Montreal Photo Spots on a Budget: Free Views
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The best shots in Montreal don’t cost a ticket
Most of Montreal’s most photogenic spots are free to reach, walk, and shoot, only a couple require paying admission first. Here’s where to point a camera without overspending on the sightseeing to get there.
Kondiaronk Belvedere, Mont-Royal
The single best skyline shot in the city: a free lookout over downtown, the St. Lawrence River, and the surrounding green of Frederick Law Olmsted’s park. Early morning or golden hour both work well, and it’s a genuine climb to reach, wooded trails leading up from the surrounding streets.
Old Montreal’s cobblestones
Rue Saint-Paul, Place Jacques-Cartier, and the surrounding 17th-to-19th-century streets give the whole district an Old World feel that photographs well in any light, cafes, street performers, and stone façades included. Free to wander, and worth returning to at different times of day since the crowds and light both shift.
Notre-Dame Basilica’s interior
The deep-blue-and-gold Gothic Revival interior, depicting the city’s founding rather than biblical scenes, is one of the most striking indoor shots in the city. A day visit runs about $16, and the evening AURA light-and-sound show, a separate ticket around $33.50, adds a completely different look at the same space.
Bonsecours Market’s silver dome
A short walk from the basilica, the 1847 market building’s silver dome stands out against the more common gold-and-blue palette elsewhere in Old Montreal. Free to photograph from the street or the Old Port waterfront just beyond it.
Mile End’s murals and staircases
The Plateau and Mile End’s row houses, with their distinctive spiral exterior staircases, and the neighborhood’s street art give a very different visual register than Old Montreal’s stone streets, free to wander and shoot.
The Botanical Garden’s Chinese and Japanese Gardens
Part of Space for Life, these themed sections of the Botanical Garden are built for exactly this kind of photography, and the autumn Gardens of Light lantern festival turns the Chinese Garden into an evening light installation worth planning a trip around. Access is through the Space for Life combo pass, roughly $55-65.
St. Joseph’s Oratory
Canada’s largest church has a dome visible from across the city, and the shrine itself is free to visit and photograph, by donation. The view back toward downtown from the Oratory’s grounds is a solid alternative to Mont-Royal’s Belvedere on a day when time is short.
Pair a photo walk with the things to do guide for what else fills the same neighborhoods, or the 3-day itinerary if these spots need slotting into a schedule.