Old Montreal is new again for tourists and locals alike

The boundary-pushing galleries and dynamic restaurants and bars drawing people to this highly walkable area.

ld Montreal, the two-kilometre stretch of Montreal from Saint-Antoine to the water, McGill to St-Hubert (give or take a block), has traditionally been known as a tourist trap, where cruise passengers spend an afternoon before heading up the St. Lawrence to their next port of call. But thanks to a recent condo boom in the adjacent neighbourhood of Griffintown and in communities across the river, locals have turned their attention to the area, which has seen a number of boutiques, bars, restaurants and retailers open up shop in the past couple years. « It’s become trendy to be here, » Danny Pavlopoulos, co-founder of the tour company Spade & Palacio, says.

The neighbourhood is a mix of old – Montreal was founded in these very streets – and new, with boundary-pushing galleries and dynamic restaurants and bars opening up in historic buildings. Best of all, no matter where you are in the area, nothing is more than a 15-minute walk away.