Biodôme, Montreal

I loved the biodome! It's basically an indoor zoo, but the animals are all in their natural habitat. You walk through several different ecosystems, like the rain forest, St. Lawrence River, Subpolar region. They had monkeys, alligators, anacondas, posinous frogs, lynx, puffins, peguins, otters, different birds, and a few others. The ecosystems were amazingly well done, I really felt like I was in the rainforest---they had vegetation eveywhere except the walkway, and trees going up high to the ceiling-they did such a fantastic job. The animals roam fairly freely in the enclosures, like the monkeys would jump from tree to tree over your head. I definitly recommend doing this no matter what your age. Little kids will definitly love it, but my boyriend and I are both in our 20's and it was one of our favorite attractions in Montreal. Walking through the exhibit, stopping and really looking/taking pictures, took around 2 hours.
We went on a Friday, which I think is field trip day-there was a lot of kids running around on tours which could be annoying, so if you can try to go on a diferent day of the week (not sure how crowded it gets on weekends). They had a nice gift shop too with general Montreal/Canadian souvenoirs and biodome gifts too.

We were able to buy tickets too for the botanical garden and the butterflies go free exhibit. The walk from the biodome to the botanical garden was kind of far, but the butterlies go free exhibit was beautiful and worth the trip.

The biodome is also located in the same complex as the Olympic Stadium, so you get to see the biodome, the botanical garden, and the Stadium all at the same time. However, the biodome is far from the downtown/old Montreal areas, where a lot of hotels are located. We took a cab to the biodome, but it was really expensive for a ride that was probably about 10 minutes, so we took the metro back. There is a metro stop right by the Olympic Stadium, much cheaper. The biodome also has its own parking, which was about 13$.

Also, don't get it confused with the biosphere, which is something different all together and in a completly different part of town (the biosphere has to do with the world expo).

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This unique indoor zoo, displays and animals and vegatation from 4 distinct eco systems; tropical forest, Temperate northern forest (Local), Canadian Maritime, and polar. A great place to visit year round!

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Located in the Olympic Park literally a stone's throw away from the Olympic Stadium, the Biodome is one of those famous Montreal attractions that should be paid a visit to at least once, especially if you're an animal lover, or an ecosystem-enthusiast.

I honestly didn't know a whole lot about the biodome, and I wasn't sure what to expect. My immediate assumption was that it was a tropical garden conservatory, where maybe birds flew around, but that would be it, however I was wrong! There's so much more!

The biodome replicates various ecosystems, from the tropical rainforests of the Amazon, to the Laurentian boreal forest of Québec, to the St-Lawrence estuary, to the Antarctic.

This environmental museum houses thousands of plants and animals from 4 different ecosystems of the 3 Americas: tropical forest, laurentian forest, St. Lawrence marine ecosystem, and the polar world. This is the only place where you'll see penguins, lynx, and sloths all living under the same roof!

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I consider this an unusual museum, but definetly worth a visit when staying in Montréal. The round buiding itself is unusual architecture. One walks through a pathway to see creatures in their natural habitats. The order is definetely not random. The whole essence is moving from one ecosystem to the next. One example is the rainforests of North America. What I really love is that this complex is adjacent to the subway and the Montréal olympic stadium.

There are plenty of tipps about the Biodome already. But to be honest, we weren't as impressed as a lot of others. The little monkeys in the tropical zone were nice. The $12.50 pricetag didn't really please us, and that was already with student discount - plus $1.50 for checking the coats. I absolutely recommend not going through holidays or probably even weekends: the whole place was literally packed with strollers and kids, so it was really a pain to get through. There is not that much walking to be done, so in case you come with little kids, you can easily leave the stroller in the car. Most kids we saw chose not to ride in their's either.

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Not to be confused with the Biosphere (the geodesic dome on l'Ile Sainte Helene), this is a living museum of the earth's major ecosystems. It contains examples of several habitats, ranging from the arctic to the rain forest. And, of course, the Canadian forest. This is a terrific place for children to learn about their world. It's also a way to escape from the cruel winters here.

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The dome is next to the Olympic Stadium complex. It is a zoo and has 4 different areas of attraction- a zoo, botanical garden, tropical and polar environments. It costs around 11 Canadian and would take 2-3 hours to see the sites and animals.