Olympic Stadium

Lonely Planet review

The Stade Olympique seats 56,000 and remains an architectural marvel though these days hosts mostly concerts and trade shows and rarely sports events. The best thing to do is take the bilevel cable car up the Montréal Tower (Tour de Montréal, also called the Olympic Tower) that leans over the stadium.

Tour de Montréal is the world's tallest inclined structure (190m at a 45° angle), making it a whisper taller than the Washington Monument. The glassed-in observation deck (with bar and rest area) isn't for the faint of heart but affords a bird's-eye view of the city. In the distance you'll see the pointy modern towers of the Olympic Village, where athletes stayed in 1976.

The Centre Aquatique is the Olympic swimming complex with six pools, diving towers and a 20m-deep scuba pool.

The Tourist Hall is a three-story information center with a ticket office, restaurant and souvenir shop, as well as the cable-car boarding station. There's regular English-language tours from 10:00 in spring and summer, and five tours a day starting at 11:00 in fall and winter.