McCord Stewart Museum

The McCord Stewart Museum is one of Montreal's most family-friendly museums, and the price makes it even better: kids and teens 17 and under always get in free. Located on Rue Sherbrooke across from McGill University in downtown Montreal, this social history museum tells the story of Montreal and Canada through the objects, photographs, and stories of the people who lived here.

The museum's collection of over 1. 5 million objects spans centuries of Canadian history, with particular strength in Indigenous cultures, Montreal's development, fashion and textiles, and photography. For kids, the exhibits work because they focus on people rather than abstract concepts.

Seeing the actual clothes children wore in the 1800s, the toys they played with, and the homes they lived in makes history concrete and relatable. The photography collection — one of the most important in Canada — includes images of Montreal from the earliest days of photography, and kids love comparing those images to the modern city.

The museum is intentionally designed for families. There is a dedicated nursing room with comfortable seating, changing tables in the restrooms, a lunch area where families can eat their own food, and self-service coat checks. The staff regularly develops family workshops, hands-on activities, and guided experiences specifically for young visitors.

These programs change throughout the year, so check the website before your visit to see what is currently running.

The free admission policy is genuinely generous. All visitors 17 and under are free at all times, thanks to foundation sponsorship. Wednesday evenings from 5-9 PM are free for everyone. And the first Sunday of each month is a 'Pay What You Can' day, meaning a family of four could visit for whatever they can afford. This makes McCord one of the most accessible museums in Montreal.

The location is ideal for combining with other downtown activities. The museum is a short walk from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Mount Royal lookout, and the shops on Sainte-Catherine Street. The McGill metro station (Green line) is two minutes away.

A visit typically takes 1.5-2 hours, depending on how engaged your kids are with the current exhibitions. The museum is mid-sized, which means it is thorough enough to be interesting but not so large that kids run out of energy before they have seen everything.