Toronto does have lots of old neighbourhoods surrounding the downtown core with lowrise retail strips of shops and restaurants much like the one you were riding your bike through. They are also characterized as little towns onto themselves in the same way as in Montreal. During your visit check out Little Italy, Little Portugal, Parkdale, The Beaches, Roncesvalles Ave, Leslieville, Riverside, Mount Pleasant Village, Gerrard India Bazaare, The Ossington Strip, & there are many more!
@@christinecamley Yep. The missing middle in Toronto is sadly being replaced by taller buildings and the few remaining have less charm than the one in Montreal
One thing you won't get much of in Montreal is Indian cuisine because there are not many people from India in Montreal. This video gives the impression that there are only skyscrapers in Toronto. Both cities have their different ethnic groups and so you get the cuisine of these groups.
@@klarissaclairiton9010 I have found all types of cuisine in Montreal and delicious cuisine but I agree that cities tend to offer more restaurants to larger populations of people.
@@christinecamley I guess it all depends on where you stay. When we visit Montreal, we typically stay in the old Montreal and can see all the new towers being built downtown.
A lot of people's idea of Toronto is concrete jungle, but I've lived in Little Portugal/Dundas West for 10 years. My version of Toronto is quaint shops, cool bars, street art, trams, and bicycles.
I grew up in Toronto. It's not fair to compare present day Toronto with the Toronto of early nineties or 2000's. Toronto is more like Punjabistani-supremacist sh.iytwhole Turbanland today. Thank you Quebec for fighting back against Caste system imported from foreign cultures.
This is it! Thank you, most Montrealers are comparing their city with King and Bay - not Little Portugal, not Leaside, not Kensington, not College, not Roncy. When you ask them about these areas - they go mute. Toronto is the only truly international city in Canada, period. Montreal is a regional hub.
Toronto is the city for working and Montreal is the city for enjoying. In that sense, Toronto is the equivalent of Sydney, Madrid, Frankfurt, Moscow, São Paulo, and Milan in Canada while Montreal is the equivalent of Melbourne, Barcelona, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Rio de Janeiro, and Rome in Canada
My cousin's son just left a superb engineering job in Toronto to move back to Montreal. He missed the culture and family! I am in Vancouver but I'd take Montreal any day! Thankfully my cousin's son was able to do a lateral transfer to Montreal so he maintained an excellent job!
That's a nice comparison, and as someone interested in moving to Montreal (from the US), it makes the city more appealing to me. I actually love all of the cities you compared to Montreal, with Melbourne, Barcelona, St. Petersburg, and Berlin being places I often watch videos about because they seem so cool to me culturally. I'd absolutely love to travel to and visit Madrid, Moscow, and Milan, but I've always got the vibe that I wouldn't enjoy living in those cities as much.
@@kylewelsh_krossdesu7700 Toronto and Melboune along with the other cities are very enjoyable indeed. I wouldn't base a city off of one comment with an outdated comparison and you should go visit for yourself. Good luck!
The type of neighbourhood strips like Mont Royal shown in the video are common in Toronto. Try an evening walk west on Queen St from about University to Ossington, north to Dundas, and west again to about Brock (a long walk... about 4.5km). I'd love to hear your thoughts after that walk. Toronto's central west end actually compares well to Montreal's Plateau. Good luck.
Its not the same..the stores are not personal, the people aren't all friends wth one another, parties don't break out spontaneously, toronto is just stores and nebs in suits.
Calling Toronto a concrete jungle is not accurate (most focus only on the downtown but not the rest of the city). Toronto has an expansive park and ravine network, multiple trails along rivers, numerous beaches, the Toronto islands, and a national park (Rouge National Urban Park). The mature neighbourhoods of Toronto and suburbs like Mississauga are covered in a tree canopy and when you‘re on a high enough elevation one mostly sees trees in between the clusters of tall buildings. Please don‘t focus a comparison of Toronto to only its financial district.
Montreal is my favourite city in Canada, but you are correct here about Toronto. Toronto has some beautiful, leafy neighborhoods, especially near the ravines and outside the central districts and away from the major arteries like Yonge or Bloor, Danforth etc.
I have lived in both cities, and while I agree entirely with your Montreal assessment, I would argue - mostly because I've now live in Toronto - that Toronto easily has village culture at least as much as Montreal (if not more). In many ways this aspect of Montreal and Toronto are very similar, something, that for some reasons Montrealers seem to hate hearing. There are so so many villages that look and feel so much like your video where people walk, and hang on patios, and shop for fruits and vegetables, and delis, and falafels and dining out, taking the subway to another village - it's very much why we plunked ourselves down in this village. Best thing is that each village has its own vibe: Bloor West Village is a little sleepier, but vibrant during the day, in a very practical way; just like Leaside; then you get Roncesvalles, a little craftier and rootsy, then The Annex, The Beach, The Junction, and one of my favourites, Kensington Market which is like the world in one square kilometre, something I've almost never seen anywhere else in the world where you can shop of hippie clothes and go next door for Tibetan Momos then 2mins away listen to some live blues, and then top it off with Jamaican patties, then jump on the streetcar to go home.
Toronto’s bathurst/bloor/koreatown/annex is extremely relaxing and calming, with artists, students, professors, punks, and bike lanes and hip stores galore. Its right downtown. Not at all like you are describing. Please wonder outside our financial areas and head to places like the beaches, leslieville etc.
Nice, thoughtful video essay on the differences between Montreal and Toronto, Dan. Though watching and listening as you biked around some familiar streets really made me wistful about Ville Marie; can't wait to get back. Montreal me manque!
Another thing that people don't mention is that Montreal's pace of life is a lot slower than Toronto. People drive and walk much slower and in a more friendly way.
