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“Traveling to Montreal feels like a visit to Europe. It's not just that everybody is speaking French – the children at city parks, the fruits and vegetables at the markets, the fresh croissants, the enclaves of ethnic neighborhoods – all make you feel like you've crossed an ocean,” writes a parent who loves to visit Montreal with her kids. It’s okay if you don’t speak French, Montreal is a truly bilingual city. | |
| Situated on the St. Lawrence River, Montreal is actually an island, bordered by rivers and lakes. Founded in 1642, Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, arrived with fifty settlers, including Jeanne Mance, a French woman who established the first hospital. In the 19th century Montreal grew to a major metropolis, and today Montreal is the second largest city in Canada. |
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Old City - Vieux Montreal | ||
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Waterfront - Vieux Port | ||
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Downtown | ||
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Parks - Parc du Mont Royal | ||
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Ile Sainte Helene | ||
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Olympic Park | ||
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Winter activities |
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Metro – The metro is fast and speedy, use it to go from downtown to the Olympic Park or Ile Sainte Helene. Purchase a 1 or 3 day Carte Touristique, good for unlimited rides on the metro and buses. | ||
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Bus 515 runs in loops around Vieux Montreal and the waterfront from downtown. Ride the loop to get oriented and go from one end of the old port to the other. | ||
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Fireworks Festival – Every summer, Montreal holds a fireworks competition, where teams from different countries compete for the splashiest effects, colors and music. The fireworks start at 10pm, on weekends June to August. The place to watch the fireworks is the Vieux-Port. Click here for the schedule. |
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Fun food – |
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The farmers markets in Montreal are the best. One parent writes, “We let our kids have a little money when we go and they spend a long time before making their decisions. Sometimes its honey sticks, a lump of maple sugar candy or basket of summer strawberries.” You’ll find locally made cheese, cookies and pastries, fruits, bread, quiche, waffles, and ethnic specialties. Try the maple cornets, tiny little cones with tire (maple taffy) and sucre (maple butter). Check out Marche Jean Talon or the Atwater Market, open year round. |
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Bagels – Bagels are a local Montreal specialty. It’s fun to watch bagels being made – big slices of dough are whacked off, shaped into circles, boiled in sweetened water, then cooked in wood-burning ovens. Bagels are typically plain, sesame or poppy seed, but you’ll also find blueberry, chocolate and granola (muesli). Two of the oldest shops are Fairmount Bagel Bakery and St-Viateur Bagel, and also Bagel Place at Faubourg Sainte Catherine. |
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Cafes – When the weather turns bad, stop into a café for hot chocolate (totally delicious), croissants and locally-made bagels. |
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Travel for Kids has so many fun things to do with kids in Montreal, but you'll need a fun place to stay. Here's our own Travel for Kids hand-picked list of family hotels for Montreal, all styles and price ranges, in neighborhoods that comfortable for families, and near to places you'll want to explore: |
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Family hotels Montreal | ||
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| More children's books on other Quebec pages | ||||||
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