How many stops are on the Viewpoints walking tour in Montreal?

The Viewpoints route in Montreal includes 6 curated stops.

How long does the Viewpoints tour in Montreal take?

The Viewpoints walking tour in Montreal takes approximately 3 hours at a leisurely pace.

Is the Viewpoints walking tour in Montreal free?

Yes, Promenario's Viewpoints tour in Montreal is free to download and use, with full offline support.

🇨🇦 Montreal, Canada

Viewpoints in Montreal

Scenic overlooks, skyline vistas, and photography spots. Explore 6 curated stops in Montreal, including Old Montreal, Place Jacques-Cartier, and Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel. Highlights include Old Montreal, rated 4.5/5 by 13,908 visitors.

6 stops ~3h Available in app

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6 places in this collection

Viewpoints places

6 places in this collection

Image by Gilbert Bochenek, Public domain

Old Montreal

Old Montreal (French: Vieux-Montréal) is a historic neighbourhood within the municipality of Montreal. Founded by French settlers in 1642 as Fort Ville-Marie, Old Montreal is home to many structures dating back to the era of New France. The 17th century settlement lends its name to the borough in which the neighbourhood lies, Ville-Marie. Home to the Old Port of Montreal, the neighbourhood is bordered on the west by McGill Street, on the north by Ruelle des Fortifications, on the east by rue Saint-André, and on the south by the Saint Lawrence River. Following recent amendments, the neighbourhood has expanded to include the Rue des Soeurs Grises in the west, Saint Antoine Street in the north, and Saint Hubert Street in the east. In 1964, much of Old Montreal was declared a historic district by the Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec. Old Montreal is a major tourist attraction. With some of its buildings dating to the 17th century, it is one of the oldest urban areas in North America. Champ de Mars is a large public space located between Montreal City Hall and the Ville-Marie Expressway. It offers a view of downtown Montreal and Chinatown. It is notable due to its location and its archaeological remains. The two parallel lines of stone are one of the few spots in present-day Montreal where you can still see physical evidence of the fortified settlement from colonial times.

Image by Jeangagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0

Place Jacques-Cartier

Place Jacques-Cartier (English: Jacques Cartier square) is a square located in Old Montreal. In 1723, the Château Vaudreuil was built for Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil - its formal gardens occupying the space that is now the square. The Chateau burned down in 1803 and it was suggested by The Hon. Jean-Baptiste Durocher and The Hon. Joseph Périnault that the space be transformed into a public square, known as New Market Place. In 1809, Montreal's oldest public monument was raised there, Nelson's Column. In 1847, the square was renamed in honour of Jacques Cartier, the explorer who claimed Canada for France in 1535. The broad, divided street slopes steeply downhill from Montreal City Hall and rue Notre-Dame to the waterfront and rue de la Commune. During the high tourist season, the street hosts many street artists and kiosks. During the Christmas season, the street is lined with lighted trees. At any time of year, one can find restaurants on both sides of the street and many more on the surrounding streets of Vieux Port, notably on Rue Saint-Paul. It is a car-free zone in the summer. During the summer season, Jardin Nelson offers a garden restaurant on Place Jacques-Cartier. Other restaurants similarly offer classical Parisian-style 'terraces' for taking a drink or dining in the open air. And on the other side of the place, the famous restaurant Saint-Amable (the oldest restaurant in town) welcomes Montreal celebrities and locals in a crooner jazz atmosphere. Near Place Jacques-Cartier on rue de la Commune, an original piece of the wall of the old fortified city can still be seen in the basement restaurant of the Auberge du Vieux-Port. At the upper end of the Place stands Nelson's Column, built in memory of Admiral Horatio Nelson. The statue was removed in 1997 to preserve it from the weather, and was subsequently replaced with a copy.