100% agrée. Just got back from a road trip to MTL from TO. We took the city bus in MTL and the bus driver actually waited a couple minutes for us so we could catch it. That would NEVER happen in TO...the bus driver would just take off and leave us chase after it! The slower pace, cleaner air, beautiful architecture and greenery was very refreshing. I felt so deficient in French. I would consider a relocation if I can get my French up to par. I would say learning at least basic French to get by is a must to integrate and show respect to the Québécois culture.
Montreal may be colder than Toronto, but you haven’t experienced a cold winter until you’ve lived in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Saskatoon or Regina. Winter is way warmer in Montreal. It’s also much shorter. The first frost on the Prairies can come as early as September. The first snow too. But, if you like spring, it’s best and it comes early in Victoria and Vancouver.
8:47 the Brazilian who speaks a little English but no French would make a far better choice with Quebec than with the rest of Canada. For native Portuguese speakers, it takes 600 hours to get to the same level in French as it would take in English with 1000 hours. Plus, Quebeckers are super friendly when it comes to languages and, if you are trying to speak French, they will encourage you while anglophones have usually no reaction because it is so common. It means a lot to a Quebecker that a non French speaker learns our language before he learns English. It means that we are together in this fight to have the right to live in our common language.
Languages come and go, just like everything else. Having lived in QC for a while now I do find it curious that many are so distracted or put off by slight mispronunciations. English speakers tend to not care as much and accept that the persons language skills are not perfect.
@@beansharicots I would say the same for Quebeckers and people usually compliment everyone who try their best to speak our language. However, I observe that some French speakers from outside North America have an idea of "beauty" of French and this is detrimental to learners. I don't want anyone to abide to rules of "beauty" of language and it must remain accessible to anyone even with big pronounciation mistakes. I never found the same indulgence when I spoke with English speakers.
As a French in my experience portuguese speakers (from Brazil and Portugal) are usually very quick learner of french language, even compared to spanish or Italians speakers which are also Latin tongues, I feel like Portugueses are able to become fluent in French very fast that’s impressive
There are areas of Toronto that have allot of green. You can actually seriously mountain bike for hours not too far from mid town. But it is true that we have plenty of areas downtown that lack green space.
I was born and raised in Montreal and hated it there. I am glad that I currently live in Toronto now since there are more things to do. It’s a great place for working and enjoying life.
Thank you for your video. In your example of a recent immigrant with couple and two kids, I would say that rent cost should be considered in your analysis. In that case, french is worth learning
I've lived in Montreal for 2 years, Toronto for 1 year, and now in Ottawa, I can't wait to get back to Montreal. All great cities, but Montreal just feels cozier, like home, can't really explain.
Advice to my fellow Montrealers: go to Toronto in the summer and don't limit yourself to the downtown core with all its cold skyscrapers and touristy stuff. Explore the cool neighborhoods outside of this area, on foot. You will discover a dynamic city with many good restaurants, trendy bars and cafes, lively terraces, quaint little shops, nice architecture, artistic murals everywhere, and LOTS of trees. Yes, just like Montreal... but with its own very unique vibe, and with the high energy of a truly international city.
Glad you understand the French situation properly ❤ Merci! Watch some movies from here, it helps a lot I hear, and seriously you won't regret it they're great! My recent favs: - Les Chambres Rouges (2023) - Simple comme Sylvain (The Nature of Love), 2023 - Laurence anyways, 2012 - Les Amours imaginaires (Heartbeats), 2010 - Mommy, 2014 - C.R.A.Z.Y. , 2006 I'll hook you up if you can't find them
The difference that I see between those 2 cities is Montreal has 'cultural nooks and crannies" everywhere. Where in Toronto it's much harder to find those due to the size of the city. If you stay away from the harbour(tourist spot) Toronto is great.
I have not been to Toronto in a while. I hope they improved the air conditioning inside the TTC network. They had AC inside the trains(great!)...but it made the stations super hot and humid.
I just moved from Montreal back to Toronto. I really love both cities, but have a preference for Toronto. I think you have some major misconceptions regarding Toronto.... but with that said, enjoy your trip and try Loga's on Close.
Lived in Montreal for four years and very much enjoyed it. However, the general attitude of people is quite homogeneous and self absorbed. There’s a persistent delusion it’s the greatest place to live in the entire world. And that everything is world class and needs no change. Toronto is funny cause it has the opposite problem. People who live there think it’s the worst city in the world and refuse any evidence of the contrary. It’s funny how cities only a few hours a part have super ego or horrible self doubt.
As a Montrealer, having visited Toronto several times a year and lived in Vancouver for 2 years, I came back to Montreal which has a bit of everything from the Canadian culture. More affordable, bilingual, European, doesn't have the grey of Vancouver with a majority of ethnic French Canadian. Love it here. Being fluent in French is a plus.
Why is it that Montrealers go off the beaten path to compare their city to Toronto? You can have 2 great cities that compliment each other. Montrealers come to Toronto - go downtown to the CN tower, shop at the Eaton Centre and say the city is boring. Without doing any type of exploration. Just stop
@@zigzag00 Telling me what I am is the exact point you people never got. It ain't for you to decide and it's perfect like this. We don't need to care about the rest of Canada, like Canada never cared about us. The two solitudes are heading for seperation. It's just the way it is.
Ya ur wrong my friend about Toronto. I'm from Toronto born and raised anything you wanna know about here ask me and it's much more than a concrete jungle I can tell you that so much to do and see and unique in so many ways and i love and enjoy my life here in Toronto too. So that statement where people just work and dont enjoy themselves here just isnt true im sorry.
I have been in Toronto for less than a year and I am already fed up of this place. I was thinking of learning French and moving to Montreal, but I have no idea where to start. And your friend is right, TTC is trash.
