{"id":31113,"date":"2012-08-02T01:06:09","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T05:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/?p=31113"},"modified":"2025-08-21T10:06:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T14:06:23","slug":"adventures-in-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/31113\/adventures-in-montreal\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Montreal on Two Wheels"},"content":{"rendered":"

The prospect of biking in a foreign country is certainly intimidating. A whole host of factors contribute to this: signs can be in different languages, you might not be familiar with what routes to take and the varying cultural rules of the road that are hard to manage even to seasoned locals can be quite daunting; it\u2019s no wonder most travelers stick to public transportation.<\/p>\n

I tend to be one of those travelers, so on my recent trip to Montreal, I was hesitant to step out of my comfort zone and pedal into a bike lane to tour the city. Foregoing the bike in Montreal, however, seemed like an impossibility as the city is practically synonymous with that particular mode of transit.<\/p>\n

Montreal has over 600 kilometers of bike paths, which thousands of commuters and recreators use daily, and can lay claim to being the first to launch a bike share in North America, Bixi<\/a>. Cycling, it seems, is as deeply ingrained in Montreal culture as other staples like poutine<\/a> or hockey. If I was going to eat fries covered in gravy and cheese curds and try to learn the rules of Montreal\u2019s pastime, I was going to have to bike too.<\/p>\n

\"Biking

I wanted a few things from my bike ride around the city. I wanted to avoid cars for the most part and to ride at least a segment of my journey on the Route Verte<\/a>. I also wanted to see the Saint Lawrence River and to visit one of Montreal\u2019s acclaimed farmer’s markets. It was also important that I get some exercise. After eating some of Montreal\u2019s finest poutine and other specialties (think Montreal-style bagels, smoked meat sandwiches and other rich snacks that will have your waistline screaming \u2018STOP!\u2019 after a few days), I knew I needed to get my heart rate up. So I brought my checklist and a big Nalgene of water to Ca Roule and with a little help from a guy there I developed the following loop around the city.<\/p>\n

Ca Roule<\/strong>
\nI reached Ca Roule in the Old Port at 10am on a Saturday morning and there was already a line out the door, but it moved quickly as there were several guys who clearly had bike renting down to a science. The man who helped me with my rental also was eager to talk bike routes and gave me a helmet, repair kit, and map<\/a> with all the paths marked clearly with a key that became the most important navigation tool on my ride.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tip:<\/strong> Make a reservation. By the time I had gotten my bike and was ready to hit the road, they were already turning people down as they had rented all their bikes for the day.<\/p>\n

Atwater Market<\/strong>
\n\"atwater

Tip:<\/strong> Definitely get cheese here. La Fromagerie Atwater carries cheeses from France and other parts of Europe that are illegal in the United States because of pasteurization laws. Sample some young raw-milk cheeses you won\u2019t be able to find anywhere south of the border.<\/p>\n

Parc Ren\u00e9-L\u00e9vesque<\/strong>
\n\"biking

Tip:<\/strong> Even though it may be a little blustery, have your lunch near the tip of the park. The views of the massive Saint Lawrence river are unbeatable and there are bathrooms and water fountains here as well.<\/p>\n

Lasalle<\/strong>
\n\"Kayak

Tip:<\/strong> Bring binoculars. The river is massive and there are boats and islands scattered in it that you will want to get a better view of.<\/p>\n

The Extra Mile<\/strong>
\nThe Estacade Bike Path Bridge is a one mile bridge that crosses the Saint Lawrence River to Montreal\u2019s south side to an area called Saint Lambert. I was having such a good time on my ride, that as I reached the point where it was time to head back to Ca Roule, I wanted to continue despite my rubber legs. I had heard of the Estacade bridge and had been observing signs for it along the bike path and in a moment of delirious enthusiasm, decided to take the bridge. It was worth it. Out over the water you can see for miles in both directions down the river and it gives you great perspective of the city and the seaway.<\/p>\n

Tip:<\/strong> If you are tired from a day of riding, opt out of the Estacade. The wind is high on the bridge and there were moments when I was pedaling and was making little-to-no progress moving forward. If you are pumped to ride on, don\u2019t miss this bridge.<\/p>\n

\"in

Visit Tourisme Montreal for help planning your trip.<\/em><\/p>\n

How to get there:<\/strong> Amtrak\u2019s Adirondack from Penn Station to Montreal provides you with some lovely landscape views for much of the 10-hour ride.<\/p>\n

Photos: alexandermensa, mooniker<\/a>, tiagovaz<\/a>, Kea Krause<\/em>, abdallahh<\/a>, mobyhill<\/a><\/em>, KSF<\/a>, Yoav Lerman<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The prospect of biking in a foreign country is certainly intimidating. A whole host of factors contribute to this: signs can be in different languages, you might not be familiar with what routes to take and the varying cultural rules of the road that are hard to manage even to seasoned locals can be quite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":36768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[784,1508,224,759,761,750,1913,817,747,758,1869,1089,777,770,389,781,778,849,748,316],"tags":[116,381,145,110,497,133,577],"class_list":{"0":"post-31113","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-adventure-activity-2","8":"category-amtrak-getaways","9":"category-arts","10":"category-bar-activity-2","11":"category-beer-activity-2","12":"category-bike-2","13":"category-bike-guide","14":"category-biking-adventure-activity-2","15":"category-bus-2","16":"category-cafe-activity-2","17":"category-editors-picks","18":"category-farmers-market-shopping-2","19":"category-fine-dining","20":"category-food-drink","21":"category-montreal","22":"category-outdoor-dining","23":"category-picnic-food-drink","24":"category-shopping-2","25":"category-train-2","26":"category-weekend-getaways","27":"tag-amtrak","28":"tag-biking","29":"tag-dining","30":"tag-historical-sites","31":"tag-museums","32":"tag-outdoors","33":"tag-parks"},"acf":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":36768,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/5906841449_8aed3bb0d5_b-300x168.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}