Four going to Montreal next week--- what to do? (already searched, etc)

The Festival International de Jazz de Montreal is from Jun 26 to Jul 5; check out their website for more info.

Montreal's well-established "gay village" is centred on rue St-Catherine east, roughly from the Berri Metro station to Papineau. In recent summers part of this street has been closed to vehicle traffic. Businesses and restaurants have gradually moved up-market and there is plenty of relaxed heterosexual mingling, even in the strip bars when they have mixed nights.
Montreal has several history museums, led by the McCord http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/
The Canadian Centre for Architecture is an austerely beautiful building with scholarly shows on architectural topics http://www.cca.qc.ca/en
Montreal is also the headquarters for Cirque du Soleil so there are often circus-related events in the city
http://montrealcirquefest.com/
For foodies, a visit to the markets at Atwater or Jean-Talon will be mouth-watering (lots of artisanal cheeses in Quebec.) In the Plateau particularly a number of small bistros will allow you to bring your own wine; it's called AVV in French for apportez votre vin. http://www.restomontreal.ca/?ref=restomontreal.com&lang=en.com is one of several sites where you can search by area and theme.
Here is the official tourism office site with lots of resources http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/

If you are there for the jazz fest, it is a must. Much more than jazz. A lot of free outdoor stages. If you are there on a Sunday, you might be interested in PIknic Electronik. You can visit CultMTL to learn more about events and bars.

I don't think you'll have too much trouble filling in your time.

We enjoyed trekking up to the Parc du Mont-Royal for a few hours, and around to one or two of the farmers markets for breakfast or brunch ... they are pretty good. I can't provide any advice regarding bars etc - LGBTQ or otherwise.

Personally I think both Québec and Ottawa are a bridge too far in a short stay - Montréal is pretty interesting, and the Old Town is worth an evening of food and wine.

The Point-à-Calliere Museum of Archaeology in Montréal's Old Town is excellent - everything is extremely well-presented and, among other things, you can walk through archaeological excavations of the city from the time of its founding. It's extremely worthwhile. The Biodome is good as well, and I enjoyed the botanical garden (Jardin Botanique) that's right beside it. The McCord Museum is only sort of interesting. Parc Mont-Royale is worthwhile and gives you some nice walking and impressive views.

Whether a day trip to Ottawa or Québec City is worthwhile depends mostly on how much time or money you're willing to spend, but if you've got a particular interest in seeing either of them, I'd recommend picking one and staying a night and two days there; otherwise the travel time is pretty high compared to the time you'd actually have in the other city. Ottawa's best things are Parliament, the museums (especially the Canadian History Museum, formerly called the Museum of Civilization) and cycling along the canal. Québec's best is the old city walls and the old town as a whole. If you weren't in Montréal during Jazz Fest I'd recommend a trip to either Ottawa or Québec City, as I would say four days is about enough for the major Montréal sights, but I've heard excellent things about Montréal's Jazz Fest so you shouldn't have any shortage of ways to spend your time there.

@katherinemw,

I ended up using some of this advice about Ottawa and Quebec city I did this past march with a friend from school.

Thanks!

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