Moving to Montreal?

Question

I want to move to montreal from ontario in the near future, and I keep looking online for apartments, but all the sites ask me to choose between about 20 different areas and i never know which one to pick!

I want to live in a cool area in or near downtown that is safe. (I know downtown tends to be a bit expensive) I don't care about mainly French/English since we are going there to learn French.

We are in our early 20s and want to be close to entertainment, transportation etc. Also is there like a hipster area?

If you are from montreal and could help it would be greatly appreciated! thanks!!

Answer 1

HEY I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS . HOW FAR IS ONTARIO FROM  MTREAL??? ALSO I'M MOVING TO ONTARIO SOON AND I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT AREA IS THE COOLEST TO LIVE AROUND.

YOUR HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED

THX

Answer 2

Come on...no online or newspaper sites will advertise a place that's in a "cool" area or a "hipster" area. Asking for help is good but then, different people will define "cool" or "hipster" in different ways. You really need to be more specific...

Answer 3

I like the PLATEAU but it's a bit expensive. It's very charming and it's near everything: transportation, small good boutiques,  bars, parks.. It's beautiful. A lot of students lives here. Expect to pay minimum 450$ for a 1.5 and it goes pretty high.

VERDUN is cheap, not as nice but still a very nice place. It's not too far from downtown and it's picking itself up. For 500$ you can get a decent 3.5. It's poor but lively and safe.

Those are my top 2 recommendations. You can also check COTE-DES-NEIGE, and HOCHELAGA-MAISONNEUVE.

Answer 4

Well I live about 10-15 minutes from downtown. I live in a safe/friendly area. Chomedy, Laval. It's a big area with a lot to do, and as you want close to downtown. Rent can go anywhere from 500-1500 depending on what you're looking for!

Answer 5

The Plateau has and continues to be the trendiest neighbourhood in the city. It is bounded, more or less, by Park Avenue to the west, Mount Royal Avenue to the north, Pine Avenue/Sherbrooke to the south, and St-Denis to the east. There's lots going on, from the bars on St-Laurent to the restaurants and stores on St-Denis. However, it's one of the most expensive areas of the city and most of the hipsters are moving out to other surrounding areas and turning those trendy too. Mile End to the north of the Plateau is one of those areas and has become super trendy in recent years.

For a 5 1/2 in the Plateau (basically a 3 bedroom), you'll probably be spending $1300-1600. A 3 1/2 (1 bedroom) will be about $900-1100. Mile End is maybe $100-200 cheaper.

If these prices are too much, you might want to consider St-Henri, which is one of the new "up and coming" neighbourhoods. It's a good $300-400 cheaper and is still close to the metro to get you to where you need to go. Other reasonably affordable areas include Cote-des-Neiges (CDN), Notre-Dame-de-Grace (NDG), and Pointe-St-Charles (the Point). Rosemont, which is north of Mile End, is also becoming trendy.

As for the French/English thing, you're going to hear French no matter where you live in the city, so I wouldn't factor that into your thought processes when looking for a neighbourhood.