Montreal runs on cheap pleasure: a mountain park with no gate, bagels pulled from a wood fire at 3am for $1.30, and markets where the free samples add up to lunch. Three days here can cost less than a single attraction ticket elsewhere in North America.
Frederick Law Olmsted designed this 233m mountain park in 1876. The Chemin Olmsted gravel path climbs gently from Avenue du Parc to the Chalet du Mont-Royal, whose stone belvedere frames downtown and the St Lawrence. Open 06:00 to midnight, no gate, no fee.
Boulevard Saint-Laurent between Sherbrooke and Saint-Viateur holds over 100 large-format murals painted during MURAL Festival each June. The Leonard Cohen portrait at Rue Napoleon is the anchor, and the alleys off Rue Bernard hide smaller unlisted work.
Ile Sainte-Helene is four minutes by metro from Berri-UQAM and the grounds cost nothing: Buckminster Fuller's 1967 Biosphere dome seen from outside, Calder's steel Man sculpture, and a shoreline loop path that looks straight back at the skyline.
Place des Festivals programmes free events most of the year: 235 choreographed fountain jets in summer, the Luminotherapie light installations from December to February, and free outdoor stages during the Jazz Festival's late-June run.
Open in Little Italy since 1933, this is North America's largest open-air market. Vendors hand out samples of Quebec cheese, cider and maple butter, and produce is discounted sharply in the final hour. Fresh curds for poutine run about $6 a bag.
Hand-rolled, honey-boiled and baked in a wood oven since 1957, the Montreal bagel is thinner and sweeter than New York's. The counter on Rue Saint-Viateur Ouest never closes; a sesame bagel is about $1.30 and a dozen roughly $16 straight from the fire.
The 1933 art deco market beside the Lachine Canal stays cheap if you skip the butcher counters: end-of-day loaves from Premiere Moisson, free tastings at Fromagerie Atwater, and a canal-side lawn built for an assembled picnic.
Facing Parc La Fontaine on Rue Rachel Est since 1968 and open 24 hours, La Banquise serves about 30 poutine variations. The classic costs roughly $10 and La Taquise with guacamole about $14; a regular portion comfortably feeds two people.
Canada's largest church, begun by Brother Andre in 1904, sits at 263m on the mountain's west slope. Entry is free with a $5 suggested donation; pilgrims climb the 283 wooden steps on their knees and the dome terrace gives the widest free view in the city.
A 57-hectare bird sanctuary on the third of Mount Royal's summits, far quieter than the main lookout. The Summit Circle path opens southwest over Westmount and the river, and warblers pour through during May migration. Bring lunch; there are no shops inside.
The canal's 14.5km towpath is flat, car-free and lined with 19th-century grain silos and working locks. A BIXI single trip costs $1.35 plus $0.20 a minute, while the 24-hour pass is about $6.25 for unlimited 45-minute rides across 900 stations.
Every summer a sand lot on Rue Notre-Dame Est under the Jacques-Cartier Bridge becomes a free open-air bar built from pallets, with DJs, food trucks and picnic tables facing the river. Entry costs nothing and the bridge's LED light show begins at dusk.