Me, my family and I arrived in Montréal from Brussels (Belgium) at the beginning of August 2008. The family consists of me, Richard Beck, my partner Laurence Krajewski and our two daughters Eleanor and Valentine. We are bilingual French and English. Laurence is originally from Belgium and myself from the UK.
We had the opportunity to come to Montréal and seized it hoping to gain from the experience in terms of: spending more time outside, meeting lots of interesting new people, emersing ourselves in a new culture, being in a place that’s more positive and moving out of our comfort zones both personally and professionally.
I decided to write this blog for several reasons:
- I was missing quite some information on Montréal, what’s it like to live here?
- To give back to the community. Many people helped me get to where I am now and I’d like to help others
- To paint a picture of Montréal on the web that’s not a tourist guide, but has some practical information in it.
Please send me your comments and questions and help build movetomontreal.ca
This page has the following sub pages.
Hi!
We just moved here as well! we live in Westmount and have 4 small kids.
What brought you here? we moved here from Toronto, Ontario! it’s very different.
Brooke
Welcome to Montréal! I hope you’re enjoying being here and the children are settling in well.
Feel free to share your experiences of Montréal. Let us know what you like and what you find difficult.
Thank you for commenting on our blog “Bonjour Montreal”! My girlfriend Jen and I have been in this great city for about 3 months now, and we love it! We’re living downtown and have been trying to get all over the city in our free time.
Let us know if you need any ideas of things to do, places to eat, or areas to visit. We can compare notes.
Best of luck starting fresh in Montreal.
Sincerely,
Jonathan and Jen
Hello Richard & Co,
You have a very nice blog here, it is complete and detailed.
Keep up the good work as it is very interesting.
Montréal seems to be a very nice place to live and the surroundings look great too.
Life continues normally at Korenveld and the Yaris is now in the garage waiting for the return of Julie…
We, and especially Julie, are very happy with it. Thanks again. Nice of you to have left a message on Julie’s blog
Kind Regards,
Luc
Hi There.
I’m scheduled to move to Montreal from Alberta Spring 2010. I’m trying to minimize any ’surpise fees/charges’ I may have to pay once I move. I’m looking for info/fees associated with registering out-of-province vehicles, getting utilities set up, etc.
Also can you recommend areas of the city that are considered safe and pleasant to live in (preferably a relatively central location)?
Thank you,
Char
Hi Char,
Hi Char,
Welcome to Montréal!
For information on registering a car check out the Société d’Assurance Automobile de Québec’s website: http://www.saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en/index.php
Particularly for vehicles from outside Québec: http://www.saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en/vehicle_registration/outside_quebec.php
Utility costs depend a lot upon where you live, your consumption etc, so that’s going to be difficult to estimate. The main utilities providers are: Hydro Québec (electricity), GazMétro, Vidéotron (telephony) and Bell.
To recommend areas to live really depends upon what you need and what you’re ready to spend. Are you looking for a condominium or a house? French speaking or English speaking? Will you be using a car to go to work or soley public transport?
Some areas to think about: Plateau Mont-Royal, La Salle, Outremont, Westmount, NDG
If you’re looking for something more suburban, then there is Pointe-Claire in the West Island which is mainly English speaking and on the French speaking South Shore: Greenfield Park, Brossard and La Prairie. The South Shore is much more accessible than the West Island and has good public transport services for commuting to the city centre.