City walk Montreal — Plateau & Mile End, Canada

The Plateau and Mile End: Staircases, Smoked Meat and the Bagel Duel

An eating walk through Montreal's most lived-in neighbourhoods: a Victorian square, Parc La Fontaine, streets of twisting outdoor staircases, a smoked-meat sandwich on the Main and a head-to-head of the city's two great bagel bakeries.

Duration: 1 day
Distance: 7 km
Difficulty: Easy
Best season: May–October

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If Old Montreal is where the city keeps its history, the Plateau is where it lives. This is the Montreal of the postcards that are not of churches: rows of two- and three-storey ‘plexes’ painted in bright colours, each with its own iron staircase curling up from the sidewalk to a second-floor door, balconies where people actually sit, and corner shops every few blocks. Michel Tremblay and Mordecai Richler both grew up here and set their best-known stories on these streets. Further north, Mile End adds the city’s independent music scene, its Hasidic community and its two most famous bagel bakeries, a few hundred metres apart and rivals for generations.

This route strings it all together in about seven flat kilometres: from Square Saint-Louis across to Parc La Fontaine, west along Avenue Duluth through the staircase streets, onto Boulevard Saint-Laurent (the Main) for smoked meat at Schwartz’s, and north up the Main into Mile End for the bagel duel on Rue Saint-Viateur and Avenue Fairmount. Come hungry and give it most of a day. It is less a sightseeing walk than a slow graze through the neighbourhoods that Montrealers would choose to show you themselves.

Getting there. Start at Sherbrooke metro station (orange line), which exits a two-minute walk from Square Saint-Louis. You finish in Mile End, about 20 minutes’ walk from Laurier metro (also orange), or take a bus back down Saint-Laurent.

Permits & tickets. Nothing here needs a ticket. The only queue you may meet is the one outside Schwartz’s.

Good to know:

The outdoor staircases lead to people’s front doors. Photograph them from the sidewalk; do not climb them.
Boulevard Saint-Laurent is the historic dividing line of the city: street numbers run ‘Est’ and ‘Ouest’ from it, and for a century it split English-speaking west from French-speaking east. The two bagel shops are both on the Ouest side.
Much of the Plateau is best explored on its side streets. When the route follows a main street, feel free to drift one block over and back.
Bike theft is a known problem in the Plateau. If you rent a BIXI instead of walking, dock it at a station rather than locking it to a post.

Tips & Insights for this route Planning this route? Read our practical tips before you go — 9 tips. Read the tips

Download waypoints (GPX) Points of interest in walking order — not a trail trace.

Day by day

DayDistanceAscentDescentWalking time

Day 1 Hardest daySquare Saint-Louis to the Mile End bagel shops

Distance7 kmAscentNot recordedDescentNot recordedWalking timeNot recorded

Day 1

Square Saint-Louis to the Mile End bagel shops

Sherbrooke metro station → Fairmount Bagel, Mile End 7 km

Navigate this day Print day

A slow walk and graze from a Victorian square through the Plateau’s residential streets to the Main and north into Mile End.

Segments

Square Saint-Louis 0.4 km Map

Sherbrooke metro station → Square Saint-Louis

City sidewalk and a small park

A two-minute walk from the metro, this small square was laid out in 1876 on the site of an old city reservoir and is ringed by some of the Plateau's grandest Victorian houses. The cast-iron fountain in the middle is one of the oldest public fountains in the city, and busts of the poets Octave Crémazie and Émile Nelligan (who lived facing the square) stand among the trees. Avenue Laval, along its western side, has the finest houses. About 20 minutes.

About this place

Saint Louis Square is an urban square in Montreal's Plateau Mont Royal. Its eastern edge fronts onto Saint Denis Street, a major north–south artery. Square Saint Louis Street runs along both the square's northern and southern sides, while Laval Avenue runs along its western side.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Original uploader was FRED at fr.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Across to Parc La Fontaine 1.8 km Map

Square Saint-Louis → Parc La Fontaine at Avenue Duluth

Residential streets, then park paths

Head east through quiet residential streets to Parc La Fontaine, 34 hectares of lawns and trees that were a military training ground until 1888 and are named for Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine, the first francophone to lead a government of Canada. Walk north through the park past its two linked ponds, separated by a waterfall and bridge, and the open-air Théâtre de Verdure. Leave from the west side at Avenue Duluth. About 40 minutes.