You cannot compare Montreal with Toronto . Montreal is unique in north america and has more in commun with New York ( an Island , central park, cultural , architecture and 400 years of history ) . In 1998 , the Ontario government decided to merged ( agglomerate ) all cities up to 130 km away ( Niagara region) for the only raeson to get the title of the largest city in Canda . Greater Montreal includes the island and cities outside the island no more than 20 km away on the south shore and north shore . Toronto is not NYC and will never be . No identity , no soul . Toronto is now more Mumbai ( mostly indian communities ) , not walkable and the only landmark you see on all picture , the overrated Cn tower which is not unique in the world .
Soul is the keyword..Montreal has soul. In fact I just did 6 days in jail here..and i did 30 in toronto..wow montreal was so much cooler dudes...just warmer, funnier, friendlier, smarter, etc.
Exactly the reason many dislike Montreal, the racism and elitism. Go out on the town as a minority and the later it gets the more likely you'll hear racist slurs hurled at you by drunk Montrealers.. Or just experience crappy customer service pretty much all the time even as a francophone during the day because you are a visual minority.
Your stats are way off friend. In 1998 Toronto and its neighboring boroughs merged. The city went from 16km wide to 47 at its widest with the old city right in the middle, 15km or so outside its old boundaries on either side.
I'd disagree, English is alive and often spoken in Montreal in several boroughs.You don't need to speak french to reside here. The English, Scottish and Irish built this city and all anglophones deserve to be part of it and recognized for their efforts. Montreal was the banking and financial capital and center of Canada until the FLQ forced all of it to Ontario and Toronto with their campaign of terror. Its a shame what the city of Montreal has turned into with the xenophobic provincial leadership we have that seems to govern on fear and hate.
New York city is unique in the world and has more in commun with Montreal than Toronto . NYC and Montreal are both built on an island with a central park , rich architecture old and new with churches ,walkable , both have the highest number of restaurants per capita in north america , arts , creativity , multicultural and both are walkable and unique cities . In 1998 , Toronto , in order to get the title of the largest city in Canada, amalgated ( merged ) cities as far as 130 km way ( Niagara )from downtown . Cities with nothing in commun and no sense of community .Toronto has no identity , no soul , no historical buildings , blend architecture and the CN tower is the only landmark you see on all pictures .
Born in Toronto and lived there for most of my life except for a few years in Montreal. Toronto is the greatest city in the world….lots of great neighbourhoods, nice buildings, walkable streets and a great transit system. Montreal is a poor city with rude people, outdated buildings, opinionated government, bad roads, lots of homeless people and crime. You feel much safer and more welcomed in Toronto. Much better than boring and bland Montreal….
Born in Toronto, but have lived in Los Angeles for several years. I love Toronto, but it is not on par with New York or London which are far greater cities in everything. I don’t get nearly the excitement or awe when visiting Toronto, as I do New York City. I do agree with you that Montreal is vastly overrated, and dirty compared to Toronto. The only part of Montreal that looks European is old Montreal, which is a tiny area of the metro. Most of metro Montreal looks like any North American city. I don’t need to go to Montreal to hear a bunch of people speaking French, which I could care less about. It’s like the millions of Los Angeles residents speaking Spanish, which I also don’t give a rats bum about. lol, I hate cold weather, so I will be spending the rest of my life in Southern California.
@@noseboop4354 Both Toronto and Montreal are far superior urban cities to Vancouver, which is bland and sterile. What you should have said is the surrounding area of Vancouver is far more beautiful. Also having mostly cloudy weather is not desirable to me as I like the sun. Although colder than Vancouver, both Montreal and Toronto get more sunshine than Vancouver.
@@guyl9456 lol, nothing the matter with USA or UK culture in the same way Montreal borrowed some French culture. None of it is superior to the other, just different. Celebrate the difference!
TTC is way better than STM. Toronto has a great bus network….they can get you anywhere including the downtown streetcars…..Montreal has infrequent bus routes, and buses break down a lot and don’t have good ride quality on the atroicously bad roads in Montreal. Montreal subway is horrible with outdated and ugly stations, lots of homeless people and crime…
No way, people in Toronto so not respect the line to enter the bus, they just burst out of the station and so not care if there is people line up before them, they just jump the line.
Surprised to see so many people defending Toronto. There are a few moderate exceptions (that are NOT comparable to what you biked through in Montreal; that's very wishful thinking), but not only is so much of it a concrete jungle for an absolutely flat-out stupid price, but the exceptions that folks are mentioning here are CONSTANTLY getting gentrified into oblivion. Fun Toronto neighborhoods get destroyed by big money faster than new ones--mostly built by folks who have been pushed out of the old ones--can be assembled. Hell, even the Toronto Fringe Festival is down to 77 shows; it had 150 shows 20 years ago. Montreal actually fights to maintain a way of life for the public.
Dan, ton niveau de français est excellent, n'en doute pas! Pour les lusophones brésiliens, hispanophones et italiens qui choisissent le Canada et qui ne parlent ni anglais ni français et ne sont pas doués pour les langues, l'idée de déménager au Québec est beaucoup plus logique que dans un pays anglophone. Pour info, un natif d'une langue latine ne devra prendre que 600 heures pour apprendre le français contre 750 pour l'anglais. Il est illégal pour un employeur au Québec d'exiger la connaissance d'une autre langue que le français.
Personally, I found Toronto the least interesting of Canadian cities I've visited. Yes Toronto is more than a concrete jungle, but it's rapidly growing into one. It's losing more and more of it's soul and no one seems interested in preserving it. Montreal is a better place to be than Toronto in any way I can think of.
Fabulous thoughts Dan! Happy you love the smaller feeling of some parts of Montreal! Toronto is arrogant and is basically huge buildings without much character! IMO they choke out the character of the city! No thanks to all the cranes taking away from the the skyline!! Yes lots of complaints about the TTC! Hi from Vancouver! Did you enjoy your time living here?!! I will be in Montreal soon and yes to 24 hour subway service! 🙂Have fun in TO!! I have taken the VIA train from Montreal to Toronto! Montreal and St. Viateur win!! 🙂
That’s a very arrogant statement to make about Toronto. I think you are only focusing on the financial district because your description of Toronto doesn’t match with the vast majority of the city and its metropolitan area. Toronto is very green (parks, ravines, a national park within its borders), has beaches, is incredibly international and vibrant, has countless festivals and events, museums, markets, and many unique neighbourhoods. It has milder winters than Montréal and no seismic activity like Vancouver which is always a plus.
