Montreal walking tour review: visiting Old Montreal with 1642 Tours
An honest review of my experience with 1642 Tours in Montreal
I was in Montreal for a weekend by myself and I decided to purchase an MTL Passport card and go visit various tourist attractions and activities around the city as kind of a stay at home vacation during summer 2021. I had been to Montreal many times over the years and I was in Old Montreal most recently in January 2019 for the IglooFest music festival, so when I returned in the summer of 2021, I wanted to learn more about the area since I had only really seen it at night for the festival.
I booked this tour using my MTL Passport attractions pass card, which I paid for myself, so this is a completely independent review.
You can read a detailed summary of all the experiences I had with 1642 Tours on a guided tour of Old Montreal or jump straight to my final recommendation at the end.
Go to final recommendation
Keep reading to find out what we did on this guided tour of Old Montreal!
Quick Overview of the 1642 Tours Old Montreal Walking Tour
Destinations: On this Old Montreal guided tour, we visited The Place d'Armes, the Old Sulpicians' Seminary, Notre-Dame Basilica, Place Jacques-Cartier, Bonsecours Market, Saint-Paul Street, and stopped in front of the Chateau Ramezay Museum and the Pointe a Calliere Museum.
How long was the tour: This guided Montreal walking tour lasted about 2.5 hours.
Who was on the tour: There were 11 other people on the tour, since their maximum number at the time was 12 per tour.
Who was the guide: This Montreal guided walking tour had one guide. She was easy to understand and completely bilingual, very energetic and engaging and provided facts and commentary about the different stops in the Old Montreal area. She also mentioned that she guided several others tours in the cities on different topics, so I think she was a full time professional guide.
How did we travel: As the name suggests, we walked around Old Montreal on foot, both the meeting point and end destination were near major subway stations, which made the tour convenient to join.
When did I take this tour: August 2021.
Place d'Armes Square
The predeparture information specified where to meet the guide near Place D’armes metro station at the Paul de Chomedey monument, across from the Notre Dame Basilica. I arrived about 15 minutes early and was able to easily find the guide near the large fountain in the centre of the square as she was wearing a lanyard with a tour guide ID card.
We had a full 12 person tour group for that morning, however the other 11 participants besides myself were all part of a big family group and got delayed because they couldn’t find parking, so we started about 15 minutes late, although the guide said usually they only wait about 5 minutes for late participants. The company does provide a phone number to call so that you can meet up with the walking tour group in the event that you are lost or delayed.
The first 20 minutes or so were spent learning about the founding of Montreal, the religious order that constructed the Notre Dame Basilica and talking about the history of some statues just outside the square. I thought the guide did a good job of presenting indigenous history in a respectful way and pointed out that some historic statues and monuments contain depictions of indigenous people that would not be considered respectful by modern standards.
We also learned about some other statues, buildings and historic businesses in the area, then started actually walking to our next stop.
The World Trade Centre Montreal
Next, we stopped by the Montreal World Trade Centre shopping complex with several attached businesses and hotels, we stopped by a restored vintage decorated area and there was also a piece of the Berlin Wall on display in the shopping area !
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Saint Paul Street
The guide also made a few short stops along Saint Paul Street and the surrounding area to point out particular buildings that had a significance to historic Montreal, like banks and warehouses. I’ve walked by many of these before by myself and had no idea about the history of any of them, so you might find this tour interesting even if you are from the city or have visited many times.
Pointe-à-Callière Museum of Montreal Archaeology and History
There was a quick stop at the Pointe a Calliere Museum for people who needed a washroom break since we were about half way through the tour, and it was nice to have a chance to sit for a few minutes as well. I returned to this museum after the tour and it is definitely worth a visit if you have any interest in archaeology or the history of the city of Montreal, it is very modern and interactive and has information in English and French.
Cours le Royer
We wandered through an old hospital courtyard area called Cours le Royer that had trees and flowers which had been converted into a pedestrian street. I had never noticed it before, I think that is part of the fun of these tours, discovering parts of the city you have probably passed by and never really looked around.
Courthouse and City Hall
For the last part of the tour, we passed some of the court and justice buildings on our way to the Vieux Port area. We ran into a few other walking tour groups along the way and the guides all seemed to know each other. Our guide mentioned that they all have to take a training course and pass a test, so they are certified professionals !
Chateau Ramezay Museum
The guide stopped at the Chateau Ramezay Museum, which is a historic house with displays and exhibits about 18th century life in Montreal. She explained what we could see inside, in case anyone wanted to visit by themselves after the walking tour. This was also an activity included with the MTL Passport attractions card, so it is a convenient location to visit just after the tour ends.
Marché Bonsecours Market
The final stop was the Marche Bonsecours Market, which is quite impressive from the outside and has a lot of souvenir and tourist shops inside along with washrooms. The tour ended here and the guide gave advice about planning visits to other museums in the area and mentioned an art mural festival going on in the city that weekend as well, so it was a good chance to get advice from a local.
The final stop is only about a 10 minute walk or less than a kilometre to get back to the starting point in case you need to take the metro, otherwise it is just across from the Vieux Port area with the Grand Roue if you want to visit the waterfront. A few days before this walking tour, I also used my MTL Passport to take a guided boat cruise of the Old Port area, which was a nice way to get a different perspective of this part of Montreal.
Final Recommendation:
Old Montreal Walking Tour with 1642 Tours
I thought this tour provided the experience as described on the 1642 Tours website. It was a walking tour of the Old Montreal area, with information about history, architecture, stories and some current events. There was no strenuous walking, as the Old Montreal area is not expansive.
The website was easy to navigate in English or French, email communication and pre departure information was sufficient, I had no trouble finding the group. The guide was genuinely nice and knowledgeable about all the places we visited. In terms of accessibility, one person on the tour had a stroller and managed to visit all the destinations with no issues.
I do think if you are visiting with a larger group with a particular interest, it probably makes the most sense to book a private tour, as the group I was with had all booked together as a family and might have benefited from a tour aimed more at children’s interests.
Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable activity to do for a few hours on a Sunday morning, even having visited the city many times over the years by myself and being somewhat familiar with the area, it was still interesting to hear more about the history of places I passed by so many times.
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