Islands of Montreal

Montreal’s Ville-Marie borough includes two islands featuring a wide range of architectural designs and structures. The largest is the man-made Notre-Dame Island (Ile Notre-Dame).

This island hosts the Canadian Grand Prix Formula-1 auto race, as well as the NAPA Auto Parts-200 NASCAR race. Saint Helen’s Island (Ile Ste. Helene) is home to Jean Drapeau Park, La Ronde, an amusement park, as well as a historic British fort St. Etienne. It also hosts many festivals and cultural and musical events.

The International Fireworks Festival could be seen from everywhere, but its home is also here. Both islands were the main Canadian attraction in 1967, during the International and Universal Exposition, Expo-67. Several buildings designed for the event stayed on the islands and became Montreal landmarks: the US Pavilion (now the Montreal Biosphere), the France Pavilion (the Casino of Montreal), as well as Moshe Safdie's innovative Habitat-67 apartment complex.

Visitors can get to the islands by subway (Parc Jean Drapeau Station), or by the bridges.

A bike path links them to the mainland.

habitat 67 building

Habitat 67 apartement complex. Photo by © V. Petrovsky

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