@@algonquin91 Fair enough. I am in Toronto often - every 2 months - and while I do find it a huge concrete jungle and at times I love that, I also acknowledge there is green space. Of course there is. I just sometimes find the enormous building going on and existing buildings to take away from that feeling of beauty. I love Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Be well.
@@christinecamley I’m sorry for my harsh tone… yes there definitely is lots of construction, including in the suburbs of Toronto which also have their skylines. I really wish Toronto was consistently dense like Montréal is, which would have decreased the need for such expansive (and tall) construction to keep up. The Toronto area is also limited by the lake and the Greenbelt (which encircle the metropolitan area) and city zoning rules have meant that the region can only grow upwards and along major arterial roads and public transit corridors. If you are high enough on a building you’ll see tree canopies covering low rise housing broken up by various smaller skylines all throughout the Greater Toronto Area.
@@algonquin91 Hi! No worries! I appreciate your thoughtfulness about the oasis of lovely green space in Toronto and suburbs. Like you I also enjoy the denseness of Montreal. Having said that I love finding green space in TO and taking it in and I understand why there might be some limitations. Being high up in a building and overlooking greenspace is very nice! Thanks for helping me to look at this in a more enlightened way! I do love TO! Have an awesome day! Cheers!
You don't seem to be acquainted with Toronto's many ethnic neighbourhoods. They feel like small towns. Also, you are cycling along Avenue Mont Royal during the period when they close it to traffic for the annual street festival. I have lived equally in Montreal and Toronto and I know what you are doing here: you are presenting Montreal's biased, propagandized version of Toronto. You've bought into it. It's false. And nationalistic. And cruel.
You assume too much. Shortly after publishing this I visited Toronto and shared this video: ruclips.net/video/aHZ1bgfHtTM/видео.html Also, the annual street festival you refer to is not a festival at all. Mont Royal remains pedestrianized from late May to early September.
@@thoughtsontravelandlife Oh Dan. I watched it. I don't know if you made other videos about Toronto or if that was the only one. It's weird that you say that I "assume too much." Instead, you should have written that you came to understand my point after having visited Toronto and understanding that you had been prejudiced as a result of québécois propaganda. (I lived there for 15 years. It's ruthless!). There is very little in your video on Toronto that shows its many neighbourhoods. There are only a couple of cities in North America that kept their streetcars: Toronto, San Francisco, and (I think) New Orleans. Did you go to the Beaches? Bloor West Village? How about Toronto Islands? I also regret that Toronto has lost so many of its beautiful century old buildings downtown in favour of high rises. But why would anyone identify Toronto with its downtown core?
The biggest con to Monteral is the snobby French speaking population who ironically cant even speak proper French like real French people can.😂 Real French people laugh at their strange accent.
@Starstreak170 Francophones in Montreal speak French perfectly. Do people in Toronto speak defunct English, do people in Mexico City speak defunct Spanish? What the hell are you taking about?
@@paulthomas281 Someone I work with from Montreal told me he refuses to speak French with French people because they focus on his accent and sometimes joke about it.
@@Starstreak170 If that is the case, then that is unacceptable and demeaning behaviour on the part of individuals who do that. I would wish to apologise to your friend on behalf of those assholes. Your comment however is different. It is an attack on an entire population. That, too, is unacceptable. I am French (from Europe) and live in Montreal, and I cannot remember one instance in the Québécois media where what was said or written was not pure French. French-language media in France, Belgium, Canada/Québec, Switzerland, and of course Africa, uses the same standard French language. As far as accent is concerned, yes there is a wild difference. Québec and the South of France are two very distinct regions.
I don't know Toronto, but I definitely don't recommend Montreal. The language thing is annoying as hell. Even if you speak French, there is always this little dance around the communication code, which sounds super charming, but at the end of the day, it leads to confusion, prejudice, arrogance, discrimination, etc. They fancy themselves as better than the rest of the country. I am leaving as soon as possible.
![Walking in the Snow in Toronto, Canada | City Ambience Night Walk [4K HDR/60fps]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Lhh8IzWzy9I/mqdefault.jpg)
![🇨🇦 Street Life in Montreal - Walking Tour of St. Catherine - Street Canada City Walk [4K HDR/60fps]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/aj4onwDy3r0/mqdefault.jpg)
Toronto does have lots of old neighbourhoods surrounding the downtown core with lowrise retail strips of shops and restaurants much like the one you were riding your bike through. They are also characterized as little towns onto themselves in the same way as in Montreal. During your visit check out Little Italy, Little Portugal, Parkdale, The Beaches, Roncesvalles Ave, Leslieville, Riverside, Mount Pleasant Village, Gerrard India Bazaare, The Ossington Strip, & there are many more!
The skyscraper/concrete jungle seems to be what stays in people's minds about Toronto! I vastly prefer Montreal!!
@@christinecamley Yep. The missing middle in Toronto is sadly being replaced by taller buildings and the few remaining have less charm than the one in Montreal
One thing you won't get much of in Montreal is Indian cuisine because there are not many people from India in Montreal. This video gives the impression that there are only skyscrapers in Toronto. Both cities have their different ethnic groups and so you get the cuisine of these groups.
@@klarissaclairiton9010 I have found all types of cuisine in Montreal and delicious cuisine but I agree that cities tend to offer more restaurants to larger populations of people.
@@christinecamley I guess it all depends on where you stay. When we visit Montreal, we typically stay in the old Montreal and can see all the new towers being built downtown.
