Montreal vacations | Montreal vacations and Montreal vacation packages

Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, Canada, the second most populous country, and the second most populous French-speaking city in the world. It is also an administrative region of Quebec. Situated on the island of the same name enters the St. Lawrence River and the Rivière des Prairies. It is one of the major industrial centers, commercial and cultural americas North.

Montreal is a city comprehensive range, and holds the fourth French-speaking population in the world, behind Paris, Kinshasa and Abiyan. However, Montreal also has a substantial anglophone community, and an increasing number of people whose native language is neither French nor English.

The word "Montreal" is the archaic version, written in simplified form, Mont-Royal, a hill located in the city at the center of the island. Montreal is one of the most important cultural centers of Canada, since it hosts several national and international events. Among them, we can cite the festival Juste pour Rire, one of the biggest festivals of humor in the world, the Montreal Jazz Festival, one of the greatest jazz festivals in the world, and the Grand Prix of Montreal. The city, in total, hosts more than 70 international events a year. With all these events, together with his former center, the Vieux-Montreal, Montreal is considered the most European city in North America.

The population of Montreal is among the best educated in the world, possessing the largest concentration of university students per capita in North America. The city has 4 universities - two of them francophone and anglophone two of them - and 12 faculties. It is a centre for high technology industry - especially in the area of medicine and aerospace.

Founded in 1642, Montreal was one of the first cities in Canada. Since then, and the decade until 1960, was the main financial and industrial center of Canada, as well as the largest city in the country. Considered until then the economic capital of Canada, also was considered one of the most important cities in the world. However, during the decade of 1970, the anglophone Toronto outburst him the post of financial and industrial capital of the country. In 2001, the 27 municipalities of the island of Montreal were merged with the city of Montreal.

In 2004, after the results of a referendum, 15 of these municipalities returned again to be independent cities.

LOCATION

Montreal is located on the island of Montreal, at the confluence of the St. Lawrence River and Ottawa. The island of Montreal is one of the islands of the archipelago of Hochelaga. The Ottawa River afluye in the Lac des Deux Montagnes and then is divided into four branches, of which one is the Riviere des Prairies. The island of Montreal is therefore among the Rivière des Prairies and the St. Lawrence River.

In the years 1960, Montreal was the most important city throughout Canada. Because, among other reasons, to a perception of political insecurity and the fact that it was a mostly French-speaking city, Toronto had taken that position. Even today there is a certain rivalry between the two cities.

With its huge gay district, the largest of its kind in North America and one of the largest in the world, the city of Montreal is one of the centers of gay and lesbian life in Canada. Montreal was chosen, between 1999 and 2000, in order to join the select group of gay world capitals, which included, in 1999, the cities of Montreal, Paris, Munich, Manchester and Sydney, and in 2000, Amsterdam, Berlin, Manchester and Paris.

REGIONAL ATTRACTIONS

Based on the city of Montreal, you can access some circuits or recreational travel. These include the mountain chain of mountains between Laurentides-we can highlight the Mont-Tremblant, a major ski resort, the route of wines Eastern Townships and Mont-Saint-Hilaire, recognized by UNESCO as the first Biosphere Reserve of Canada.

CLIMATE

The climate varies quite the Montreal because of the location of the city in an area where they frequently find large air fronts, one from the North Pole, and one of the United States. The unstable weather is considered by the habitants of Montreal part of the character of the city.

CULTURE

Festivals and Events
Numerous festivals are held annually in Montreal. Taking into account the rigorous winters, it is logical that most of these take place during the summer, such as the famous International Jazz Festival of Montreal or even Les Francofolies de Montreal. During the Jazz Festival, large sections of the streets of downtown are cut to make room for outdoor scenes, places of free shows, and pedestrian circulation. The city also hosts numerous film and music festivals. It is also worth noting the fires of competition atificiales from Montreal, Les Feuxs Loto-Quebec, the fireworks competition with more prestige in the world, where the best fireworks every year opt to take a place among the 11 competitors in the contest, all for achieving jupiter a gold, silver or bronze. These are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays of the month of July.

Every Sunday in summer, a certain amount of people will gather to attend the Tam-Tams of Mount Royal, an appointment intercultural music and very popular, especially among the young. The center of concentration is the monument to Sir George-Etienne Cartier, Mont-Royal Park.

POINTS OF INTEREST

Montreal is a major center of culture and Quebec is recognized internationally for its cultural effervescence. The cultural complex of Place des Arts hosts the Museum of Contemporary Art and several theaters. It is the headquarters of the Montreal Opera and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The latter should get a room specially built for her in an adjacent site in the coming years.

Located in Montreal a major culture of cafes, a little French model. Indeed, unlike in most other American university towns, it is not uncommon to see students working in groups in cafes Montrealers, especially in the vicinity of the three campuses of the city centre.

Museums and Theaters
The city has numerous museums, from the museum of archeology and history of passing through the famous Montreal Museum of Fine Arts or even the Musee Juste pour rire, not counting the many theaters whose list has been steadily lengthened for some thirty years. These include in particular the Théatre St-Denis, the Théatre du Rideau Vert and the Théatre du Nouveau Monde, founded in 1951.
Points of interest
Montreal is the third largest tourist centre of Canada, losing only to Vancouver and Toronto. Annually, the city is visited by millions of tourists.

Neighborhoods
The Quartier international de MontrealEl financial center of the city, with its modern buildings. The Place Ville-Marie, one of the tallest buildings in the city with its 188 metres high form the core of the Montreal subway, where is located the biggest shopping mall underground world (with over 1 600 shops).
The Vieux Montreal (Old Montreal), the historical center, with various attractions such as the Port of the ancient city, the building Jacques-Cartier and the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal.
The Quartier international de Montreal, or QiM (International District of Montreal), an area in the city center that was revitalized between 2000 and 2001. It has several places, and this is where the convention center located in the city.

Streets
Vista de la rue Sainte-Catherine.La rue Sainte-Catherine is a shopping street that attracts many tourists because of its shopping malls, department stores, theaters and restaurants.
The Boulevard Saint-Laurent, the main avenue of Montreal, is an example of the cultural diversity of the city, where are located shops, restaurants and communities Portuguese, Greek, Jewish, Russian, Ukrainian and Latin American. Besides that, the road cuts the financial center and the neighborhoods of Chinatown and Petite Italie (originally, a neighborhood of Italian immigrants).
The rue Sherbrooke, with its luxury boutiques and art galleries.
The Boulevard Rene-Levesque, the financial center of the city, is located where most of the skyscrapers of the city.

Other
The Olympic Stadium, opened in 1976, which has the largest leaning tower in the world, with its 175 metres high. The architecture of many of the apartment buildings of two to four floors of the city is characterized by the presence of the stairs outside the building, in order to save internal space.
The Congress (Palais des Congres de Montreal), located in the Quartier international de Montreal (QiM). Built before the start of the revitalization plan QiM.
Montreal is one of the greatest centres of homosexuals americas North, since it has one of the largest gay districts on the continent. The Gay Pride festival is the second largest americas North, just behind the made in Toronto.