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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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I thought this comparison would be obvious, considering the similar sizes of each city. Never been to either, but Montreal seems more interesting because of the French culture thing. Thoughts, opinions?
Tough call- I like them both. Toronto is more diverse in culture but Montreal has that sexy european flair. Both have a great music and art scene. I guess if you're just going for a visit, I'd choose Montreal. If you're thinking about relocating, then both are equally great.
I like Toronto but I love Montreal. Toronto is cleaner, newer, and laid out on a grid fanning out from Lake Ontario, with the skyscrapers in the CBD pretty much at the edge of the lake. It feels more American and more generic in the physical sense, but still sophisticated. It is the economic capital of Canada. Montreal has more history (a different history), actually sits on an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, has a mountain smack in the middle of the city, has the Laurentian Mountains to the north of it, has an old cobblestoned quarter "the Old Town," and charm to no end. Wow, what a city! If I had to live in Canada and could handle cold weather, it would be Montreal.
Toronto's sprawling, sprawling and sprawling... a huge downtown surrounded by hundreds of miles of sprawling suburbia, industrial sites, and farmland. It's a rich city with lots of corporate money so you have lots of restaurants, nightclubs, and cultural attractions due to all the money. It's big, it's corporate, it's Toronto!
Montreal's downtown is much more compact with sprawling suburbia, industrial sites, and farmland. The major difference is that in Toronto, sprawling suburbia means single family houses. In Montreal it means quads, triplexes,and duplexes - it's much more dense of a city.
Montreal also has a varied landscape with a mountain (Mont Royal Park) as the backdrop to the city. It doesn't have many skyscrapers and for that it feels more at the human scale. It's much older than Toronto which is reflected in the architecture.
Montreal's money picked up and ran off to Toronto in the 1970's so for the past few decades Montreal has started to look shabby and poor. Infrastructure and buildings have rarely changed in Montreal over the past few decades, compared to Toronto which is cleaner and newer (but perhaps more sterile in vibe). There's more genuine grit in Montreal than most other major Canadian cities.
Montreal is the artist, Toronto is the patron. That's one analogy. Montreal is the eccentric art school student and Toronto is the confident stock broker. The two cities just have very different personalities in the same way that Minneapolis and Miami do.
Of course, the French aspect to Montreal makes it seem like a different world from pretty much anywhere else in Canada.
I don't know if you've seen photos of Montreal and photos of Toronto, but even the basic Google search will show you visually how the two are so very, very different. Montreal, in a nutshell, is more of a romantic city whereas Toronto is more of a utilitarian city.
Last edited by Robynator; 02-23-2009 at 10:06 PM..
Toronto's sprawling, sprawling and sprawling... a huge downtown surrounded by hundreds of miles of sprawling suburbia, industrial sites, and farmland. It's a rich city with lots of corporate money so you have lots of restaurants, nightclubs, and cultural attractions due to all the money. It's big, it's corporate, it's Toronto!
Montreal's downtown is much more compact with sprawling suburbia, industrial sites, and farmland. The major difference is that in Toronto, sprawling suburbia means single family houses. In Montreal it means quads, triplexes,and duplexes - it's much more dense of a city.
Montreal also has a varied landscape with a mountain (Mont Royal Park) as the backdrop to the city. It doesn't have many skyscrapers and for that it feels more at the human scale. It's much older than Toronto which is reflected in the architecture.
Montreal's money picked up and ran off to Toronto in the 1970's so for the past few decades Montreal has started to look shabby and poor. Infrastructure and buildings have rarely changed in Montreal over the past few decades, compared to Toronto which is cleaner and newer (but perhaps more sterile in vibe). There's more genuine grit in Montreal than most other major Canadian cities.
Montreal is the artist, Toronto is the patron. That's one analogy. Montreal is the eccentric art school student and Toronto is the confident stock broker. The two cities just have very different personalities in the same way that Minneapolis and Miami do.
Of course, the French aspect to Montreal makes it seem like a different world from pretty much anywhere else in Canada.
I don't know if you've seen photos of Montreal and photos of Toronto, but even the basic Google search will show you visually how the two are so very, very different. Montreal, in a nutshell, is more of a romantic city whereas Toronto is more of a utilitarian city.
Great observations from a Canadian. I am American. I really enjoy visiting these two cities. Keep in mind though that, while your observations of the housing stock in Montreal are accurate, spacious and newer single-family dwellings are available on the South Shore (la Rive Sud), on the West Island, and to the near north, such as Laval and St. Jerome. Wow. You're making me want to look to redeem some unused Air Canada frequent flyer points to visit the Maple Leaf Country.
The major difference is that in Toronto, sprawling suburbia means single family houses. In Montreal it means quads, triplexes,and duplexes - it's much more dense of a city.
Toronto's suburbia is also full of countless high-rise apartment blocks and condos and is almost European looking in that sense. The overall density in the Toronto and Montreal metro areas is very similar.
The whole notion that Toronto is corporate and Montreal is artistic is a bit of an out-dated stereotype. Toronto's inner city is actually extremely dense and not that dissimilar from Montreal in terms of artistic spirit and bohemian lifestyles.
Toronto's suburbia is also full of countless high-rise apartment blocks and condos and is almost European looking in that sense. The overall density in the Toronto and Montreal metro areas is very similar.
The whole notion that Toronto is corporate and Montreal is artistic is a bit of an out-dated stereotype. Toronto's inner city is actually extremely dense and not that dissimilar from Montreal in terms of artistic spirit and bohemian lifestyles.
It's true that Toronto's inner city is almost as artistic and bohemian than in Montreal but i also think there is a lot of hype in this as Toronto is ''trying'' very hard to become Canada's premier cultural city hoping to get ahead of Montreal like it did for the financial cener of the country 40 years ago. Montreal has a better bohemian spritit. It is more natural as oppose to Toronto who's ''trying'', who pretends and who claims to be as !!!!
It is hard to play on all field and that's what Toronto is doing such as being the financial spot of the country, trying to be the cultural center as well as being a hype/show bizzy place such as LA/Hollywood and being a very corporate city and competing with NYC and Chicago for things like skyscrapers etc....
You cant be all of those things at the same time so for the ones that are used to travel a little bit more they will quickly realize that Toronto is a bit phony in some ways despite being very interesting with a lot of potential.
Toronto has a lot of cultural infrastructure but Montreal has the talent and the vibe (cultural vibe that is). Toronto has the tall buildings while Montreal has the charming old part. Toronto as the hip clubs while Montreal has the cafés. Toronto has the film festival while Montreal produces much more movies....especially local movies.
Above all, both cities may appear to be similar in many ways at first sight but once one gets into details and out of the center part, one will realize how different they can be only because of the duality of culture in Montreal which makes the city unique in North America. That alone is good enough.
^ You obviously hate Toronto and will just make up your own reasons why you think it is an inferior city and then state them as if they are facts when they are nothing of the sort. You did the same thing in your post in the Toronto vs. Chicago thread.
^ You obviously hate Toronto and will just make up your own reasons why you think it is an inferior city and then state them as if they are facts when they are nothing of the sort. You did the same thing in your post in the Toronto vs. Chicago thread.
Well I thought that Antoyne_42's critique was rather fair. Atticman, just because somebody doesn't share your enthusiasm for Toronto doesn't mean they're making things up.
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