3 Best Shopping in Montreal, Quebec

The smells of roasting chestnuts and fresh pastries at this market will surely excite your olfactory system. To further delight your senses there are dozens of tiny shops full of Québec cheeses, Lebanese sweets, country pâtés, local wines, and handmade chocolates. Less threatening to the waistline but a feast for the eyes are the huge mounds of peas, beans, apples, carrots, pears, garlic, and other produce on sale at the open-air stands. Visit on weekends during the warm summer months, and it will feel as if all of Montréal has come out to shop. During the holiday season there is a Christmas market, which runs from late November until the 23rd of December.

This is the biggest and liveliest of the city's public markets. On weekends in summer and fall, crowds swarm the half-acre or so of outdoor produce stalls, looking for the fattest tomatoes, sweetest melons, and juiciest strawberries. Its shops also sell sausage, fish, cheese, bread, pastries, and other delicacies. Early in the morning you might rub elbows with the city's top chefs. The market is in the northern end of the city, but is easy to get to by métro.

Heading down Atwater Avenue toward Lachine Canal, you can't miss the art deco tower of Atwater Market. This is the best spot to pick up local produce, fresh flowers, and gourmet meats and cheeses. In summer, bring a blanket and enjoy a picnic by the canal or have a drink at the Canal Lounge, a café and bar on a barge. During the winter holidays there is now the added bonus of an outdoor Christmas market.