A lot of people's idea of Toronto is concrete jungle, but I've lived in Little Portugal/Dundas West for 10 years. My version of Toronto is quaint shops, cool bars, street art, trams, and bicycles.
I grew up in Toronto. It's not fair to compare present day Toronto with the Toronto of early nineties or 2000's.
Toronto is more like Punjabistani-supremacist sh.iytwhole Turbanland today.
Thank you Quebec for fighting back against Caste system imported from foreign cultures.
This is it! Thank you, most Montrealers are comparing their city with King and Bay - not Little Portugal, not Leaside, not Kensington, not College, not Roncy. When you ask them about these areas - they go mute. Toronto is the only truly international city in Canada, period. Montreal is a regional hub.
Toronto is the city for working and Montreal is the city for enjoying. In that sense, Toronto is the equivalent of Sydney, Madrid, Frankfurt, Moscow, São Paulo, and Milan in Canada while Montreal is the equivalent of Melbourne, Barcelona, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Rio de Janeiro, and Rome in Canada
My cousin's son just left a superb engineering job in Toronto to move back to Montreal. He missed the culture and family! I am in Vancouver but I'd take Montreal any day! Thankfully my cousin's son was able to do a lateral transfer to Montreal so he maintained an excellent job!
Nah Toronto is definitely for enjoying and working.
That's a nice comparison, and as someone interested in moving to Montreal (from the US), it makes the city more appealing to me. I actually love all of the cities you compared to Montreal, with Melbourne, Barcelona, St. Petersburg, and Berlin being places I often watch videos about because they seem so cool to me culturally. I'd absolutely love to travel to and visit Madrid, Moscow, and Milan, but I've always got the vibe that I wouldn't enjoy living in those cities as much.
@@kylewelsh_krossdesu7700 Toronto and Melboune along with the other cities are very enjoyable indeed. I wouldn't base a city off of one comment with an outdated comparison and you should go visit for yourself. Good luck!
@@kylewelsh_krossdesu7700 Toronto is just as good if not better I recommend you visit both in person
The type of neighbourhood strips like Mont Royal shown in the video are common in Toronto. Try an evening walk west on Queen St from about University to Ossington, north to Dundas, and west again to about Brock (a long walk... about 4.5km). I'd love to hear your thoughts after that walk. Toronto's central west end actually compares well to Montreal's Plateau. Good luck.
Its not the same..the stores are not personal, the people aren't all friends wth one another, parties don't break out spontaneously, toronto is just stores and nebs in suits.
Calling Toronto a concrete jungle is not accurate (most focus only on the downtown but not the rest of the city). Toronto has an expansive park and ravine network, multiple trails along rivers, numerous beaches, the Toronto islands, and a national park (Rouge National Urban Park). The mature neighbourhoods of Toronto and suburbs like Mississauga are covered in a tree canopy and when you‘re on a high enough elevation one mostly sees trees in between the clusters of tall buildings. Please don‘t focus a comparison of Toronto to only its financial district.
Montreal is my favourite city in Canada, but you are correct here about Toronto. Toronto has some beautiful, leafy neighborhoods, especially near the ravines and outside the central districts and away from the major arteries like Yonge or Bloor, Danforth etc.
@@roberthicks6161 Montréal is so beautiful and unique!
I have lived in both cities, and while I agree entirely with your Montreal assessment, I would argue - mostly because I've now live in Toronto - that Toronto easily has village culture at least as much as Montreal (if not more). In many ways this aspect of Montreal and Toronto are very similar, something, that for some reasons Montrealers seem to hate hearing.
There are so so many villages that look and feel so much like your video where people walk, and hang on patios, and shop for fruits and vegetables, and delis, and falafels and dining out, taking the subway to another village - it's very much why we plunked ourselves down in this village.
Best thing is that each village has its own vibe: Bloor West Village is a little sleepier, but vibrant during the day, in a very practical way; just like Leaside; then you get Roncesvalles, a little craftier and rootsy, then The Annex, The Beach, The Junction, and one of my favourites, Kensington Market which is like the world in one square kilometre, something I've almost never seen anywhere else in the world where you can shop of hippie clothes and go next door for Tibetan Momos then 2mins away listen to some live blues, and then top it off with Jamaican patties, then jump on the streetcar to go home.
Toronto’s bathurst/bloor/koreatown/annex is extremely relaxing and calming, with artists, students, professors, punks, and bike lanes and hip stores galore. Its right downtown. Not at all like you are describing. Please wonder outside our financial areas and head to places like the beaches, leslieville etc.
' Laissons Toronto devenir Milan, Montréal sera toujours Rome ' Jean Drapeau.
Nice, thoughtful video essay on the differences between Montreal and Toronto, Dan. Though watching and listening as you biked around some familiar streets really made me wistful about Ville Marie; can't wait to get back. Montreal me manque!
Great Video! Keep making content
Another thing that people don't mention is that Montreal's pace of life is a lot slower than Toronto. People drive and walk much slower and in a more friendly way.
100% agrée. Just got back from a road trip to MTL from TO. We took the city bus in MTL and the bus driver actually waited a couple minutes for us so we could catch it. That would NEVER happen in TO...the bus driver would just take off and leave us chase after it! The slower pace, cleaner air, beautiful architecture and greenery was very refreshing. I felt so deficient in French. I would consider a relocation if I can get my French up to par. I would say learning at least basic French to get by is a must to integrate and show respect to the Québécois culture.
Montreal may be colder than Toronto, but you haven’t experienced a cold winter until you’ve lived in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Saskatoon or Regina. Winter is way warmer in Montreal. It’s also much shorter. The first frost on the Prairies can come as early as September. The first snow too. But, if you like spring, it’s best and it comes early in Victoria and Vancouver.
8:47 the Brazilian who speaks a little English but no French would make a far better choice with Quebec than with the rest of Canada.
For native Portuguese speakers, it takes 600 hours to get to the same level in French as it would take in English with 1000 hours.
