William Gray

Three Terraces and a Basement Spa in Old Montreal

Hotel William Gray sits on Rue St-Vincent in Old Montreal, close enough to Place Jacques Cartier, the Basilique Notre-Dame and the Old Port to reach all three on foot, in a building that pairs artful design with what the hotel calls a spirit of welcoming conviviality. The property runs on verticality as much as history: three separate dining and drinking spaces spread across different floors, a Spa William Gray built one level below ground, and a signature residence with its own private terrace and jacuzzi behind floor-to-ceiling windows. Condé Nast Traveler named it Canada's fifth-best hotel in 2025, a ranking that tracks with how much of the building is given over to spaces guests actually want to spend time in.

Why It Works

We selected Hotel William Gray for the range of its food and beverage programme, rare at this scale in Old Montreal: Maggie Oakes for marble-counter dining and house-cured charcuterie, Terrasse William Gray for eighth-floor rooftop views, and Terrasse Perché for a fourth-floor Mediterranean and Asian menu with its own urban-oasis feel. Spa William Gray backs the dining with real wellness credentials, a Top 25 Spas in Canada award in 2019, rather than a token treatment room, and the signature residence's private terrace jacuzzi gives the hotel a genuine top tier above its standard suites.

Why This Location

Rue St-Vincent sits inside Old Montreal's grid of cobblestone streets, within walking distance of Place Jacques Cartier's cafés, the Basilique Notre-Dame and the Old Port waterfront, the kind of concentration of history that makes Old Montreal worth staying inside rather than visiting for an afternoon. It's a neighbourhood that rewards walking, uneven stone streets and all, and the hotel's own rooftop and fourth-floor terraces give guests a reason to look out over that history rather than only walk through it.

Fast Facts

• Price: €€€€ (Luxury)

• Vibe: Old Montreal heritage, vertical terraces, design-forward

• Rooms: luxury suites plus a signature residence with private terrace and jacuzzi

• Best For: travellers who want Old Montreal's history with a serious rooftop and spa attached

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the eighth-floor Terrasse William Gray, looking out over the Old Port

• Dining: Maggie Oakes, Terrasse William Gray and Terrasse Perché, three distinct venues across three floors

• Amenities: Spa William Gray, Top 25 Spas in Canada (2019), rooftop and fourth-floor terraces, in-suite jacuzzi in the signature residence

• Attractions: Place Jacques Cartier, Basilique Notre-Dame, the Old Port, Old Montreal's cobblestone streets

A Signature Residence With Its Own Terrace

The hotel's top category goes well past a standard suite: the signature residence adds separate bedrooms, walk-in closets and a master bathroom with double vanities, built around floor-to-ceiling windows and its own private terrace with a jacuzzi. It's a configuration built for a longer stay, a special occasion or a group that wants the feel of an apartment without giving up hotel service, and it's the clearest sign of how far Hotel William Gray pushes its top-tier rooms past the rest of the category.

Three Kitchens, Three Floors

Maggie Oakes anchors the ground level with marble counters and house-cured charcuterie, Terrasse Perché runs a fourth-floor Mediterranean and Asian menu in what the hotel calls an urban oasis, and Terrasse William Gray tops it off on the eighth floor with rooftop views and a more refined dinner service. Between the three, the hotel covers a casual lunch, an afternoon on a terrace and a proper dinner reservation without guests ever needing to leave the building.

Before You Book

Book the signature residence for an anniversary trip or a longer stay if the private terrace and jacuzzi matter, and otherwise a standard luxury suite covers the hotel's core experience well. Old Montreal's cobblestone streets are not especially stroller- or wheelchair-friendly, worth knowing for travellers with mobility needs, and reservations at Terrasse William Gray are worth making ahead during the warmer months, when the rooftop fills up fast with guests and locals alike.