About this place

La Fontaine Park is a 34 ha urban park located in the borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Named in honour of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, The park's features include two linked ponds with a fountain and waterfalls, the Théâtre de Verdure open-air venue, the Calixa-Lavallée cultural centre, a monument to Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, playing fields and tennis courts. Its ponds are a popular attraction during Montreal's hot summers, with outdoor ice skating in winter. Bike paths run along the park's western and northern edges. Parc La Fontaine is surrounded by Sherbrooke Street on the South, Parc-La Fontaine Avenue on the West, Rachel Street on the North, and Papineau avenue on the East.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Dean Bere · CC BY-SA 3.0
The staircase streets along Avenue Duluth 1 km Map

Parc La Fontaine → Rue Saint-Denis

Narrow residential streets

Walk west on Avenue Duluth, a narrow street of small restaurants, and wander a block north or south into the side streets along the way. This is the classic Plateau streetscape: brick and stone plexes, wrought-iron balconies and outdoor staircases in every shape, straight, L-shaped and full spiral. Cross Rue Saint-Denis, one of the Plateau's main shopping streets, and keep going. About 30 minutes, more if you stop for photos.

About this place

Saint Denis Street is a major east-west thoroughfare in Montreal, Quebec.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Dillan Payne · CC BY-SA 4.0
Smoked meat at Schwartz's 0.8 km Map

Rue Saint-Denis → Schwartz's, Boulevard Saint-Laurent

City sidewalk

Continue on Duluth to Boulevard Saint-Laurent and turn left for about a block to number 3895. Schwartz's was founded in 1928 by Reuben Schwartz, a Jewish immigrant from Romania, and still cures its brisket for ten days and smokes it in the same brick smokehouse. The room is small and shared, the line outside is part of the ritual and the sandwich lives up to it. About 60 minutes with the wait.

About this place

Schwartz's, also known as the Schwartz's Deli and the Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen, is a Jewish delicatessen restaurant and take-out, located on Saint-Laurent Boulevard in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was established in 1928, by Reuben Schwartz, a Jewish immigrant from Romania. Its long popularity and reputation has led to it being considered a cultural institution and landmark in Montreal.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0
North up the Main 2.2 km Map

Schwartz's → Rue Saint-Viateur

Busy commercial boulevard

Walk north on Saint-Laurent, the street Montrealers call the Main. For a century it divided English-speaking Montreal from French-speaking Montreal, and it was the first street for wave after wave of immigrants; in 2002 it was designated a National Historic Site for exactly that. The walls along this stretch carry some of the city's biggest murals, many painted for the MURAL festival. Cross Avenue du Mont-Royal and continue into Mile End. About 45 minutes.

About this place

Saint Laurent Boulevard, also known as Saint Lawrence Boulevard, is a major street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A commercial artery and cultural heritage site, the street runs north west–south east through the near-centre of city and is nicknamed The Main, which is the abbreviation for "Main Street".
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: CultureClub · CC BY-SA 4.0
The bagel duel 0.8 km Map

Rue Saint-Viateur → Fairmount Bagel

Neighbourhood streets

Turn left onto Rue Saint-Viateur for St-Viateur Bagel at number 263 Ouest, opened in 1957 by Myer Lewkowicz, a Holocaust survivor from Poland. Watch the bakers roll, boil and slide the bagels into the wood-fired oven. Then walk a few minutes south to Fairmount Bagel at 74 Avenue Fairmount Ouest, founded in 1919 and on this spot since 1949. Taste them side by side and choose. About 30 minutes.

About this place

St-Viateur Bagel is a Montreal-style bagel bakery located in the neighbourhood of Mile End in the borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Iwona Erskine-Kellie from Vancouver, Canada · CC BY 2.0