From a tourist-who's-seen-it perspective, it's a bunch of malls connected together. And from many a local's point of view, the largest underground city in the world is a practicality. Hundreds of thousands of daily commuters seek refuge from the winter cold as they trek to and from work in its 33 kilometres of climate-controlled tunnels, corridors and shopping centres.
But if you ask me, the underground does have it charm. Parts of the network are stunning, a joy to walk through. If you can find them.
Ironically, these very stretches are rarely, if ever seen in guidebooks or on the Internet, possibly because said corridors are mapped out like a labyrinth. As a result, many tourists, relocated newbies and even Montreal natives ignore these places exist. So as your humble guide, I thought it would be fun to show you the underground city's unsung nooks and crannies, as captured between March 2008 and February 2011.
And here's the most complete map I could find of the underground city should you wish to venture the hike.
- Graphic Index
- Text Index
