Bonjour, les amis! It’s back to the grind for me! Ben and I have just returned from a long weekend of eating, drinking and playing our way through Montreal. From the food, to the nightlife, to the neighborhoods– Montreal is so unique and I’m excited to share my experience and itinerary with you.

We chose Montreal because it was relatively close and easy to get to, while still having an aurora of foreignness. It took us around 6 hours to get there by car and the time seemed to fly by, although I am biased because I enjoy long road trips. We rented an apartment right around the corner from the Notre Dame Basilica in Old Montreal through Airbnb (one day I’ll get around to writing a post about why we choose Airbnb accommodations over standard hotels when traveling) and it was the perfect home base for exploring the city. The heart of Old Montreal and the Old Port were a stone’s throw away and our close proximity to the subway made the downtown area and popular western parts of the city easily accessible. We relied mostly on Ubers to get around, though, as they had extremely reasonable fares. One might even call them cheap! It’s worth noting that the U.S. dollar is currently strong in Canada, so we were okay with splurging on ride fares, food and drinks.

I had originally packed a google doc with an anticipated itinerary for the weekend and while we visited some places I had found, we did some exploring on our own. We ended up conquering a lot of ground over the course of three nights and two days! We ate our weight in poutine; drank cocktails made by some of the city’s best mixologists; brunched among the hipsters in Mile End and took a side in the Montreal bagel turf war. We played boardgames we’d never heard of; sunk some free-throws at a bar with arcade games; admired the quintessential Europeanness of Vieux-Montreal and visited the Biodome. I’m looking forward to going more in depth about our Canadian adventure with you over the next few days. I hope you’ll stick around to hear! I’ve also included some pics as a preview. Maybe you’ll be convinced to make Montreal your next destination (and if so– I highly recommend you bring a heavy coat and bundle up!!).

*NOTE* Check out my Montreal eat and drink recommendations**