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I've been to Toronto, and it's quite ok. Nothing outta this world or overly special about it. I drove there. Took us like 9 hrs.
I'm planning on going to Montreal also, and I would like to drive there as well. I think it takes like 6 hrs.
Anyway, I think that due to the cultural and languge differences, Montral should be the most interesting of the two.
Never been, but I would imagine Montreal would be the more interesting. However there is the language barrier. I was at a Ranger/Maple Leafs game at MSG with a friend who speaks fluent French, and a couple of seats over there were a couple of French Canadians (ok, I know the Maple Leafs are from Toronto, which is English spoken, not Montreal, but I digress) and my pal said, I don't know what language they're speaking, but it ain't French!
I've visited both of these cities many times, have family living in both cities. A NYCer would definitely enjoy both of them, they're vibrant, cosmopolitan cities, but as to which you would like better would depend on your interests and what you're looking for.
Both of them have great food, as many varieties as you'll find in NYC since both have very diverse populations.
Toronto is a huge city, bigger than any of the cities in the Northeast except for NYC. In some ways it looks like NYC, in fact a lot of films/TV shows supposedly set in NYC are filmed there--one time I saw a Brooklyn bus and bus stop sign that had been set up on a Toronto street. Lots of festivals, art, cultural events.
They both have cool, world-class museums, but the museums are a little pricey so your best bet with the museums is to find out their reduced-price times--most of them have an afternoon/evening with discounted prices.
Montreal has the French-speaking population and a beautiful Old City which still has some buildings from the 1700s: Historic City Center: Old Montreal
It has a great jazzfest in the summer with lots of different musical styles represented and lots of free outdoor performances.
From Montreal you can also get on a bus for a 2 1/2 hour ride to Quebec City, which is gorgeous--the old walled city there will make you feel like you're in Europe.
Both of them are easy to get to by bus--to Toronto you can take Greyhound or Megabus--if you go to the megabus.com site at least a month ahead of time you can get tickets for $80 round trip or less. It's a 10-11 hour ride. Montreal is a shorter ride, 7-8 hours. Both of these travel times factor in stops and an hour to get across the border.
Tell us more about what you're interested in for sight seeing and I can give you more suggestions.
Never been, but I would imagine Montreal would be the more interesting. However there is the language barrier. I was at a Ranger/Maple Leafs game at MSG with a friend who speaks fluent French, and a couple of seats over there were a couple of French Canadians (ok, I know the Maple Leafs are from Toronto, which is English spoken, not Montreal, but I digress) and my pal said, I don't know what language they're speaking, but it ain't French!
LOL, I took 5 years of French in High school and college but the first time I was in Montreal and heard people speaking French I didn't recognize it as French either. But there are enough native English-speakers around (William Shatner is from Montreal) or French speakers with some English who will take pity on a tourist.
Never been, but I would imagine Montreal would be the more interesting. However there is the language barrier. I was at a Ranger/Maple Leafs game at MSG with a friend who speaks fluent French, and a couple of seats over there were a couple of French Canadians (ok, I know the Maple Leafs are from Toronto, which is English spoken, not Montreal, but I digress) and my pal said, I don't know what language they're speaking, but it ain't French!
It's called quebecois. And it's basically French with a new world twist to it.
And I doubt there will be a language barrier as a large percentage of the population understands and can speak English well.
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