Southwest made a startling discovery earlier this month.
19.09.2023 - 14:09 / lonelyplanet.com
Stretching along an island in the St Lawrence River, Montréal has a complicated soul thanks to its blend of French and English heritage. You can explore this dichotomy and much more – art, music, dining – in its diverse neighborhoods.
Historic streets and centuries-old architecture make Old Montréal the focal point for most visitors while nearby Chinatown hides colorful streets packed with tantalizing restaurants, bakeries and tea parlors. Downtown is the go-to for museums, the Quartier Latin and the Village are full of students and LGBTQI+ entertainment, and the Plateau has leafy parks and creative nightlife.
Most neighborhoods are ideal for exploring on foot, and moving between areas is a breeze thanks to Montréal’s efficient bus and metro network.
Here are the neighborhoods in Montréal you can’t miss.
The birthplace of Montréal evokes more than a hint of Paris, thanks to its cobbled lanes, cafe-fringed squares and Second Empire Architecture – as exemplified by the Hôtel de Ville (aka City Hall). Old Montréal is a paradise for the flâneur (wanderer) as you can peek inside grand churches (don’t miss a visit to the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, with its boat-shaped votive lamps left by sailors in thanks for safe voyages) and check out hidden street art (like the bronze sculpture of Les Chuchoteuses, which helped revitalize the district back in the early 2000s). There’s even a little-known chunk of the Berlin Wall tucked inside the Montréal World Trade Centre.
There’s great shopping here, too, at one-of-a-kind boutiques. At L’Empreinte Coopérative, you can browse wide-ranging ceramics, jewelry and crafts made by Québécois artisans. Nearby, the Boutique Boréale has an array of works by First Nations artists: leather moccasins, woven blankets, musk ox fur hats and carvings in fossilized mammoth ivory. Keep following photogenic Rue St-Paul to reach the Marché Bonsecours, Old Montréal’s domed market hall that’s full of shops selling yet more crafts and clothing as well as Canadian food items – chocolate-dipped blueberries and maple syrup liqueurs.
When it comes to dining, the neighborhood has its share of forgettable tourist traps, but it’s also home to some of Montréal’s most creative restaurants. There’s superb, vegetarian and vegan cuisine at LOV, while Barroco and Garde Manger showcase nouveau Canadian cooking.
Afterwards, you can explore the bar scene, which encompasses friendly easy-going watering holes like the Pub St-Paul, as well as stylish cocktail dens (Clandestino, Tittle Tattle) and rooftop bars (the Terrasse Place d’Armes).
A few blocks from the edge of Old Montréal, Chinatown occupies just a couple of square blocks, but it’s packed with atmosphere. Most people come here to eat:
Southwest made a startling discovery earlier this month.
From harbor-front Hong Kong glam to old-school European luxury, a just-released list of the best hotels on the planet offers a handy guide to traveling the world in high style – or at least assembling a list of dream accommodations.
A recent visit to Governors Island came a few days after a conversation I’d had with my father in which he’d instructed me to act like a tourist in my own city. He’d started by asking simply how I was filling my summer weekends, and I answered honestly that most of my free time was spent reading in one park or another and going to bars in my Brooklyn neighborhood. “New York City,” he reminded me (with earnest intention to inspire, no righteousness detected), “has more things to do in it than you’ll be able to see in a lifetime.”
There’s really no wrong time of year to visit Mexico City.
As summer holidays come to an end, 50 Best has compiled its list of the World’s 50 Best Hotels in 2023.
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A slice European, a pinch cosmopolitan New York and fully its own quirky, unique self, Montréal is Canada’s artsiest, coolest city, worth spending days and days exploring.
Ho Chi Minh City is a vibrant and exciting city with a lot to offer visitors. It is the largest city in Vietnam and has a rich history, diverse culture, and delicious food. Some of the top things to do in Ho Chi Minh City include visiting the War Remnants Museum, exploring the city’s French colonial architecture, taking a walk through Ben Thanh Market, and sampling the city’s delicious street food. Ho Chi Minh City is also a relatively affordable city, making it a great value for travelers. Whether you’re interested in history, culture, food, or shopping, you’re sure to find something to love. These Ho Chi Minh City hotels put you close to everything.
The door to the bedroom closet opened wide, revealing dozens of brightly coloured zoot suits and shoes. On a nearby table, there were a wide-brimmed hat with feathers, a chain watch, suspenders and a pair of rhinestone cufflinks. For José de la Rosa, this room connects him with his most genuine self."I am a blood pachuco. My father was a pachuco and my grandfather before him," he said, looking out towards his 1950s Dodge parked outside his Mexico City home. "This is not a costume, it is a way of life and a culture that transcends generations."
Ibiza is for partying.
For generations, designers have adopted towns, villages, and other enclaves as second homes and visited them again and again, imprinting a touch of their own sensibility on their chosen place—and importing something of its essence into their own work. It’s the kind of symbiosis that Coco Chanel and Le Corbusier, who summered in neighboring homes, enjoyed with the Cote d’Azur’s Rouquebrune Cap-Martine, or Yves Saint Laurent with Marrakech and Tangier. More recently, Christian Louboutin popularized the Portuguese village of Melides, eventually opening Vermelho Hotel there earlier this year. Here, five designers on the places they go, and why they continue to be pulled back.