Plus, Quebeckers are super friendly when it comes to languages and, if you are trying to speak French, they will encourage you while anglophones have usually no reaction because it is so common.
It means a lot to a Quebecker that a non French speaker learns our language before he learns English. It means that we are together in this fight to have the right to live in our common language.
Languages come and go, just like everything else. Having lived in QC for a while now I do find it curious that many are so distracted or put off by slight mispronunciations. English speakers tend to not care as much and accept that the persons language skills are not perfect.
@@beansharicots I would say the same for Quebeckers and people usually compliment everyone who try their best to speak our language.
However, I observe that some French speakers from outside North America have an idea of "beauty" of French and this is detrimental to learners.
I don't want anyone to abide to rules of "beauty" of language and it must remain accessible to anyone even with big pronounciation mistakes.
I never found the same indulgence when I spoke with English speakers.
As a French in my experience portuguese speakers (from Brazil and Portugal) are usually very quick learner of french language, even compared to spanish or Italians speakers which are also Latin tongues, I feel like Portugueses are able to become fluent in French very fast that’s impressive
"We have colder winters" means "we have winters". There was almost no snow in Toronto this year. P. S. Mes salutations de Toronto.
I often wear converse in the winter in Toronto, rarely wear winter boots but every now and then I will wear some waterproof runners.
Should've seen Mtl this past winter. It was disgusting and barely any snow. Makes me sad :(
Love Montreal. That said, Toronto has an air of excitement that's unmatched elsewhere in Canada.
Keep up the great work Dan ❤
There are areas of Toronto that have allot of green. You can actually seriously mountain bike for hours not too far from mid town. But it is true that we have plenty of areas downtown that lack green space.
I was born and raised in Montreal and hated it there. I am glad that I currently live in Toronto now since there are more things to do. It’s a great place for working and enjoying life.
Thank you for your video. In your example of a recent immigrant with couple and two kids, I would say that rent cost should be considered in your analysis. In that case, french is worth learning
Would be nice to compare Montreal Toronto and Vancouver.
I've lived in Montreal for 2 years, Toronto for 1 year, and now in Ottawa, I can't wait to get back to Montreal. All great cities, but Montreal just feels cozier, like home, can't really explain.
please don't come back, stay in Ottawa!
Advice to my fellow Montrealers: go to Toronto in the summer and don't limit yourself to the downtown core with all its cold skyscrapers and touristy stuff. Explore the cool neighborhoods outside of this area, on foot. You will discover a dynamic city with many good restaurants, trendy bars and cafes, lively terraces, quaint little shops, nice architecture, artistic murals everywhere, and LOTS of trees. Yes, just like Montreal... but with its own very unique vibe, and with the high energy of a truly international city.
Glad you understand the French situation properly ❤ Merci!
Watch some movies from here, it helps a lot I hear, and seriously you won't regret it they're great!
My recent favs:
- Les Chambres Rouges (2023)
- Simple comme Sylvain (The Nature of Love), 2023
- Laurence anyways, 2012
- Les Amours imaginaires (Heartbeats), 2010
- Mommy, 2014
- C.R.A.Z.Y. , 2006
I'll hook you up if you can't find them
Can I ask which day it was when you filmed this video ? Is it Saturday night? .. I have to pass by… ❤
The difference that I see between those 2 cities is Montreal has 'cultural nooks and crannies" everywhere. Where in Toronto it's much harder to find those due to the size of the city. If you stay away from the harbour(tourist spot) Toronto is great.
I have not been to Toronto in a while. I hope they improved the air conditioning inside the TTC network. They had AC inside the trains(great!)...but it made the stations super hot and humid.
That's interesting. I don't think Montreal has AC in the trains, but people say it's deep enough underground that it doesn't get super hot
@@thoughtsontravelandlife nah, im talking about the TTC.😊
I just moved from Montreal back to Toronto. I really love both cities, but have a preference for Toronto. I think you have some major misconceptions regarding Toronto.... but with that said, enjoy your trip and try Loga's on Close.
"Even in the summer, people are out" .... Bro what ?
Lived in Montreal for four years and very much enjoyed it. However, the general attitude of people is quite homogeneous and self absorbed. There’s a persistent delusion it’s the greatest place to live in the entire world. And that everything is world class and needs no change. Toronto is funny cause it has the opposite problem. People who live there think it’s the worst city in the world and refuse any evidence of the contrary. It’s funny how cities only a few hours a part have super ego or horrible self doubt.
As a Montrealer, having visited Toronto several times a year and lived in Vancouver for 2 years, I came back to Montreal which has a bit of everything from the Canadian culture. More affordable, bilingual, European, doesn't have the grey of Vancouver with a majority of ethnic French Canadian. Love it here. Being fluent in French is a plus.
Why is it that Montrealers go off the beaten path to compare their city to Toronto? You can have 2 great cities that compliment each other. Montrealers come to Toronto - go downtown to the CN tower, shop at the Eaton Centre and say the city is boring. Without doing any type of exploration. Just stop
they need to see Yorkdale mall. It's huge. I live in Montreal, but I like both cities. They are just different.
As a Québécois I would never compare my city to yours.
2 countries, doesn't make much sense to compare them considering that have nothing in common
@@Sogger2AgahimSorry but Québec is a province of Canada and the 2nd largest in Canada to be exact 🙂 Cheers to being Canadian! 🇨🇦
@@zigzag00
Telling me what I am is the exact point you people never got.
It ain't for you to decide and it's perfect like this.
We don't need to care about the rest of Canada, like Canada never cared about us.
The two solitudes are heading for seperation.
It's just the way it is.
@@Sogger2Agahim lol
Toronto FTW!
Ya ur wrong my friend about Toronto. I'm from Toronto born and raised anything you wanna know about here ask me and it's much more than a concrete jungle I can tell you that so much to do and see and unique in so many ways and i love and enjoy my life here in Toronto too. So that statement where people just work and dont enjoy themselves here just isnt true im sorry.
