16 fun facts about Montréal

Many people know Montréal as that charming French-Canadian city with great food and cute accents. But we’re so much more! Here are just a few facts about Montréal that you might not know.

1. Montréal is a UNESCO City of Design

Montréal was designated a UNESCO City of Design in 2006. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development. There are many aspects to the designation, from urban planning to the support of creativity to the prevalence of artisanship. Check out the beautiful architecture around the city, especially in Old Montréal and the Old Port.

2. Montréal is home to innovation

While working as a McGill system administrator in 1989, Alan Emtage wrote an open-source program to automate searching for software, which he called Archie. Just in his mid-20s, Emtage had created the first Internet search engine.

3. Montréal is bursting with religious history

Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal is Canada’s largest church. With construction started in 1904, this National Historic Site is a pilgrimage site for both spiritual and architectural reasons.

4. Montréal hosted the first Olympics in Canada

In the summer of 1976, Montréal hosted the first Olympics ever held in Canada and the only summer games hosted in Canada to date. Today, visitors can explore various Olympic venues and see icons like the Olympic Stadium. Some venues are still available for sporting events and/or meetings.

5. Montréal is built around a (small) mountain

Montréal is built around a hill called Mount Royal. It’s from this term the city received its name. The sprawling Mount Royal Park that occupies most of the hill at the centre of town was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed New York City’s Central Park. The city has a bylaw stipulating that no skyscraper can be taller than the iconic cross found at its top.

6. Montréal is a hot spot for aviation

Montréal’s YUL Montréal-Trudeau International Airport is one of the best airports in North America, with direct access to almost 150 destinations around the globe. The aerospace industry is one of the city’s leading sectors: Montréal is home to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations. It changes the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth.

7. Montréal is famously affordable

It’s official: you get more for your money in Montréal. Mercer’s most recent Cost of Living Survey provides extensive data on the relative affordability of cities worldwide, and Montréal sits at No. 135 among the most affordable big cities in the whole wide world, and 20th in North America.

8. Montréal made sustainability history

Signed in 1987 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, Montréal’s convention centre, The Montréal Protocol is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. “The Montréal Protocol is the most successful international environmental agreement ever implemented.” That’s what Margaret Heffernan declared in a TED Talk.

9. Montréal is a city of circus

Montréal is home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises: the Cirque du Soleil. The Canadian entertainment company is the largest contemporary circus producer in the world, and has led Montréal into an international limelight of the circus arts.

10. Montréal is an island

Just like Manhattan, Montréal is also situated on an island. The St. Lawrence River is one of the largest rivers in North America, and acts as the primary drainage outflow of the Great Lakes. That's why river cruises are perfect for your Montréal meetings. 

11. Montréal has a segment of the Berlin Wall

In recognition of Montréal’s 350th anniversary in 1992, the city of Berlin donated a small section of the infamous wall that once divided East and West Germany. The concrete piece is located in the Ruelle des Fortifications, adjacent to the Montréal World Trade Centre, which itself is a crossroads of international trade, a site of openness, tourism, and transit.

12. The anthem for peace was recorded in Montréal

While many people know that John Lennon’s iconic song Give Peace a Chance was written and recorded in Montréal’s Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel, most people don’t know that the room was also filled with some of the world’s most ground-breaking scholars and activists. Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Dick Gregory and Tommy Smothers were among the folks singing backup on the track that is essentially holy scripture for the flower power generation.

13. Montréal is a port city

The Port of Montréal is one of the largest inland ports in the world handling 35 million tonnes of cargo annually. It remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery and consumer goods. Montréal is also the railway hub of Canada, home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway. Sustainable mobility and intelligent transportation are both booming local industries.

14. Montréal has been the stage to some of your favourite movies

The film and television industry provides approximately 36,000 direct jobs, and an average of 600 films are shot each year in Montréal — including some Hollywood blockbusters. Movies such as Blades of Glory, Life of Pi, Batman & Robin, The Red Violin, Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and X-Men were all shot in Montréal.

15. Montréal loves to learn

With four universities, seven other degree-awarding institutions, and 12 colleges — locally known as CEGEPs — in an eight-kilometre radius, Montréal has among the highest concentrations of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America. It’s a veritable city of knowledge.

16. M is for Montréal and for meetings

For the eighth year in a row, Montréal has topped the Union of International Associations annual list of cities in the Americas for hosting international association meetings. Montréal’s leading edge keeps the city in first place among some major event host destinations, including Toronto, New York, Washington and Chicago. Come find out why.