Vieux-Montréal (Old Montreal) and Rue Saint-Paul

This is the first thing most people do, and the trick is timing. Old Montreal at 8am — empty cobbles, low light on the grey stone, Rue Saint-Paul (the oldest street, 1672) to yourself — is magical. The same streets at 2pm in summer are a tourist crush. Walk it early, see Notre-Dame and the waterfront, and you've understood the city's origins before the crowds even wake up.

The cobbled 17th–19th-century core on the river — the one essential everyone does, best walked early before the tour groups fill it.

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