Bonsecours Market: Montreal Travel Guide (4.1★)

A dome over the Old Port

Look for the silver dome. It rises above the rooftops of Old Montreal and marks a long grey-stone hall with a columned portico. That hall is Bonsecours Market. It opened in the 1840s as the city’s main public market, and from 1852 to 1878 it also housed Montreal’s city hall.

The building is a National Historic Site. It runs a full block, so it has two faces. The narrow front is on Rue Saint-Paul East. The long side looks over Rue de la Commune toward the Old Port and the St. Lawrence River. If you want a photo, the Commune side gives you the whole length of it.

Inside the halls

The farm stalls are long gone. Today the corridors are lined with apparel and accessory boutiques, art galleries and restaurants, and the focus is on design made in Quebec. Expect to browse rather than haul home groceries.

• Boutiques: clothing, jewellery and accessories, much of it from local makers
• Galleries: art and craft spaces scattered through the hall
• Restaurants: on the ground floor, some with tables facing Rue Saint-Paul
• Event halls: the upper floors host exhibitions and private functions, so some areas may be closed off

An hour is enough to see the shops. Give yourself two if you plan to eat here.

Beating the afternoon crowd

This is one of Old Montreal’s most-visited buildings, and weekend afternoons show it. From 1pm until closing on weekends, the corridors fill with people who drifted over from Place Jacques-Cartier. Get there at the 10am opening instead. From 10am to 11am the halls are at their quietest, on weekdays and weekends alike.

On weekdays there is a second calm window from 6pm to 7pm. It only works on Thursday and Friday, when the market stays open until 7pm. From Monday to Wednesday it closes at 6pm, and on Sunday also at 6pm. Saturday runs to 7pm, but it’s busy right up to the end.

• Greeting: shopkeepers usually open with “Bonjour-Hi”. Answer in whichever language you prefer.
• Paying: cards and tap payment are standard.
• Tax: shelf prices don’t include GST and QST, which are added at the till.
• Tipping: in the restaurants, leave 15 to 20 percent on the card machine.

Around the market

Old Montreal is easy to walk, and the market is in the middle of a cluster of sights. Champ-de-Mars station on the Orange Line is about ten minutes uphill. Walk down past Montreal City Hall and Château Ramezay to reach Rue Saint-Paul.

• Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel: next door to the east, one of the city’s oldest churches
• Château Ramezay: a museum in an early 18th-century governor’s residence, on Rue Notre-Dame
• Place Jacques-Cartier: the sloping square a short walk west, lined with terraces
• Old Port promenade: across Rue de la Commune, running east to the Clock Tower

The best route takes all of them in at once. Start with the chapel, go through the market at 10am, and finish on the waterfront before the crowds build after lunch.