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Montreal has a much higher population due to the recent amalgamations on the island. When it comes to the metropolitan area, SF is substantially larger. When it comes to city core, the two are pretty close. They are both pretty packed though I felt Montreal was better overall. Montreal doesn't have a big of a swell of daytime commuters, a smaller metro, height restrictions, and pretty great preservation so it will not win the skyscraper battle ever which is alright if the exchange is better presrvation.
Montreal does have the far better transit system though which is substantially better than the much larger Bay Area's and it does make getting around as a visitor pretty great.
It seems like an awesome city to visit. It reminds me of Philly for some reason though....at least the layout of the city does.
You should give it a visit. Montreal wasn't really on my radar at all until I moved to NYC where I met someone who raved about it. I loved pretty much everything about it, though I've never had to live through an entire winter up there.
That's you. Most people would know it's SF quite easily
Even in random pics, SF is extremely unique and easy to recognize.
Nope. This could be a modern section of some city in southern France. SF is recognizable if you see the Golden Gate, the Transamerica Pyramid, cable cars on hilly streets, or those beautiful rowhouses on hilly streets.
But not through pics like these.
For the record, much of Montreal has rowhouses with outdoor spiralling staircases. To anyone who's been in the city any random photo of them would be instantly recognizable as Montreal.
Nope. This could be a modern section of some city in southern France. SF is recognizable if you see the Golden Gate, the Transamerica Pyramid, cable cars on hilly streets, or those beautiful rowhouses on hilly streets.
But not through pics like these.
For the record, much of Montreal has rowhouses with outdoor spiralling staircases. To anyone who's been in the city any random photo of them would be instantly recognizable as Montreal.
No, San Francisco"s aesthetic is extremely familiar to many people around the world, and most travelers--you can choose to think otherwise, but I'll stick to my personal experiences traveling everywhere.
And thank you for saying that pic could be somewhere in the South of France as SF in many ways exudes an almost palpable joie de vivre, more so than Montreal imo, despite the greater French connection to Montreal. SF is food and wine concious, very cultured very live-and-let-live, very worldly and cosmopolitan, and an absolute pleasure to visit and an even bigger pleasure to live near.
As far as spiraled staircases in Montreal, Im sure theyre lovely but aa far as visual association, colorful victorians are just wayyy more associated with SF than anything similar in Montreal, not even close.
I have been to both San Francisco and Montreal this year (San Francisco in January and Montreal in early July). Both are great cities but Montreal definitely had more buzz and felt like a bigger, busier city. The city center was a beehive of activity day and night, which was particularly impressive given that there is essentially a parallel city running underground. Having also been to Chicago this year, I must rank Montreal as the second most vibrant city in North America (ex Mexico). My only caveat is that I have not been to Toronto in many years so don't know how it compares today.
Or as a certain SF booster will say, people living like gophers LOL
No, San Francisco"s aesthetic is extremely familiar to many people around the world, and most travelers--you can choose to think otherwise, but I'll stick to my personal experiences traveling everywhere.
And thank you for saying that pic could be somewhere in the South of France as SF in many ways exudes an almost palpable joie de vivre, more so than Montreal imo, despite the greater French connection to Montreal. SF is food and wine concious, very cultured very live-and-let-live, very worldly and cosmopolitan, and an absolute pleasure to visit and an even bigger pleasure to live near.
As far as spiraled staircases in Montreal, Im sure theyre lovely but aa far as visual association, colorful victorians are just wayyy more associated with SF than anything similar in Montreal, not even close.
Maybe colorful victorians will catch a pretty good number (nowhere near majority for anyone outside of the US though, and unlikely for within) for San Francisco, but the two pictures you posted aren't really all that populated with recognizable colorful victorians especially from those angles where you aren't directly seeing the facades.
No, San Francisco"s aesthetic is extremely familiar to many people around the world, and most travelers--you can choose to think otherwise, but I'll stick to my personal experiences traveling everywhere.
And thank you for saying that pic could be somewhere in the South of France as SF in many ways exudes an almost palpable joie de vivre, more so than Montreal imo, despite the greater French connection to Montreal. SF is food and wine concious, very cultured very live-and-let-live, very worldly and cosmopolitan, and an absolute pleasure to visit and an even bigger pleasure to live near.
As far as spiraled staircases in Montreal, Im sure theyre lovely but aa far as visual association, colorful victorians are just wayyy more associated with SF than anything similar in Montreal, not even close.
So I guess that settles it - San Francisco is probably even more ''French'' (whatever that means) than Montreal.
I wonder what's up next? San Francisco has better outdoor ice rinks? More White Christmases? More Stanley Cup? More maple syrup producers within a one-hour radius of Market Street?
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LOL