The Île de Montréal (Island of Montréal) sits in the St. Lawrence River and is 51 km (32 mi) long and 14 km (9 mi) wide. It gets its name from the 764-ft-high Mont-Royal, which provides the only rise in the landscape and which is known by residents simply as "the mountain." The 24 suburbs on the island were absorbed into the city of Montréal in 2002, forming one mega-city -- much to the dismay of many proud suburbanites. A belt of off-island suburbs sits on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, and just to the north across the narrow Rivière des Prairies, on an island of its own, is Laval, a suburb that has become the second-largest city in the province.

Montréal is easy to explore. Streets, subways, and bus lines are clearly marked. The city is divided by a grid of streets roughly aligned east-west and north-south. (Montréal takes its directions from the flow of the river rather than the compass, so this grid is tilted about 40 degrees off -- to the left of -- true north, meaning that west is actually southwest and so on.) North-south street numbers begin at the St. Lawrence River and increase as you head north; east-west street numbers begin at boulevard St-Laurent, which divides Montréal into east and west halves. The city is not so large that seasoned walkers can't see all the districts around the base of Mont-Royal on foot. Nearly everything else is easily accessible by the city's clean and quiet bus and Métro (subway) system. If you're planning to visit a number of museums, look into the city's museum pass (available at museums and Centre Info-Touriste).

Vieux-Montréal

Vieux-Montréal is a center of cultural life and municipal government. Most of the summer activities revolve around Place Jacques-Cartier, which becomes a pedestrian mall with street performers and outdoor cafés, and the Vieux-Port, one of the city's most popular recreation spots. The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal performs summer concerts at Basilique Notre-Dame-de-Montréal, and English-language plays are staged in the Centaur Theatre in the old stock-exchange building. This district has museums devoted to history, religion, and the arts. It also has a growing number of boutiques and hotel beds, especially in the quieter, western part of the neighborhood.

Downtown

On the surface, Montréal's downtown is much like the downtown core of many other major cities. It's full of boutiques, bars, restaurants, strip clubs, amusement arcades, and bookstores. In fact, however, much of the area's activity goes on beneath the surface, in Montréal's Cité Souterrain (Underground City). Development of this unique endeavor began in 1966 when the Métro opened. Now it includes (at last count) seven hotels, more than 1,500 offices and 1,600 boutiques, 30 movie theaters, 200 restaurants, three universities, two colleges, two train stations, a skating rink, 40 banks, a bus terminal, an art museum, a complex of concert halls, and a cathedral. All this is linked by Métro lines and more than 30 km (19 mi) of well-lighted, boutique-lined passages that protect shoppers and workers from the hardships of winter and the heat of summer.

Quartier Latin

Early in the 20th century, rue St-Denis cut through a bourgeois neighborhood of large, comfortable residences. The Université de Montréal was established here in 1893, and the students and academics who moved into the area dubbed it the Quartier Latin, or Latin Quarter. The university eventually moved to a larger campus on the north side of Mont-Royal, and the area went into decline. It revived in the early 1970s, largely as a result of the 1969 opening of the Université du Québec à Montréal. Plateau Mont-Royal, the trendy neighborhood just north of the Quartier Latin, shared in this revival. The Quartier Latin and Plateau Mont-Royal are home to rows of French and ethnic restaurants, charming bistros, coffee shops, designer boutiques, antiques shops, and art galleries.

Boulevard St-Laurent

Depending on how you look at it, this street divides the city into east and west, or it's where east and west meet. After the first electric tramway was installed on boulevard St-Laurent, working-class families began to move in. In the 1880s the first of many waves of Jewish immigrants escaping pogroms in Eastern Europe arrived. They called the street The Main, as in "Main Street." The Jews were followed by Greeks, other Eastern Europeans, Portuguese, and, most recently, Latin Americans. The 10 blocks north of rue Sherbrooke are filled with delis, junk stores, restaurants and luncheonettes, and clothing stores, as well as fashionable boutiques, bistros, cafés, bars, nightclubs, bookstores, and galleries. The block between rues Roy and Napoléon is particularly rich in delights.

Chinatown

The Chinese first came to Montréal in large numbers after 1880, following the construction of the transcontinental railroad. They settled in an 18-block area between boulevard René-Lévesque and avenue Viger to the north and south, and near rue de Bleury and avenue Hôtel de Ville on the west and east, an area now full of mainly Chinese and Southeast Asian restaurants, food stores, and gift shops.

Chalet du Mont-Royal

For a good overview of the city, head for the lookout at the Chalet du Mont-Royal. You can drive most of the way, park, and walk ½ km (¼ mi), or hike all the way up from chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges or avenue des Pins. The views are spectacular on clear days, affording good viewing of all the local sights and more.