LOCATIONCentre-ville (or downtown - both names are used interchangeably)
is, unsurprisingly, very central.
It's an irregular-shaped area
bordered roughly by Prince Arthur to the north,
Guy to the west, St-Laurent to the east and
René-Lévesque to the south.
CHARACTER AND FEELDowntown is dominated by office buildings and three
large universities (McGill, Concordia and UQAM).
The former
results in a 9-5 pattern of activity in much of the
southern part of the neighbourhood, along Blvd René-Lévesque.
The latter makes downtown a very student-heavy neighbourhood,
particularly in the western half where many anglophone students
live.
Crescent street is an extremely touristy yet lively 3-block
strip just west of downtown core. Whether or not you'll like
it partly depends on your personal preferences - some love it
and some hate it. The fact remains that it is one of the
centers of downtown nightlife activity.
Finally, St-Catherine street crossing downtown from
east to west is the biggest shopping district in the city. With the
exception of some highly specialized goods (like furniture), pretty
much everything is sold here.
With that said, however, St-Catherine is not the place to go
looking for small boutiques - speaking of clothing, for example,
most stores sell only the major labels here (you might want to
go to
Le Plateau or
even
Vieux Montreal for that).
Likewise, you will
not find any small bookstores - instead, two local book retailing
giants (Indigo and Chapters) offer a fairly large inventory of
popular books. (Comment for New Yorkers and other Americans:
Indigo and Chapters are the rough local equivalent of Barnes & Noble).
APARTMENTS & REAL ESTATEAlthough most residential buildings in Centre-ville are high-rise
multi-apartment buildings, pockets of more traditional Montreal
buildings (2-3 stories with exterior staircases) do exist.
Prices for "nothing special" apartments (particularly those
in student-populated areas around Concordia and McGill) start
at fairly low levels: around $600 for a studio (1½) and
$700 for a 1-bedroom (3½).
Selected Rental Buildings: See all Centre-Ville Rental Apartment Buildings
Selected Condo Buildings: See all Centre-Ville Condo Apartment Buildings
ATTRACTIONS
The highlights of the downtown area are:
- Rue St. Catherine - Montreal's main shopping artery
- The campus of McGill University
(www.mcgill.edu)
around/just north of Rue Sherbrooke,
- The Montreal Museum of Fine Art on rue Sherbrooke, and
- Place des Arts (corner St. Catherine and Jeanne-Mance), home to
l'Opera de Montréal
(www.operademontreal.com)
and the contemporary art museum.
| Selected Photos (click to see larger versions) Norman Bethune Square
 Western Centre-ville
 Norman Bethune Square Rendering: 1
 Norman Bethune Square Rendering: 2
 Norman Bethune Square: Development Plan
See all Centre-Ville photos |