It's best to avoid the unimaginative side of downtown, Peel and McGill, Ste Catherine are worth visiting once but it is like doing Oxford Street and is mainly Anglophone as well as expensive.
Try Plâteau Mont Royal and the streets to Parc LaFontaine; Rachel to Boulevard St Laurent, St Denis, Duluth; Laurier and then come up to Mile End, Rue Bernard and St Viateur to meet the real Québecois Montréalais.
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