Montreal

Spent the month of September here and it was nice for the first 2 weeks. There are a lot of young people due to the multiple universities and you smell weed everywhere!!! There is also so much construction going on with the roads and buildings, so it’s best to walk and bike most places. The BIXI bike system is awesome! There are also a lot of homeless screaming at people randomly in the streets. Food and rent is expensive. The “European” vibe is isolated to a 3 street area, but the rest of the city is much like a normal downtown. Everyone speaks English, so super easy to get around. 2 weeks here is plenty!! I was hoping for more of a European vibe.

Spent two years in Montreal. I have zero regrets and it was a lot of fun for a few years, but ultimately needed to leave.
Pros:
-Good variety of nightlife and activities. From clubs to cool bars to strip clubs, you can find it in Montreal. Drinking here is quite cheap.
-Population feels very young in the city center due to multiple large universities. Other areas around are also full of young professionals. Lots of cool trendy areas.
-Work to live not live to work attitudes. People in Montreal like enjoying life.

Cons:
-The same work to live attitudes I mentioned above means people here abhor success. If you make good money, don't mention it to people. Quebec is much poorer than other Canadian provinces and they do not like the wealthy.
-The winters are awful. Lots of snow, cold and dark.
-Taxes are high as hell for the "rich", where even 80k USD qualifies you as rich.
-The government is very inefficient for a developed city.
-As an anglophone, it's clear a certain subset of a population won't like you. Even if you learn French, they still won't like you, because your french will never be to their standards.
-The city at times feels more developing than it does developed. If you're coming from a world-class city, Montreal is going to feel very small and not cosmopolitan.

Having lived in the Montreal region almost all my life, here are a few things to note:
- Smoking is prohibited in all public buildings (restaurants, bars, stores, underground shopping malls, business and residential building (excluding your own living spaces), public transportation, etc.
- English is harder to come by outside Montreal and certain parts of south shore but very common in the west end of Montreal
- Montreal has 2 English universities: McGill and Concordia both of which are centrally located downtown and accessible by Metro
- Making friends is quite easy. Just join a local meetup
- Many free public wifi spots
- Traffic can be a nightmare (lots of construction)
- Relative to European cities, public transportation is unreliable but quite good compared to other cities in south america for example
- Winters are very cold and costly for heating and car maintenance
- Food is good and healthy if you stay away from fast food chains

Great city, lots of art and artists. Found it a bit hard to break in as an English-speaker, but I liked it there anyway!

Montreal is the best city in Canada. Quality of life is unmatched because the pressure to make money isn't high here. Everyone is having a great time and happy.

one of the best cities in N America. Paris meets Manhattan.

Circus scene is AMAZING, the restaurants are great, and it's super easy to eat vegan here. Love this city! The winter is really hard though. I plan to leave before it returns.

Montreal is truly one of my favourite cities in the Americas hands down. Lots of great restaurants, rent is still affordable here. The winter can be a bit rough, but frankly it's part of the charm. The mountain in the heart of the city really adds to the layers. A great place to be a bohemian and and a metropolis with one foot in Europe. I have been here for 3 years, and live in a mostly english speaking neighbourhood of NDG.

Tipping is a part of life here. 15% is the average (rule of thumb is to tip whatever the provincial and federal tax on what you’re purchasing is, which is currently around 15%).