Forget the tourist traps! Travel like a fashionable local in six of our coolest cities.
Montreal
The buzz Home to designers like Denis Gagnon, Renata Morales and Andy Thê-Anh, Montreal is Canada’s original fashion capital. Where to go? Old Montreal, bien sûr, for Old World ambience spiked with cutting-edge style, the west end for designer boutiques and the Plateau for friendly bistros and the best hipster sightings in the city.
Stay Start and end the day in the elegant civility of Old Montreal’s cobblestoned streets. Housed in a 19th-century building, Hotel Nelligan is a boutique hotel with exposed brick walls and a rooftop terrace where you can sip an espresso overlooking the nearby Notre-Dame Basilica.
Shop and stroll If your aesthetic runs toward the moody and minimal, check out Boutique Reborn, which offers carefully selected pieces from designers like Rad Hourani and Alexander Wang. More of a vintage fan? Visit Sharyn Scott, a consignment shop inWestmount that offers investment pieces at H&M prices (think an Hermès scarf for $100). While in the west end, stop by accessory boutique Mona Moore: With its French furniture and peerless selection (Lanvin, Haider Ackermann), it’s fit for modern Marie Antoinettes. For chic shoes that are made in Canada, drop by La Canadienne’s gorgeous new flagship store, housed in a spacious converted loft.
Dine and drink The Plateau area has the city’s liveliest 5 à 7 — the daily after-work happy hour. At Au Pied de Cochon, order the spicy house beer and appetizers like Maple Syrup Smoked Mackerel, courtesy of celeb chef Martin Picard, who sparked the nationwide trend of putting foie gras on poutine back in 2004. (He also recently opened his own cabane à sucre in Saint-Benoit-de-Mirabel, north of Montreal. Sample the results in the delicious Sugar Pie for Two.) Liverpool House, the new restaurant from the owners of Joe Beef, is Montreal’s culinary belle du jour. The mostly Italian menu changes daily and features local ingredients like fresh basil and buffalo mozzarella from the nearby Atwater Market, the city’s premier destination for fashionable foodstuffs.
BOUTIQUE BOOKS
At Librissime, books are treated as reverently as art. “Beauty will save the world, and beauty is the splendour of truth,” says owner Gilles Tremblay of his retail philosophy. “I want people to discover that luxury isn’t confined to watches, jewellery, cars and wine.” Tremblay’s stock famously ranges from $9 (for a children’s book) to $999,999 (for a collection of special art editions of world literature classics) and includes the amazing Goyard Travel Library Trunk (100 memoirs on stylish subjects like fashion, design and celebrity).
Text by Laura deCarufel, with files from Stephanie Boridy
Image of Old Montreal's chic European sensibility by Rolf Hicker Photography/Alamy
Check out what Halifax has to offer
Don't forget to enter our summer style contest for your chance to win a shopping spree!
