Montreal Underground City

The Montreal underground city consists of twenty miles of tunnels over an area four and a half square miles. This "indoor city" is the largest underground complex in the world. In French it is called La Ville Souterraine and is home to 80% of all office space in downtown Montreal. Transportation in and out of the city is provided by two commuter train stations, seven metro stations and a regional bus terminal.

Besides just office space the Montreal underground city is home to banks, museums, shopping malls, apartments, hotels, condominiums and universities. The University of Quebec at Montreal and the University of Montreal are underground. There are about two thousand stores, seven major hotels and over forty movie theaters. You will also find three exhibition halls, the Convention Centre, the Olympic Centre and the Bell Centre.

For a unique look at Montreal, nest time you visit, stay in one of the underground hotels. You can choose from the Hotel Hilton Montreal Bonaventure, W Hotel Montreal at Square Victoria, Hotel des Gouvernuers, Hotel InterContinental, Marriott Chateau Champlain, Hotel Le St. James, Hotel Delta Centre-Ville, Hotel Hyatt Regency and the Hotel Le Reime Elizabeth.

Montreal is known for having some pretty harsh winters and this underground network allows life to go on as normal regardless of the weather. It's very possible to go days without seeing the out of doors. To many that just seems strange, but, not everyone has lived through a Montreal winter. On many days there is just no reason to even consider stepping outdoors.

There are about two hundred different places to enter the city from ground level and it is divided into what they call segments. In the Central segment the Metro Rapid Transit System has several stations, Peel, McGill, Bonaventure, Lucien-L'Alleir, Square-Victoria, Place-d'Armes and Place-des-Arts. Some of the buildings in this segment are the University of Quebec in Montreal, the Hotel Hyatt Regency, Place Victoria, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the Queen Elizabeth Hotel and McGill University.

The Berri-UQAM segment is the hub of the metro network and the location of the Voyageur bus station. Place Dupuis, a shopping and office complex, is also located here. The Guy-Concordia segment is home to the Sir George Williams campus of Concordia University. In the Atwater segment is Place Alexis Nihon, Westmount Square and Dawson College.

The Longueuil-Universite-de-Sherbrooke is a major bus transportation stop and has satellite campuses for the University de Sherbrooke, the University de Montreal and the University Laval. Sherbrooke has the Grand Plaza Montreal Centre-Ville Hotel, the ITHQ and the FECQ. Pie-IX is where you will find the Olympic Stadium, Regroupement Loisiers Quebec and RIO. The eastern transfer point from the Orange and Blue lines is at Jean-Talon and tour Jean-Talon. The University of Montreal physical education center is at Edouard-Montpetit.

Portions of the Montreal underground city were given the name RESO in 2004. This is roughly translated to mean a network of tunnels. The original idea for this indoor city was conceived by Vincent Ponte and it all started in 1966. That's when the Place Ville-Marie office tower and underground shopping mall were built. The Montreal underground city has grown significantly since that time and is what many consider to be the "ultimate shopping trip".