I have been in Toronto for less than a year and I am already fed up of this place. I was thinking of learning French and moving to Montreal, but I have no idea where to start. And your friend is right, TTC is trash.
You cannot compare Montreal with Toronto . Montreal is unique in north america and has more in commun with New York ( an Island , central park, cultural , architecture and 400 years of history ) . In 1998 , the Ontario government decided to merged ( agglomerate ) all cities up to 130 km away ( Niagara region) for the only raeson to get the title of the largest city in Canda . Greater Montreal includes the island and cities outside the island no more than 20 km away on the south shore and north shore .
Toronto is not NYC and will never be . No identity , no soul . Toronto is now more Mumbai ( mostly indian communities ) , not walkable and the only landmark you see on all picture , the overrated Cn tower which is not unique in the world .
Blah blah 🤣
Soul is the keyword..Montreal has soul. In fact I just did 6 days in jail here..and i did 30 in toronto..wow montreal was so much cooler dudes...just warmer, funnier, friendlier, smarter, etc.
@@stoneneils Wow comparing cities based on your time in jail there is something...
Exactly the reason many dislike Montreal, the racism and elitism. Go out on the town as a minority and the later it gets the more likely you'll hear racist slurs hurled at you by drunk Montrealers.. Or just experience crappy customer service pretty much all the time even as a francophone during the day because you are a visual minority.
Your stats are way off friend. In 1998 Toronto and its neighboring boroughs merged. The city went from 16km wide to 47 at its widest with the old city right in the middle, 15km or so outside its old boundaries on either side.
I'd disagree, English is alive and often spoken in Montreal in several boroughs.You don't need to speak french to reside here. The English, Scottish and Irish built this city and all anglophones deserve to be part of it and recognized for their efforts. Montreal was the banking and financial capital and center of Canada until the FLQ forced all of it to Ontario and Toronto with their campaign of terror. Its a shame what the city of Montreal has turned into with the xenophobic provincial leadership we have that seems to govern on fear and hate.
The question has become: haiti/Algeria or india/china.
New York city is unique in the world and has more in commun with Montreal than Toronto . NYC and Montreal are both built on an island with a central park , rich architecture old and new with churches ,walkable , both have the highest number of restaurants per capita in north america , arts , creativity , multicultural and both are walkable and unique cities .
In 1998 , Toronto , in order to get the title of the largest city in Canada, amalgated ( merged ) cities as far as 130 km way ( Niagara )from downtown . Cities with nothing in commun and no sense of community .Toronto has no identity , no soul , no historical buildings , blend architecture and the CN tower is the only landmark you see on all pictures .
Depends if you're a tourist....if you're an English speaking citizen, forget Montreal
there are only 2 concrete jungles in the states New York and partially Chicago.. LA has no concrete jungle.
Born in Toronto and lived there for most of my life except for a few years in Montreal. Toronto is the greatest city in the world….lots of great neighbourhoods, nice buildings, walkable streets and a great transit system. Montreal is a poor city with rude people, outdated buildings, opinionated government, bad roads, lots of homeless people and crime. You feel much safer and more welcomed in Toronto. Much better than boring and bland Montreal….
Born in Toronto, but have lived in Los Angeles for several years. I love Toronto, but it is not on par with New York or London which are far greater cities in everything. I don’t get nearly the excitement or awe when visiting Toronto, as I do New York City. I do agree with you that Montreal is vastly overrated, and dirty compared to Toronto. The only part of Montreal that looks European is old Montreal, which is a tiny area of the metro. Most of metro Montreal looks like any North American city. I don’t need to go to Montreal to hear a bunch of people speaking French, which I could care less about. It’s like the millions of Los Angeles residents speaking Spanish, which I also don’t give a rats bum about. lol, I hate cold weather, so I will be spending the rest of my life in Southern California.
Toronto and Montreal both pale in comparison to Vancouver. No city is more beautiful or desirable.
@@noseboop4354 Both Toronto and Montreal are far superior urban cities to Vancouver, which is bland and sterile. What you should have said is the surrounding area of Vancouver is far more beautiful. Also having mostly cloudy weather is not desirable to me as I like the sun. Although colder than Vancouver, both Montreal and Toronto get more sunshine than Vancouver.
@@guyl9456 lol, nothing the matter with USA or UK culture in the same way Montreal borrowed some French culture. None of it is superior to the other, just different. Celebrate the difference!
lol
TTC is way better than STM. Toronto has a great bus network….they can get you anywhere including the downtown streetcars…..Montreal has infrequent bus routes, and buses break down a lot and don’t have good ride quality on the atroicously bad roads in Montreal. Montreal subway is horrible with outdated and ugly stations, lots of homeless people and crime…
So please never come back
No way, people in Toronto so not respect the line to enter the bus, they just burst out of the station and so not care if there is people line up before them, they just jump the line.
Surprised to see so many people defending Toronto. There are a few moderate exceptions (that are NOT comparable to what you biked through in Montreal; that's very wishful thinking), but not only is so much of it a concrete jungle for an absolutely flat-out stupid price, but the exceptions that folks are mentioning here are CONSTANTLY getting gentrified into oblivion. Fun Toronto neighborhoods get destroyed by big money faster than new ones--mostly built by folks who have been pushed out of the old ones--can be assembled. Hell, even the Toronto Fringe Festival is down to 77 shows; it had 150 shows 20 years ago. Montreal actually fights to maintain a way of life for the public.
Like saving the Expos lol!!
Dan, ton niveau de français est excellent, n'en doute pas! Pour les lusophones brésiliens, hispanophones et italiens qui choisissent le Canada et qui ne parlent ni anglais ni français et ne sont pas doués pour les langues, l'idée de déménager au Québec est beaucoup plus logique que dans un pays anglophone.
