{"id":141773,"date":"2026-02-22T14:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141773\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T14:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:29:10","slug":"why-new-york-and-montreal-are-the-perfect-dual-city-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141773\/","title":{"rendered":"Why New York and Montreal are the perfect dual city break"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it just me, or is absolutely everybody in New York right now? It\u2019s like the great Brazil exodus of summer 2025, except now my Instagram stories are littered with Katz\u2019s Deli menu pictures and skyline shots instead of endless beaches.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s where Londoners are summering nowadays, then NYC is surely the most popular place to be this winter. Copenhagen and Berlin can stifle their tears \u2014 the Big Apple\u2019s stocks are way up. While travelling to America can generally feel quite uncomfortable at the moment, New York is arguably the one place you can visit guilt-free. Not to mention that the city just elected the hottest young politician in Western democracy, Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n

\"Times<\/p>\n

Times Square in New York (Luca Bravo)<\/p>\n

And if my social media feed is filled with anything other than New York, it\u2019s (still) Heated Rivalry<\/a>. The hit ice hockey show is filmed primarily in Canada, with many scenes set in Montreal, which also happens to be the home of the show\u2019s creator, Jacob Tierney.<\/p>\n

The city has embraced the show\u2019s popularity with open arms: Bar Champs, a queer sports bar on St-Laurent Boulevard, recently hosted a Heated Rivalry marathon, with stars Sophie N\u00e9lisse and Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud (also a Montrealer) in attendance.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Canadian city of Montreal is just an hour and a half away from New York City by plane journey (Samuel Charron)<\/p>\n

I travelled to NYC and Montreal back in November, shortly after Mamdani\u2019s victory, and New York<\/a> was alive with energy \u2014 even more than it usually is. It didn\u2019t hurt that we had decamped in the very centre of the city, at Sofitel\u2019s recently refurbished West 44th Street property. Its location was best summarised by my friend, who said: \u201cIf you drop a pin in the centre of Manhattan, it\u2019s basically here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sofitel New York has put all their might into this renovation, bringing swathes of light into the previously dusky Art Deco-themed building, and putting focus on suites that feel like a little home in the centre of what can be a very uncompromising city. The hotel is equidistant to the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, for all your skyline viewing needs, and a 20-minute walk from Central Park.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Sofitel New York suite with a view of the Chrysler Building (Abaca Press \/ Aaron Joel Santos)<\/p>\n

Its proximity to Times Square means it’s also close to two of the best New York chains (do not be put off by this word, these aren\u2019t global chains, there are just multiple of them in the city, and for a good reason) the city has to offer.<\/p>\n

First is Black Seed Bagels, which offers honey-boiled, hand-baked bagels \u2014 I obviously got the salmon and cream cheese, because when in Rome, right? The closest is within the Rockefeller Centre\u2019s plaza, which means you can queue shoulder-to-shoulder with some of Saturday Night Live\u2019s finest, and most frazzled, scriptwriters. Then there\u2019s Los Tacos No. 1, which has an adobada (marinated pork) taco that demands to be demolished while standing at the taqueria\u2019s high tops \u2014 and the best chips and guac I\u2019ve had outside of Mexico.<\/p>\n

After three days in the bustle of NYC, we fled to Montreal. The journey is incredibly easy by plane, with all three of New York\u2019s main airports offering multiple daily direct flights for around $100 \u2014 a frequent and rapid alternative to the eight-hour drive or 11+ hour train journey.<\/p>\n

Montreal was already bitingly cold by the middle of November, but fortunately Sofitel\u2019s Golden Mile property was waiting to warm us up. Also recently renovated, this 5-star hotel is a gem amongst the Montreal hospitality scene. It\u2019s airy, colourful, beautifully decorated, and boasts a fantastic fine dining restaurant, Renoir.<\/p>\n

\"Renoir<\/p>\n

Renoir restaurant at Sofitel Golden Mile (Citizen North)<\/p>\n

I cannot recommend Renoir enough \u2014 it\u2019s responsible for one of the best tuna tartares I\u2019ve had in my life, and I don\u2019t say that easily. Pastry chef Paul Peyrat does amazing things with maple syrup (which, like olive oil, is just so much better when in the country of provenance) down in the kitchen, and the desserts are a real knockout. Plus: a moment for the Sofitel beds! Truly one of the comfiest I\u2019ve tried, and my body has been in contact with a good share of hotel mattresses.<\/p>\n

Montreal is very cold, so I would have made a home in my hotel room bed and stayed there all weekend if I could. But it\u2019s also an incredibly cultural, fun city (the pubs and bars are known to be amazing, and the clubbing scene is considered to be better than Toronto), so don\u2019t limit yourself, however comfy the bed. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is a must, and handily a five-minute walk from the hotel. It\u2019s capacious and impressively modern, with a particularly brilliant exhibition from First Nations artist Kent Monkman that\u2019s going until March. And, if you can, try and get tickets to an ice hockey game for the full Heated Rivalry experience.<\/p>\n

The other non-negotiable is The Cloakroom Bar on Rue de la Montagne, a tiny, atmospheric speakeasy with no menu, which means bar staff make bespoke cocktails at your request. You tell them what you like (i.e flavours, like citrus or floral, plus your favourite liquors) and they\u2019ll whip you up something fantastic that, tragically, you\u2019ll probably never be able to drink again. Better to have loved and lost, I guess.<\/p>\n

Montreal is also a breath of fresh air after the sometimes stifling madness of New York, with easier access to nature, and a slightly slower pace of life. For a proper sense of the city, make the trek up to the top of Mont Royale, the hill that overlooks the city, and take it all in. It might not be the Empire State building, but the views are still pretty damn good.<\/p>\n

Rooms from \u00a3474 at Sofitel Montreal Golden Mile <\/a>and \u00a3423 at Sofitel New York<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is it just me, or is absolutely everybody in New York right now? It\u2019s like the great Brazil…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6353,59712,9,11,10,8935,53289],"class_list":["post-141773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-montreal","tag-montreal-museum-of-fine-arts","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-sofitel-new-york","tag-the-city"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}