Montreal Ghost Tour: Haunted Walks And Night Tours In Old Montreal

Old Montreal after dark is a different district from the one cruise crowds see at noon. The stone streets empty out, the lamps come on along Rue Saint-Paul, and a small number of guided products take over the evening: one dedicated ghost walk, one premium driving tour with a ferris wheel ride, and a set of daytime walking tours that end early enough to pair with either. This guide compares them on the numbers that matter, price, duration, group size and start point, and answers the questions people actually ask before booking a haunted walk.

The Old Montreal Ghost Walking Tour is the anchor of the evening lineup. It runs 1 hour 30 minutes from $25.33 per person, carries a 4.6 rating across 882 reviews, caps the group at 25 and starts at Place Royale. For readers weighing it against a calmer evening, the night tour comparison guide and the resource pages at Montreal Canada Tours cover the wider evening field.

What Is A Montreal Ghost Tour?

A Montreal ghost tour is a guided evening walk through Old Montreal led by a guide telling historical and supernatural stories, and in this city exactly one product fits the description: the Old Montreal Ghost Walking Tour, 1 hour 30 minutes, from $25.33, meeting at Place Royale and finishing at Bonsecours Market. No other walk in the city's tour lineup is built around hauntings after dark. The Old Montreal Ghosts operator runs it with a local storyteller, capped at 25 guests, rated 4.6 across 882 reviews.

A group gathers at Place Royale in the evening, the guide leads a loop through the oldest blocks of the district, and the stories mix local history with the darker episodes of Montreal's past. The tour ends at Bonsecours Market, which puts you back in the middle of Old Montreal's restaurant strip when it finishes. Food and drink are not part of it, and the operator prohibits alcohol, drugs and smoking during the walk, which keeps the group focused and the route moving.

Two practical limits shape who should book. The operator says the tour is not recommended for children under 10, so families with younger kids should look at the daytime walks instead, several of which welcome children from age 5 or 6. And because the whole experience is on foot outdoors at night, dress for the season: Montreal has cold snowy winters and warm humid summers, and an October evening walk wants a jacket even before the stories start.

The ghost walk also holds a small statistical honor on the price ladder. At $25.33 it ties with the Guidatour Original Old Montreal daytime walk as the cheapest verified per-person from-price among the 33 priced tours sold here. That makes the evening format one of the least expensive guided entries into the district, not a premium add-on. Here the haunted option is the budget option.

How Much Does A Ghost Tour In Old Montreal Cost?

The Old Montreal Ghost Walking Tour costs from $25.33 per person, the joint-cheapest verified from-price on the site, tied with the Guidatour daytime Old Montreal walk. For contrast, the other main evening product, the See Sight premium driving night tour, starts at $122.33 with La Grande Roue admission and downtown hotel pickup included. The two prices describe completely different products, and the gap is the single biggest decision in Montreal's night-tour market.

The $25.33 figure buys a 90-minute guided walk with a group cap of 25 and no transport, no food and no attraction entries. The $122.33 figure buys a 4-hour small-group drive with a maximum of 7 guests, hotel pickup and drop-off in downtown Montreal, a narrated driving tour of Old Montreal, a stop at the Mount Royal lookout and admission to La Grande Roue, the observation wheel at the Old Port. One is a story walk; the other is a private-feeling evening circuit of the city.

Between those poles sit the daytime walking tours, from $25.33 to $54.29, and a wider family of evening-adjacent products such as the sunset boat tour on the St. Lawrence at from $28.95. If the question is purely what an evening in Old Montreal costs per person on a guided product, the honest range for the walks and cruises sits under $50, with the driving night tour as the clear premium outlier. For readers who want the fuller money picture, the Montreal tour prices guide breaks down the whole ladder from the $25.33 floor to the $209.55 private car tour at the top.

One cancellation point matters when comparing. The ghost walk states a full refund up to 24 hours before the start, as does the night driving tour and the MTL Detours walk. Booking either early in a trip plan carries little financial risk if the evening turns wet or plans shift. Only one product on the whole site, the low-cost Agence Wonder Travel Quebec City day trip, does not carry that wording, and no night tour is affected.

When Do Montreal Ghost Tours Run And Where Do They Start?

