Île Ste-Hélène

Montréal

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Created from 15 million tons of earth and rock excavated when the metro was built, Île Notre-Dame is laced with canals and pretty garden walkways. The Grand Prix du Canada Formula One race is held each year on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, named after the Québec race-car driver who died in a crash in 1982. From mid-April to mid-November the smoothly paved track is open for cyclists and in-line skaters.

Throughout the year, the island's main draw is the huge, spaceship-like Casino de Montréal in the former French pavilion from the World's Fair. You can challenge Lady Luck at 3000 slot machines and 115 gaming tables. Alcohol is not allowed on the floor and you must be 18 to enter. Bridges link the pavilion to the Jardin des Floralies, a lovely rose garden.

On the southern tip of the island, the Plage Jean-Doré draws thousands on hot summer days. Nearby is the Olympic Bassin, the former Olympic rowing basin, which now hosts the popular Dragon Boat Race Festival in late July.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • October 18, 2017: Visitors seated on the grass around a lake in Mont Royal Park during autumn.

    Parc du Mont-Royal

    3.04 MILES

    The charming, leafy expanse of Parc du Mont-Royal is charged for a wide range of outdoor activities. The wooded slopes and grassy meadows have stunning…

  • Montreal, Quebec, Canada - 18 May 2017: Sherbrooke Street West with the Facade of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art. 688955530 fine, arts, culture, exterior, classical, column, sightseeing, outdoor, view, building, construction, scene, american, famous, place, historical, heritage, architectural, chagall, totem

    Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal

    2.7 MILES

    Montréal’s Museum of Fine Arts is an accessible and beautifully updated oasis of art housed in architecturally striking buildings. A visit here is a must…

  • Notre Dame Basilica (Montreal, Canada).

    Basilique Notre-Dame

    1.53 MILES

    Montréal's famous landmark, Notre Dame Basilica, is a 19th-century Gothic Revival masterpiece with spectacular craftsmanship – a visually pleasing, if…

  • May 28, 2017: St Joseph's Oratory on Mont Royal with a woman praying on steps.

    Oratoire St-Joseph

    4.56 MILES

    The stunning Oratoire St-Joseph church built on the flanks of Mont-Royal commands grand views of the the Côte-des-Neiges area and northwest Montréal. The…

  • 1197761248

    Jardin Botanique

    3.99 MILES

    Montréal’s Jardin Botanique is the third-largest botanical garden in the world, after London’s Kew Gardens and Berlin’s Botanischer Garten.

  • Montreal, Canada. July 31, 2019 . Exterior of the basilica of Notre Dame in Quebec. Sunny day. 1219240147

    Place d'Armes

    1.57 MILES

    This open square is framed by some of the finest buildings in Old Montréal, including its oldest bank, first skyscraper and Basilique Notre-Dame. The…

  • The Old Port of Montreal on a sunny day. 613324236 Skyscraper, Photography, Vieux, City, River, Old Port, Canada, Horizontal, Crowd of People, Summer Solstice, Outdoors, Capital Cities, Monument, Crowded, Summer, Montreal, Street, Cityscape, City Street, People, Quebec, Pedestrian, Downtown District, 100326, 60595

    Old Port

    1.25 MILES

    Montréal's Old Port has morphed into a park and fun zone paralleling the mighty St Lawrence River for 2.5km and punctuated by four grand quais (quays)…

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This island in the St Lawrence River still bears interesting traces of its use as a World War II prison camp, a fort and a 1967 World's Fair. Today you…

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Inside the old Arsenal British garrison (where troops were stationed in the 19th century), this beautifully renovated museum displays relics from Canada’s…

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The artificial peninsula Cité-du-Havre was created to protect the port from vicious currents and ice. Here, in 1967, architect Moshe Safdie designed a set…

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At the eastern edge of the historic port stands the 45m-high white Clock Tower. This precise clock, a replica of Big Ben in London, commemorates all of…