First Impressions of Montreal

First Time Visiting Montreal

We took the VIA train from Toronto to Montreal. I talked about the train journey here: . The Central Train station is located right in downtown Montreal; it felt like Toronto’s Union Station. However, it looked too old and feels like it needs a renovation.

We were hungry and McDonald’s was the only restaurant we found enticing. The menus were very similar to Toronto’s, but we felt the prices were slightly more expensive. We had no issues ordering, despite my concern that they may only speak French.

We had to go to the Courtyard Marriot, which we knew was in very close proximity. We asked someone for directions and there were no issues with English there either. Once we were out on the street and started walking, we felt right away that Montreal looked cleaner than Toronto.

The lower level of traffic was noticeable, although it was a Friday afternoon. Also, there weren’t many people on the street like Toronto. We started to like Montreal right away. It must have something to do with our vacation vibes, but we liked every aspect of Montreal compared to Toronto.

We thought we were going to have language difficulties, as we spoke no French, but we never had any issues. Everyone we interacted with spoke English and were very friendly.

We visited China Town and the Waterfront aka Old Port of Montréal, which is nestled between the downtown district and the St. Lawrence River. We liked this area a lot. It was much better and bigger compared to Toronto’s waterfront.

We especially liked the old charm feeling, like the cobblestoned streets. Montreal feels like a European city and there are many spots that can kind of reflect somewhere in Europe.

Overall, we liked Montreal a lot more than we were hoping for. We definitely won’t mind visiting Montreal many times again in the future.