The ghost walk meets at Place Royale in Old Montreal and ends at Bonsecours Market, 1 hour 30 minutes later; the operator publishes no season limits on its page, so check dates on the operator's page before planning, and the same goes for every warm-season evening product in the city. Night tours in Montreal divide cleanly into products that run on dry walking evenings and river products that are warm-season only, and only the walking formats avoid the seasonal question entirely in practice.

Because the tour ends at Bonsecours Market rather than looping back, the natural plan is dinner after, not before: the finish point drops the group inside the Rue Saint-Paul restaurant zone. Anyone arriving by transit can check fares and routes with the Société de transport de Montréal, whose official fares page covers Zone A single trips with transfer and 24-hour passes.

The driving night tour removes the meeting-point question altogether for downtown visitors: complimentary hotel pickup and drop-off in downtown Montreal is included, with no fixed public meeting point. That is one of only seven products in the city's lineup that state hotel pickup, and it is the only night product among them.

A practical scheduling note for anyone stacking tours: the daytime walks finish by late afternoon, the sunset boat runs about an hour on the river, and the ghost walk is an evening product, so a walk-plus-ghost-day is entirely feasible. The Old Montreal walking tour guide covers the daytime side of that pairing in detail, including the four start points the daytime operators use around Place d'Armes and Rue Saint-Jacques.

Is The Montreal Ghost Tour Good For Kids And Families?

The operator states the ghost walk is not recommended for children under 10, and it bans alcohol, drugs and smoking on the tour; families with younger children have better fits among the daytime walks, where minimum ages run as low as 5 on the Spade & Palacio Essential 101 tour and 6 on the Lachine Rapids rafting trip. The ghost walk is aimed at adults and older children who want atmosphere, not a child-friendly lantern parade.

The under-10 advisory is the operator's own wording, not a hard gate, but it is the clearest signal in the night-tour field. Nothing else on the evening side publishes a family advisory either way. The premium night drive, with its 7-guest cap and ferris wheel inclusion, is a plausible family choice for those with the budget, since La Grande Roue admission is part of the price and the vehicle does the moving.

For parents comparing a ghost evening against a daytime plan, the MTL Detours Old Montreal walk sets a minimum age of 12 and includes a small local treat, while the Spade & Palacio food-oriented walk takes children from 5 and includes beverages, food tastings and snacks. Ages are stated only where the operator states them; for anything not stated, check with the operator before booking rather than assuming either way.

Ghost Tour Or Night Driving Tour: Which Montreal Evening Is Better?

Choose the ghost walk for a cheap, story-led 90 minutes on foot through Old Montreal at $25.33; choose the $122.33 premium driving night tour for a 4-hour, 7-guest circuit with hotel pickup, the Mount Royal lookout and a La Grande Roue ride. The ghost walk wins on price and simplicity, the drive wins on comfort, coverage and weather resistance. They are not really competitors; they serve different travellers on the same evening.

The deciding factors are practical. If your group includes children under 10, the drive is the safer pick. If the evening is cold or wet, the drive keeps everyone in a vehicle between stops; the ghost walk runs outdoors for its full 90 minutes with no indoor refuge. If the budget is fixed low or the party is large, the ghost walk's from-price of $25.33 per person scales gently, while the drive's $122.33 multiplies fast across a family. More of these guides are collected on Montreal Canada Tours.

Coverage differs too. The ghost walk stays inside the oldest blocks between Place Royale and Bonsecours Market. The drive spans Old Montreal from a vehicle, climbs to the Mount Royal lookout for the panorama, and ends with a ride on La Grande Roue. Neither tour enters Notre-Dame Basilica. Its self-guided Sightseeing Visit, about 1 hour with the fare set out on the official fares page, is a separate daytime ticket bought directly from the basilica, whose own pages describe the visit as 24 points of interest with panels in French and English.

A third option deserves a sentence: the Gray Line guided bus tour is a daytime product, 3 hours 30 minutes from $48, rated 4.3 across 3,001 reviews, so it does not replace an evening plan, but it can carry the sightseeing load on the same day and leave the night free for stories. It departs from the Dorchester Square area with live commentary in English and French.

How Does The Ghost Walk Compare With Daytime Walking Tours Of Old Montreal?

