Montreal Residences
Montreal is divided into nineteen boroughs, or arrondissements in French, which are further divided into districts. Here's a rundown of what to expect from some notable neighbourhoods in the city:
Borough Cote-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grace
Cote-des-Neiges: ethnically diverse with mostly low-rise structures and affordable apartments.
Notre Dame de Grace: also mostly low-rise buildings, though some of them are very large. Considered an Anglophone area.
Borough Le Plateau Mont Royal
Le Plateau: once popular with immigrants, now overtaken by young professionals mixed with families and French expatriates and considered the hippest neighbourhood. Housing is mainly row houses with some high-rise buildings.
McGill Ghetto: the proximity to McGill University makes it highly populated by students, but contrary to the "Ghetto" label, it is in no way a risk to live here.
Borough Ville-Marie
The old name of Montreal with the oldest neighbourhoods.
Centre-Ville/Downtown: very commercial and touristy, mostly high-rise apartment buildings with a sprinkle of traditional ones.
Vieux Montreal: mostly luxury residences with relatively rare or distant day-to-day conveniences.
Gay Village: most homosexual-friendly part in what is considered the most accepting city in the world.
Old Montreal: rich with history and all types of apartments, where yuppie agencies have taken shelter.
Borough Le Sud-Ouest
Saint-Henri: working-class neighbourhood with no high-rise buildings, only row houses and lofts. Recently became popular with hipsters and students.
Borough Outremont
Home of affluent Francophones and Hasidic Jews whose residences consist of duplexes--even triplexes!--as well as apartments.