park, and to deduce that the place was as famous for its bagels as it was for its winter snow.
In the end, I was glad for my negligence, because it allowed Ian and me to roam Montreal fairly aimlessly without guilt. We popped into cafes and bookshops, lazed around in parks, and took to the city’s many excellent bike paths, stopping on the trail whenever something interesting caught our eye. There was no museum-going, no vista-bagging, no tourist checklist. The aimless wandering made it possible for us to get a better glimpse into Montrealers’ everyday lives — and to grow very jealous of all the amenities they had at their fingertips.
Montreal, we discovered, is the perfect summertime urban playground: It’s infinitely bikeable, boasts an incredible diversity of restaurants and nightlife, and offers endless possibilities for sunny-day fun, whether you’re an outdoorsperson, a brunchgoer or a beachgoer.
Here are a few of the things we loved on our summer trip to Montreal.
Biking, biking everywhere
Quebec’s capital is one of the most bike-friendly cities I’ve visited in North America — and it could even give some Northern European cities a run for their money. For one thing, Montreal’s thoughtfully designed network of dedicated trails and bike lanes eased the stress I normally feel while biking in an urban environment: Instead of focusing all our energy on navigating scary intersections and dodging cars, Ian and I felt free to check out the surrounding parks, people and shops as we pedaled down leafy streets and hip boulevards. For another, much of the city is quite flat, making biking a breeze no matter your fitness level.
If you’d like to do a little casual sightseeing in Montreal from the seat of a bike, here’s a loop I recommend: after exploring the city’s namesake Mount Royal, head east on Rue Saint-Urbain until you hit the Old Town. Once you’ve oohed and aahed at the historic center to your heart’s content, bike south along the Lachine Canal. Grab an affordable yet delicious lunch at Marché Atwater, then pedal northeast toward McGill University via Guy Street and Boulevard de Maisonneuve, where you’ll find a wealth of museums and shopping. Finally, head back north whence you came, and cap off the day at one of the many fabulous restaurants in Plateau-Mont-Royal.
Urban jungles
After living in the Pacific Northwest for more than a decade, I realized I prefer city parks that are straight-up forests, rather than rolling lawns and sports fields. Many of Montreal’s major parks go the PNW route — though there are plenty of grassy boulevards, skate parks and soccer pitches, too.
A walk in the 700-acre Mont Royal Park could make you forget you’re in a 2 million-person city: On its winding trails, which range from easy and short to long and blood-pumping, you’re more likely to hear chirping birds than honking car horns. Ian and I opted to climb the grand staircase from the McGill campus to the very top of the park’s eponymous mountain, following the Olmsted Trail to the Mt. Royal Observatory, where a huge terrace offers the best views of the city below. Following the same trail, we ventured north to the imposing metal Mt. Royal Cross, then headed down the hill toward Park Avenue.
We also spent a bit of time in La Fontaine Park, which offers a nice mix of forest and landscaping. With a serpentine-like lake, criss-crossing trails and lots of space for friends to gather over coffee and bagels, the park reminded me strongly of some of my favorite PNW haunts, like Laurelhurst Park in Portland and Volunteer Park in Seattle.
Street art galore
Creative murals are so ubiquitous in Montreal that you don’t have to venture anywhere in particular to seek them out. That said, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such a density of street art as on Avenue Duluth. This charming tree-lined, stone-paved street boasts impressive street art on every corner, sometimes with even more in between. Both the artistry and variety on display here is impressive: I remember seeing a colonial-inspired illustration of a kraken destroying a cargo ship, an abstract rainbow chess board, a lacy, elaborate cameo of a carousel horse, and a two-story, anime-style portrait of a girl with flowing purple hair.
Just around the corner, Saint-Laurent Boulevard — arguably the city’s hipster epicenter — also boasts some fantastic murals, many of which pay homage to the neighborhood’s Portuguese heritage.
Foodie heaven
Avenue Duluth isn’t just a hot spot for street art — it’s also a great place to grab a bite to eat. It was here that we discovered Khyber Pass, an Afghan restaurant that served delicious lentil soup, lamb kebabs, yogurt dips and basmati rices. The street is an international cuisine lover’s dream, with Greek, Japanese, Creole and Oaxacan food, among others. As if I needed any more evidence that it’s a street after my own heart, Avenue Duluth even has a gluten-free bakery.
There’s even more to love in nearby Plateau-Mont-Royal and Mile End. We loved grabbing traditional Venezuelan cornmeal cakes at Arepera, located just off Saint-Laurent Boulevard, and sampling creative cocktails and Portuguese-inspired fare at Bar Henrietta on Avenue Laurier Ouest.
I’d be remiss not to mention Montreal’s famous bagel scene, even though I didn’t personally partake. Smaller and thinner than New York-style bagels and wildly popular in the city, the Montreal bagel has two equally famous outposts: Fairmount and St-Viateur. Both have locations within blocks of one another in Mile End, so it’s easy to sample both in one morning and decide where your loyalties lie.
Bilingual bookshops
It should be obvious to you by now that, while Montreal is a traditionally French city, it’s also incredibly diverse and filled to the brim with expats. That means that there are plenty of used bookstores for English speakers to scour.
Most bookstores in Montreal appear to be bilingual, with books for sale in both French and English — but we did encounter some that leaned entirely one way or the other. Three of our favorite shops were The Word in Milton Park, where each purchase nets you a free “I Didn’t Buy It On Amazon” sticker; Drawn & Quarterly in Mile End, which specializes in graphic novels; and S.W.Welch in Mile End, where fascinating rare books abound. In a testament to Montreal’s top-notch bike infrastructure, every bookstore we encountered had ample space to lock up bikes outside.
That’s my Montreal roundup! Have you visited this Francophone capital in the summertime? Did you love it?
