One of the most affluent, storied, and happening neighbourhoods in Canada, Westmount is the perfect place to raise a family and live in Montreal.
From its proximity to downtown and Mount Royal Park, to its famed restaurants and parks, there are many things that you can continue to do all year round in Westmount that both you and your family will come to love.
In this post, we’re going to help you come up with a definitive list of things to do with your family in Westmount. While you explore each of the following 9 family-friendly things, keep in mind that you’ll probably discover dozens of other exciting things to do.
Westmount Is The Perfect Place To Raise A Family
Westmount is one of the most unique neighbourhoods in the city because it’s located right next to the downtown core of Montreal, yet it still manages to maintain a separate feel from the bustling Montreal lifestyle. It’s surrounded by NDG, Saint Henri, Downtown, and Atwater - four areas that are defined by their culture and social scenes. On top of all of this, Westmount is very well kept; it’s clean, it has its own security force and electric company, smooth roads, and beautiful parks.
Westmount Park
Westmount park is a beautiful and exciting place to be during the warmer months of the year. It’s a 26-acre park that features a wading pool, massive playgrounds, beautiful floral plantings, several soccer fields - both grass and turf, - two underground ice hockey rinks, the Westmount Public Library, Victoria Hall Community Centre, activity rooms, and a lot of green space for picnics and other outdoor activities.
If you enroll your children in recreational team sports, there is a high chance that they will be played here. Westmount Park is a perfect place to meet new friends, invite current friends to picnics, have birthday parties, and just general socializing.
Despite it being close to several busy streets, there is a sincere feel of peace in this park; the only thing that you’ll be hearing is the laughter of kids and adults alike on a beautiful Montreal day.
Greene Avenue
Greene Avenue isn’t well-renowned as a tourist destination, but it should be.
Greene Avenue is lined up with delicious restaurants, the Westmount Square shopping mall, and many little shops and grocery stores for your convenience. Your family will love some of its notable eateries, Chez Nick, Saint Sushi, Ryu, Vago, and Brioche Dorée, to say the least.
Some of the aforementioned restaurants are Westmount staples, and others are big-name restaurants that have done well in other parts of the city and have recently opened up to Westmount. If this shows anything, it’s that the old and new blend well, and that Westmount is becoming a much more attractive place to business owners.
Murray Hill Park
The other big park in Westmount is Murray Hill Park; it is located just a couple of blocks away from Westmount Park, but it has an entirely different feel to it.
For one, the entire park is located on a hill (hence its name), but regardless of that structure, it has several playgrounds, a soccer field, tennis courts, and a beautiful lookout point.
This is a great place to play recreational sports with your kids, prepare a picnic, or to come and eat food that you’ve picked up on Sherbrooke street. If you send your children to any of the private high schools nearby, they’ll come to love Murray Hill Park as an after-school hangout spot with their friends.
Upper Westmount Belvedere Lookout
Perhaps Westmount’s best-kept secret is its Belvedere lookout point. This lookout point is located all the way up at the top of Upper Westmount, and it offers one of the best views of the city of Montreal.
Most residents and tourists of Montreal will jump at the chance to visit Mount Royal and drool at its viewpoint, but if you want a much quieter and closer - yet equally impressive - view of Montreal, just take your family up the hill.
Even better, you could suggest a hike with your family to the top of Westmount (don’t tell them how steep it is!) and use the viewpoint as a reward for all of your hard work.
Or drive up… we won’t punish you for it.
Saint Joseph’s Oratory
Saint Joseph’s Oratory is one of the most culturally important places to visit in the city. It is Canada’s largest church, it was built way back in the 1930s, and it is completely accessible via Upper Westmount.
If you and your family want to walk through a beautiful garden, see an impressive view of the Outremont/Côte-des-Neiges areas of Montreal, and walk through one of the most historic Catholic churches in Canada, you may do so at any point during the day by simply walking there from your house.
It’s visited annually by over 2,000,000 people, but for you, it’ll just be another tremendous thing to do as a Westmount resident.
Westmount Square
Westmount Square is a building complex which hosts three high-rise buildings, a shopping mall, food court, and several impressive restaurants.
If you take public transportation often, you’ll be able to get on and off the metro here. It connects with the Alexis-Nihon mall and Atwater street, which is the divider between being in Westmount and being Downtown.
Among many of its beautiful boutiques and restaurants, you’ll particularly fall in love with Tavern On The Square, a quaint Italian restaurant with an outdoor terrasse on Sainte-Catherine street.
Park Restaurant
As you’ve seen since the beginning of this article, most of the suggested restaurants we’ve shown you were all part of exploring a specific location in Westmount; however, we’ve decided to give Park restaurant its own bullet point because it’s just that significant.
Park is one of Montreal’s most acclaimed restaurants, and it’s led by the famous Montreal chef Antonio Park. Here, you will get to experience arguably the best sushi in the city, and it’s located right in between a Metro grocery store and a Japanese convenience store on Victoria Avenue.
This is again the beauty of living in Westmount - luxury at your fingertips.
Sherbrooke Street
You will find just about everything you need on Sherbrooke street.
Pronounced “sherbs” by the locals, it is one of the longest streets in the city, and if you drive down it, you’ll be brought to many different neighbourhoods in Montreal, but if you stay within its Westmount boundaries, you’ll find a lot of amazing restaurants, grocery stores, parks, and shops.
For one, you can buy yourself and your children bicycles at the Giant store, you can have a delicious salad at Mandy’s, you can eat one of, in our opinion, Montreal’s hidden gem sandwiches at Dagwoods, and you can conveniently access a grocery store in Metro.
Sherbrooke also has pharmacies, pubs, schools, more eateries, and social services. It truly is a street with everything, and you’ll most likely find yourself on it in many different instances.
Oh, and it also has two fantastic ice cream spots in Bilboquet and Dairy Queen (which are located next to each other, so don’t worry if your kids prefer one over the other!).
Mount Royal Park
Last but not least, you can use your advantage of living in Westmount to go explore some of Montreal’s most famous attractions.
Mount Royal Park is located right on the edge of Westmount and it’s a simple walk away from anywhere in the suburb. Lucky you; you now have access to one of the most incredible parks, not just in Montreal, but in the world.
From lookout points, tanning spots, beaver lake, forestry that makes you feel like you’re up north, and so much more, Mount Royal is easily an excursion that can last you several hours in a day.
For you and your family, it may just be your go-to for a walk or a picnic, but regardless, you’ll have complete access to Mount Royal and that is a wonderful perk of being able to live in Westmount.
The Bottom Line
Westmount is one of the best places to live in Canada, and fortunately, it isn’t proclaimed as a major tourist destination for Montreal visitors, so you and your fellow residents get all of it to yourself.
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