Pour info, un natif d'une langue latine ne devra prendre que 600 heures pour apprendre le français contre 750 pour l'anglais.
Il est illégal pour un employeur au Québec d'exiger la connaissance d'une autre langue que le français.
Dude, you are just blowing through those stop signs and red lights.
I can't afford to live in Toronto. End of story.
Montreal’s not worth the aggravation.
Personally, I found Toronto the least interesting of Canadian cities I've visited. Yes Toronto is more than a concrete jungle, but it's rapidly growing into one. It's losing more and more of it's soul and no one seems interested in preserving it. Montreal is a better place to be than Toronto in any way I can think of.
Fabulous thoughts Dan! Happy you love the smaller feeling of some parts of Montreal! Toronto is arrogant and is basically huge buildings without much character! IMO they choke out the character of the city! No thanks to all the cranes taking away from the the skyline!! Yes lots of complaints about the TTC! Hi from Vancouver! Did you enjoy your time living here?!! I will be in Montreal soon and yes to 24 hour subway service! 🙂Have fun in TO!! I have taken the VIA train from Montreal to Toronto! Montreal and St. Viateur win!! 🙂
That’s a very arrogant statement to make about Toronto. I think you are only focusing on the financial district because your description of Toronto doesn’t match with the vast majority of the city and its metropolitan area. Toronto is very green (parks, ravines, a national park within its borders), has beaches, is incredibly international and vibrant, has countless festivals and events, museums, markets, and many unique neighbourhoods. It has milder winters than Montréal and no seismic activity like Vancouver which is always a plus.
@@algonquin91 Fair enough. I am in Toronto often - every 2 months - and while I do find it a huge concrete jungle and at times I love that, I also acknowledge there is green space. Of course there is. I just sometimes find the enormous building going on and existing buildings to take away from that feeling of beauty. I love Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Be well.
@@christinecamley I’m sorry for my harsh tone… yes there definitely is lots of construction, including in the suburbs of Toronto which also have their skylines. I really wish Toronto was consistently dense like Montréal is, which would have decreased the need for such expansive (and tall) construction to keep up. The Toronto area is also limited by the lake and the Greenbelt (which encircle the metropolitan area) and city zoning rules have meant that the region can only grow upwards and along major arterial roads and public transit corridors. If you are high enough on a building you’ll see tree canopies covering low rise housing broken up by various smaller skylines all throughout the Greater Toronto Area.
@@algonquin91 Hi! No worries! I appreciate your thoughtfulness about the oasis of lovely green space in Toronto and suburbs. Like you I also enjoy the denseness of Montreal. Having said that I love finding green space in TO and taking it in and I understand why there might be some limitations. Being high up in a building and overlooking greenspace is very nice! Thanks for helping me to look at this in a more enlightened way! I do love TO! Have an awesome day! Cheers!
Only ever have lived in Mtl, never even visited Toronto. I fell in love w Montreal❤
Montréal. Hands down. Every single time.
You don't seem to be acquainted with Toronto's many ethnic neighbourhoods. They feel like small towns. Also, you are cycling along Avenue Mont Royal during the period when they close it to traffic for the annual street festival. I have lived equally in Montreal and Toronto and I know what you are doing here: you are presenting Montreal's biased, propagandized version of Toronto. You've bought into it. It's false. And nationalistic. And cruel.
You assume too much. Shortly after publishing this I visited Toronto and shared this video: ruclips.net/video/aHZ1bgfHtTM/видео.html
Also, the annual street festival you refer to is not a festival at all. Mont Royal remains pedestrianized from late May to early September.
@@thoughtsontravelandlife Oh Dan. I watched it. I don't know if you made other videos about Toronto or if that was the only one. It's weird that you say that I "assume too much." Instead, you should have written that you came to understand my point after having visited Toronto and understanding that you had been prejudiced as a result of québécois propaganda. (I lived there for 15 years. It's ruthless!). There is very little in your video on Toronto that shows its many neighbourhoods. There are only a couple of cities in North America that kept their streetcars: Toronto, San Francisco, and (I think) New Orleans. Did you go to the Beaches? Bloor West Village? How about Toronto Islands? I also regret that Toronto has lost so many of its beautiful century old buildings downtown in favour of high rises. But why would anyone identify Toronto with its downtown core?
Anywhere with a climate suitable for human habitation. Why in this day and age do people live in a dark dull wet frozen climate??
caus it's 30 degres in the summer and I can skate during the winter
The biggest con to Monteral is the snobby French speaking population who ironically cant even speak proper French like real French people can.😂 Real French people laugh at their strange accent.
@Starstreak170
Francophones in Montreal speak French perfectly. Do people in Toronto speak defunct English, do people in Mexico City speak defunct Spanish? What the hell are you taking about?
@@paulthomas281 Someone I work with from Montreal told me he refuses to speak French with French people because they focus on his accent and sometimes joke about it.
@@Starstreak170 If that is the case, then that is unacceptable and demeaning behaviour on the part of individuals who do that. I would wish to apologise to your friend on behalf of those assholes.
Your comment however is different. It is an attack on an entire population. That, too, is unacceptable.
I am French (from Europe) and live in Montreal, and I cannot remember one instance in the Québécois media where what was said or written was not pure French. French-language media in France, Belgium, Canada/Québec, Switzerland, and of course Africa, uses the same standard French language.
As far as accent is concerned, yes there is a wild difference. Québec and the South of France are two very distinct regions.
I don't know Toronto, but I definitely don't recommend Montreal. The language thing is annoying as hell. Even if you speak French, there is always this little dance around the communication code, which sounds super charming, but at the end of the day, it leads to confusion, prejudice, arrogance, discrimination, etc. They fancy themselves as better than the rest of the country. I am leaving as soon as possible.
In Rome do as Romans do this is called Respect. I will not complain of Portuguese language in Brasil or Portugal
montreal sucks lol ..
Toronto suck, lol.
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