Orientation

Montréal: Where the Sun Rises in the South -- For the duration of your visit to Montréal, you'll need to accept local directional conventions, strange as they may seem. The city borders the St. Lawrence River, and as far as locals are concerned, that's south, looking toward the U.S. Never mind that the river, in fact, runs almost north and south at that point. For this reason, it has been observed that Montréal is the only city in the world where the sun rises in the south. Don't fight it: Face the river. That's south. Turn around. That's north. Tout est clair?

To ease the confusion, the directions given here conform to this local directional tradition. However, the maps in this guide also have the true compass on them.

When examining a map of the city, note that prominent thoroughfares such as rue Ste-Catherine and boulevard René-Lévesque are said to run either "east" or "west," with the dividing line being boulevard St-Laurent, which runs "north" and "south." For streets that run east and west, the numbers start at St-Laurent and then go in both directions. They're labeled either est, for east, or ouest, for west. That means, for instance, that an address at 500 est is actually blocks and blocks from 501 ouest -- and not directly across the street.

City Layout

Main Arteries & Streets -- In downtown Montréal, the principal east-west streets include boulevard René-Lévesque, rue Ste-Catherine (rue is the French word for "street"), boulevard de Maisonneuve, and rue Sherbrooke. The north-south arteries include rue Crescent, rue McGill, rue St-Denis, and boulevard St-Laurent, which serves as the line of demarcation between east and west Montréal. Most of the downtown areas featured in this book lie west of boulevard St-Laurent.

In Plateau Mont-Royal, northeast of the downtown area, major streets are avenue du Mont-Royal and avenue Laurier.

In Vieux-Montréal, rue St-Jacques, rue Notre-Dame, and rue St-Paul are the main thoroughfares, along with rue de la Commune, the waterfront road that hugs the promenade bordering the St. Lawrence River.

Neighborhood street plans are available online at www.tourisme-montreal.org and from the information centers listed here.

Finding an Address -- As outlined above, boulevard St-Laurent is the dividing point between east and west (est and ouest) in Montréal. There's no equivalent division for north and south (nord and sud) -- the numbers start at the river and climb from there, just as the topography does. The odd numbers are to the east and the even numbers are to the west. Make sure you know your east from your west, and confirm the cross street for all addresses.

In earlier days, Montréal was split geographically along cultural lines. Those who spoke English lived predominantly west of boulevard St-Laurent, while French speakers were concentrated to the east. Things still do sound more French as you walk east: Street names and Métro station names change from Peel and Atwater to Papineau and Beaudry.