The ghost walk is 1 hour 30 minutes from $25.33 with a 25-person cap and a 4.6 rating across 882 reviews; the daytime Old Montreal walks run 2 to 2 hours 45 minutes, from $25.33 to $54.29, with caps of 10 to 16 and ratings between 4.8 and 4.9 across much larger review pools. Daytime walks deliver more history per dollar and smaller groups; the ghost walk delivers atmosphere and an evening timeslot.

Review depth is the starkest difference. The MTL Detours Old Montreal walk carries 4.9 across 2,719 reviews and the Guidatour Original walk 4.8 across 2,708, against the ghost walk's 882. That does not make the ghost walk weak, 4.6 is a solid score, but the daytime walks are among the most-reviewed products in the city, and their formats show it: certified guides, small caps and included treats.

The Guidatour walk deserves its own callout for value hunters: it matches the ghost walk's from-price of $25.33 exactly, runs 2 hours with a city-certified guide, and its page states it operates year-round, the one tour here that makes that claim. Its meeting point is the obelisk at 206 Place d'Youville.

For travellers who prefer art over apparitions once the sun sets, one further option sits on the edge of the comparison: the Spade & Palacio mural arts tour, 2 hours from $28.95, carries a perfect 5.0 across 668 reviews, the highest rating of any product here with more than a hundred reviews. It runs in the Plateau rather than Old Montreal and is a daytime product, but it shows how crowded the top of Montreal's walking-tour table is, and how much quality a few extra dollars buys.

What Should You Know Before Booking A Montreal Ghost Tour?

Know four things before booking: the walk is 90 minutes outdoors on foot, it caps at 25 people, it starts at Place Royale and ends at Bonsecours Market, and the operator does not recommend it for children under 10, all of which come straight from the operator's own published details. Everything else is planning common sense dressed up as local knowledge.

Clothing is the first. Montreal evenings are cool even in summer, and the walk has no indoor stops, so layers matter more than on any driving product. The second is timing dinner: because the finish at Bonsecours Market lands in the restaurant zone, most visitors book an early walk and eat after rather than rushing a meal to reach Place Royale on time.

Third, manage expectations about content. This is a history-and-legend walk led by a local storyteller, not a jump-scare attraction. Readers hoping for special effects should recalibrate toward the atmosphere of the district itself, which at night does most of the work; the lamps, the empty lanes and the old facades carry the mood without any theatrics.

Finally, arrive with the paperwork done. The operator states a full refund up to 24 hours before the start, so last-minute changes are covered if you act in time. International visitors flying in should also check whether they need an electronic travel authorization, which costs CAN$7 and is applied for online, on the IRCC page.

Can You Pair A Ghost Tour With Other Montreal Evening Activities?

Yes, easily: the ghost walk's 90-minute length and Bonsecours Market finish leave room for dinner after, and Old Montreal's warm-season river products, the electric boat cruise from $28.95 and the sunset boat from $28.95, offer a pre-walk water option, while La Grande Roue can be ridden separately near the Old Port. The evening geography is compact, and everything sits within the same few blocks of the Old Port.

The classic pairing is a sunset boat ride followed by the ghost walk: the boat runs about an hour from the ferry dock area, and the walk starts at Place Royale a short distance into the old district. Both are warm-season-sensitive, so check the operator's pages for dates rather than assuming an evening in any given month. The electric boat cruise, 45 minutes from $28.95, is a calmer alternative with a 30-person cap, with alcoholic drinks available to buy onboard for guests 18 and over.

For a fuller evening without a second booking, the premium night drive already bundles the wheel, the lookout and the drive, which is precisely why it costs what it costs. Riders who book the ghost walk instead can buy a La Grande Roue ride separately and build a similar, cheaper evening on foot, trading the Mount Royal panorama for the district's lanes. The Old Port stretches everything along one walkable waterfront, so nothing in this evening plan needs a taxi.

Visitors planning several evenings may also want the broader day tours from Montreal compared guide, since a Quebec City day trip (13 hours from $83.24) or a Mont Tremblant day (8 hours 30 minutes from $71.66) will exhaust a party quickly, and an easy 90-minute ghost walk is a better nightcap after a long coach day than a 4-hour drive.

Common Questions About Montreal Ghost Tours