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Underground City | La Ville Souterraine

Montreal Underground City

Montreal's Underground City (officially RÉSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is also known as the indoor city (ville intérieure), and is the largest underground complex in the world.


In 2004 the downtown segments of the underground city were rebranded and given the name RÉSO. The name RÉSO is a homophone of the French word réseau, or network (as in a network of tunnels).


With over 32 kilometres (20 mi) of tunnels spread over an area of 12 square kilometres (4.6 sq mi), the 60 residential and commercial complexes comprise 3.6 square kilometres (1.4 sq mi) of floor space, including 80% of all office space and 35% of all commercial space in downtown Montreal. Services include shopping malls, hotels, banks, offices, museums, concert halls, universities, seven metro stations, two commuter train stations, a cinema, a bus terminal and the Bell Centre. There are more than 120 exterior access points to the underground city. Some 500,000 people use the underground city every day, especially to escape the traffic and/or Montreal's harsh winters and hot summers.


The underground city is promoted as an important tourist attraction by most Montreal travel guidebooks, and as an urban planning achievement it is impressive. For most Montrealers, however, it tends to be considered more as a large mall complex linking metro stations.


Most parts of the Montreal's Underground City are open during the entire hours of operation of the metro (5:30 AM to 1:00 AM); though many accesses are closed outside of business hours, others remain open.