Why Montreal HATES American Tourists

When I visited 5 years ago, I learned a basic sentence or two to introduce myself in French and ask if I may speak English. IT MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE, I met tons of super friendly people, a few who I still visit. The owner of a brewery even gave me a free beer because he said no Americans ever put that much effort into trying and saw what I did as being very respectful. I agree with Mark 100%, and knowing a few introductory phrases can change your visit completely. I've heard from so many people that the locals were so rude, I disagree and found Montréal to be one of the friendliest cities I've ever been to!

The escalator tip not only applies to Montreal, but anywhere else in the world.

Don't tell them New York Bagels are better than Montreal Bagels... learned this one the hard way 😂

Nobody hates tourists in Montreal , unless you're rude and violent. This is a nogo. Montreal is by far one of the most chill and tolerant cities in North America.

My wife and I go to Montreal pretty regularly. We live in NY state. About 2.5 hrs south. We love Montreal. It’s by far our favorite city to spend time in. I’ve never had any negative experiences there. It’s just like traveling anywhere. Be polite. Ask the locals where to go, eat, etc… you’ll have a great time. Such a beautiful city.

As someone who grew up in Montreal, this is SPOT ON! I think the Toronto hate is probably not so bad (i.e., you can say you had a good time in Toronto, just don't tell them you liked it more ;) ) And the thing about "real" French was perfect! On your first point about public transit, I would add that people queue up for the bus...don't jump the line at a bus stop :)

I’m a Spanish teacher and that last point is super important. My family is from Spain so people assume that I’m teaching the class “real Spanish.” If two people speak to each other and they are, for the most part, mutually intelligible, they’re speaking the same language. It doesn’t matter if they’re from different countries. So thanks for pointing that out.

I have visited both Montreal and Quebec City three times each and loved every moment! The wonderful Quebecois have always been very helpful and friendly towards me when I speak just a little elementary French. Now that I have moved to Vermont, the Quebecois are my neighbours! I can drive a short distance across the border to enjoy everyone and everything in Quebec!

Love MTL 😍 Moved from Toronto 3 years ago. The people are gracious, warm hearted and welcoming. Learn a bit of French it's greatly appreciated even by the English speakers who have a genuine love for Quebec 🎉

Apart from the specific stuff about language and independance, most of this could apply to any city anywhere.

I was there in 1987, prepared to speak French. People speaking French to each other got a look at me and said "can I help you" in English. Maybe my attire as a college student gave me away, I don't know. I also saw a cyclist slam into a pedestrian and the two then fought it out. Architecturally, Moshe Safdie's Habitat '67 is very inspiring to me.

OMG!!! You have no idea how much I appreciate this video. I was hoping to gain some perspective. I always try learning a few phrases and key sentences. I have a few travel phrase books (with phonetic pronunciations) that I plan to use when I travel outside the U.S.

For the uninitiated, "Habs" is short for "Habitants", which loosely translates from the French as "homeboys". ;)

As an American who visits Montreal frequently, this is a great video! I try to act and behave more like a local when I visit, and I believe it has helped me fit in. I also learned basic conversational French which has also helped.

Amazing Video, hilarious and informational at the same time!!! 👌👌👌😍 Thank you very much for sharing!! Greetings from Barcelona 👍❤☺🇪🇸

As a Montreal native (my avatar is the city's flag), I commend you on your advice tips. Excellent! Those are all definitely topics of conversation to about in MTL. Thank you. Love your content!

As an American who lives in Québec but outside of Montréal, I want to add two tips: 1. Please do not think that the rest of Québec is like Montréal. Montréal is more bilingual and diverse where most of the rest of Québec is French-speaking only (aside from a few small exceptions). 2. As well, please refrain from calling the locals "Canadians" or "French-Canadians", they would prefer Quebeckers or Montrealers for those who live in Montréal. This has to do with the whole Québec independence thing so I would avoid it if possible.

After visiting a friend in New York, I went for the first time to Toronto and Montreal. In Montreal, I constantly compared the two cities. I didn't know about the competition between the two. But Montreal wins by far for me. I arrived and it felt like home. And to experience that people are French native speakers and still are super nice people. That surprised me as a European 😀

Most of these points are deeply rooted in Quebec's culture. That being said, I don't get offended speaking about it since we need to define ourselves and move from the 90's. And having those discussions with people around the world would help. So don't be shy if you are curious. But for the love of everything that is good... Tip your waiter! ;)

Interesting perspective I’ve gotten from Montreal folks is that they will ascertain where you are from when you speak English…and very quickly know if you’re American or Anglo Canadian. Let’s just say they generally like Americans a little better 😄