I’m headed back to Montréal soon and my list of places I want to (re)visit and restaurants I want to check out is growing bigger every day! Since I lived in Montréal for 4 years, I’ll be skipping most of the tourist sites and I’ve been looking for a little travel inspiration from Montréalers on instagram. Here are some of my fave:
One of the best decision I ever made in my life was moving across the world when I was 18 to attend McGill University. I’m not going to say when that was, but I had a Nokia cell phone that couldn’t take pictures back then so I can’t wait to instagram my old campus for the first time! On the social platform, my alma mater mostly sources its content from current students, professors and alumni and my not-so-secret goal for when I’m in Montréal is to get some regram love from McGill!!
So I mentioned that when I lived in Montréal, instagram wasn’t around… I’m pretty sure that if it had been, my feed would have looked just like Laure‘s, a Parisienne eating her way through the city (and occasionally taking fabulous trips to tropical islands… which I totally used to do as well when I lived through the long Canadian winters). I love her blog too!
Another Frenchie in Montréal that I love on Instagram is Coralie who runs MtlShot. She also has a personal account that features some of the same pictures as MtlShot as well as a lot more pictures of her.
Outside of those French expats, I typically always follow the official tourism account of countries or cities where I travel to get some trip-planning inspiration. Sometimes I unfollow them after my trip, but the three cities were I have lived, Paris, Montréal and Washington, will always be regulars in my feed. All source pics from locals and visitors alike so they’re also a great way to find more fun peeps to follow! The Bixi’s account, Montréal’s bikesharing system, gives a pretty great overview of the city as well.
Of course, no trip planning would be complete without scoping out the local food scene. My two favourite food-focused accounts are Montréal Coffee Crawl and On Dejeune. When I lived in Montréal, I spent A LOT OF TIME at the Second Cup in the McGill ghetto. Not to age myself again, but this was all before Starbucks opened its first location in the city, and I actually didn’t drink a ton of coffee back then so I went to Second Cup more for the social aspect and yes, of course, occasionally I’d visit Tim Hortons too. Now there are so many great independent coffee-shops in Montréal, I’ve been scoping out the scene thanks to Montréal Coffee Crawl. I’ve been trying to narrow down which coffee shops I will visit during my 3-days in the city…it’s hard, but I’ll be sure to hashtag #mtlcafecrawl from them!
The fingers hitting “post” on Montréal Coffee Crawl‘s pics is Ali Inay, a fellow McGill alumn who’s personal account features a lot of coffee shops, yes, but also of his friend and fellow awesome instragrammer Francis Duval‘s adorable kittens, lots of food and some great shots from around the city. Also a fave!
Michel, Olivier and Jeanne, the team of young Montreal creatives behind On Dejeune, have created one of my absolute favourite food account on instagram. And I don’t even like brunch that much 😉
Rather than photographing their plates or individual dishes, which you see a lot on the platform, On Dejeune focuses on the social aspect of brunch in the most inviting way. I want to have brunch with them. I really do. Bonus account for all things foodie in Montréal, I also follow Tastet.ca.
Other more general Montréal accounts that are making me miss the city so much include Montreal Vision, which offers a cool new perspective on Montréal as seen from above (with the help of a drone):
Vincent Brillant’s Montrealismes, the POV of a young photographer with a keen eye for urban details:
Similar account that will make you fall in love with the city of Montréal include Naomi Fontaine’s Fleur de Lys, Marie Eve Vallieres, and Jeff Frenette.
In a slightly different tone, I absolutely love Ann McIsaac’s Yellow Willow:
Ann travels the world looking for pops of yellow. She is based in Montreal and while her account doesn’t focus on the city exclusively, it is featured prominently in all its yellow glory.
Do you also turn to Instagram for travel inspiration before a trip? Or follow fun people from where you used to live? Check out 10 Parisian instagrammers I love and make sure you follow me on instagram to see me *finally* ‘gram Montréal, now that I have a fancy iPhone and all, next weekend!
I’ll be snapping along as well, so click here to join me on Snap Chat if you don’t already do.
Leave a Reply