Image by Daderot, Public domain

Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel

The Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel (chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, 'Our Lady of Good Help') is a church in the district of Old Montreal. One of the oldest churches in Montreal, it was built in 1771 over the ruins of an earlier chapel. St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, the first teacher in the colony of Ville-Marie and the founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame, rallied the colonists to build a chapel in 1655. In 1673, returning from France, Bourgeoys brought a wooden image of Our Lady of Good Help; the stone church was completed in 1678. It burned in 1754, the reliquary and statue being rescued and placed above the entrance of the rebuilt church of 1771. After Montreal was conquered by British forces during the French and Indian War, the church was attended by Irish and Scottish troops and families, and saw fundraising to build Saint Patrick's Church, Montreal's first anglophone Catholic parish. In the 19th century, the chapel came to be a pilgrimage site for the sailors who arrived in the Old Port of Montreal; they would make offerings to the Virgin in gratitude for her 'good help' for safe sea voyages. In 1849, Mgr. Ignace Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, gave the chapel a statue of the Virgin as Star of the Sea, which was placed atop the church overlooking the harbour. Emphasizing the connection of the chapel and the port, the chapel is often called the Sailors' Church. The chapel now also houses the Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum, dedicated to the life of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys and to the early history of Montreal and the chapel site. Below the chapel, the crypt is being excavated as an archeological site, which visitors can see. First Nations and French colonial artifacts have been discovered, along with the foundations of the first chapel and the fortifications of the colony. The church's prominent spire can also be climbed, offering views of the Old Port and Saint Lawrence River. In 2005, Marguerite Bourgeoys's mortal remains were brought back to the church, where she now lies in the sanctuary.

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Image by Jeangagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0

Place Ville Marie

Place Ville Marie (PVM for short) is a large office and shopping complex in downtown Montreal, comprising four office buildings and an underground shopping plaza. The main building, 1 Place Ville Marie (formerly Royal Bank Tower from its anchor tenant), built in the International style in 1962 as headquarters for the Royal Bank of Canada, which it still is presently. It is a 188 m (617 ft), 47-storey, cruciform office tower. The complex is a nexus for Montreal's Underground City, the world's busiest, with indoor access to over 1,600 businesses, numerous subway stations, a suburban transportation terminal, and tunnels extending throughout downtown. A counter-clockwise rotating beacon on the rooftop lights up at night, illuminating the surrounding sky with up to four white horizontal beams that can be seen as far as 50 kilometres (31 mi) away. The name 'Place Ville Marie' is often used to refer to the cruciform building only, but it also applies to four shorter office buildings which were built around it in 1963 and 1964, and to the urban plaza which lies on top of the largest section of the shopping promenade, and between the buildings.

Image by John, CC BY 2.0

Sherbrooke Street

Sherbrooke Street (officially in French: rue Sherbrooke) is a major east-west artery and at 31.3 kilometres (19.4 mi) in length, is the second longest street on the Island of Montreal. The street begins in the town of Montreal West and ends on the extreme tip of the island in Pointe-aux-Trembles, intersecting Gouin Boulevard and joining up with Notre-Dame Street. East of Cavendish Boulevard this road is part of Quebec Route 138. The street is divided into two portions. Sherbrooke Street East is located east of Saint Laurent Boulevard and Sherbrooke Street West is located west. Sherbrooke Street West is home to many historic mansions that comprised its exclusive Golden Square Mile district, including the now-demolished Van Horne Mansion, the imposing Beaux-Arts style Montreal Masonic Memorial Temple as well as several historic properties incorporated into Maison Alcan, the world headquarters for Alcan. Sherbrooke Street East runs along the edge (both administrative and topographic) of the Plateau Mont-Royal, at the top of a marked hillside known as Côte à Baron, and continues between the Jardin Botanique de Montréal and Parc Maisonneuve to the north and Parc Olympique to the south. The street is named for John Coape Sherbrooke, the Governor General of British North America from 1816-18. Other key attractions on the street include the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Grand Séminaire de Montréal, McCord Museum, Ritz-Carlton Montreal, Holt Renfrew, Parc Lafontaine, and further east, the Château Dufresne, Olympic Stadium, Montreal Botanical Garden and the Montreal Biodome.

Image by Jeangagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0

Saint Denis Street

Saint Denis Street (officially in French: Rue Saint-Denis) is a major north-south thoroughfare in Montreal. It extends from the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel on Saint Paul Street in Old Montreal to the bank of the Rivière des Prairies at the north end of the island. It is designated Route 335 from Sherbrooke Street to the Metropolitan Expressway, and is known as Bonsecours Street south of Saint Antoine Street. Along its length, it passes through the boroughs of Ville-Marie, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension, and Ahuntsic-Cartierville. Saint-Denis serves as one of the primary thoroughfares of both the Latin Quarter, where it plays host to a number of bars and restaurants, to the Plateau Mont-Royal, where it is known as one of the best places to view Montreal's distinct style of architecture. It becomes primarily a residential street north of the Metropolitan Expressway. The eastern portion of the Montreal Metro's Orange Line runs parallel to the street, two blocks to the east. It is named for Saint Denis of Paris.

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