Montreal Underground City: the RÉSO Explained

The RÉSO is Montreal’s underground pedestrian network: about 32 km of indoor walkways under downtown, used by around 500,000 people a day, linking some 4,000 shops, offices, hotels and Metro stations.

What the RÉSO is

It is not one tunnel but a chain of building basements, shopping levels and passages that grew from a single 1962 link between Central Station and Place Ville Marie. It took its current name in 2004.

Walking downtown in winter

The point of the RÉSO is January: you can cross a large part of downtown between offices, shops and Metro entrances without going outside. Access is through the buildings and the Metro, and follows their opening hours rather than the Metro’s.

Map

The city no longer publishes a downloadable RÉSO map, and the STM’s own underground plan is offline. Signage inside the network is the reliable guide.