Old Montreal is a major tourist attraction, with the oldest of it’s buildings dating back to the 1600s, it is one of the oldest urban areas in North America.
In the eastern part of the old city, near Place Jacques-Cartier, are found such important buildings as Montreal City Hall, Bonsecours Market, and Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, as well as preserved colonial mansions such as the Château Ramezay and the Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada.
Further west, Place d’Armes is dominated by Notre-Dame Basilica on its southern side, accompanied by the Saint-Sulpice Seminary, the oldest extant building in Montreal. The other sides of the square, however, are devoted to commerce; to the north is the former Bank of Montreal Head Office and to the west, the Aldred Building and the 1888 New York Life Building, the oldest skyscraper in Canada. The rest of Saint Jacques Street is lined with lofty old bank buildings - like the Old Royal Bank Building - from its heyday as Canada’s financial centre. The southwest of the old city contains important archeological remains of Montreal’s first townsite, around Place d’Youville and Place Royale, and in the Pointe-à-Callière museum.
Architecture and cobbled streets in Old Montreal have been maintained or restored to keep the look of the city in its earliest days as a settlement, and horse-drawn calèches help maintain that image. Finally, the old town’s riverbank is completely taken up by the Old Port (Vieux-Port), whose maritime facilities are surrounded with a vast recreational space with a variety of museums and attractions. Some guided tours departing from the Notre-Dame Basilica charge differing fees and last about 90 minutes. Themed tours include “The Old Montreal Ghost Trail” among others.
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