Montreal Science Centre

By alantvuong on September 13, 2020

After my buddy and I visited Chateau Ramezay in Montreal, we headed back to Hotel Travelodge for a quick rest before heading to the Montreal Science Centre. We wanted to visit somewhere that wasn’t too far from our hotel and that we would both enjoy and decided on the Science Centre.

About the Science Centre

The Montreal Science Centre was established in 2000 and was originally named iSci Centre for the first 2 years before settling on its current name. It is located on the King Edward Pier in the Old Port of Montreal. Besides being a museum to science and technology, there is also a giant IMAX theater located inside which we did not visit.

many stairs at the main front entrance, but the accessible doors are at the back

Getting There

From our Hotel Travelodge, it was a quick 15 minute walk/stroll to get to the Science Centre. The longest part about getting there was waiting for the railway train to pass so we could cross the crosswalk. When we arrived to the Science Centre, we immediately noticed that there were so many stairs to get into the main front entrance. We assumed that there had to be an accessible entrance which was located near the backside. We were also quite happy to hear that they do offer free admission to companions of paying wheelchair guests.

map of the Science Centre

Traveling Exhibitions

learning about spiders

The first exhibit we saw was the temporary traveling exhibit on the main floor called Spiders: From Fear To Fascination, which ran from April to September 2019. I was never really scared of spiders and always thought that they were neat and interesting. There were lots to see and learn at this exhibit and we found out that they are not the dangerous critters as we think.

giant replica of a spider

There were also interactive games that I didn’t participate in, tons of preserved creatures and over a dozen real life spiders to look at. There was literally everything about spiders in this exhibit including what is popular in pop culture including some old classic Spider-Man comics in a glass display. We both really enjoyed this and spent a lot of time here.

some vintage Spider-man comic books

Permanent Exhibitions

very spacious and easy to get around

The Montreal Science Centre has 6 main permanent exhibits, which are: Fabrik: Creative Factory, Explore: Life Sized Science, Human, Clic! The Zone For Curious Young Minds, Water In The Universe, and The Windmills Of The Imagination. Since we visited the Science Centre later in the day, we were limited with time so we briefly visited the other exhibits in a faster pace and skipped the kids exhibits and skipped the IMAX show.

at the Human exhibit

The upper floor was where the rest of the main exhibits were and the elevators were nice and big to use. We started with the Human exhibit and it was cool to learn and see how the body works in various displays and signs. There was even a feature on prosthesis on how artificial body parts can function within our body.

prosthesis

We casually looked at the Explore: Life Sized Science exhibit and there were some neat hands on activities that my buddy got to play with while I watched. With the Science Centre getting ready to close at 5 pm, we went through the Water In The Universe exhibit quick and saw the small Windmills of The Imagination exhibit last before leaving. We got to see one rotation of how energy is created using wind power and that was really fascinating.

wind power

The Montreal Science Centre was definitely fun and worth checking out. It was really wheelchair accessible and had lots of fun interactive things to see and do. Even though I mostly watched my buddy or other people play the games and gadgets, I enjoyed that and all the displays and exhibits. We were a bit pressed on time since the Science Centre closes so early at 5, but we still got to see most of it at 2 hours. I recommend allowing 3 hours to fully appreciate the Science Centre and will allocate the time next time I come back.