But there are a couple of do-it-yourself options as well.
A writing trip last month put me in touch with all three.
Nathalie Thivierge guided our group around Old Montreal.
First stop was Les Delices de L'Erable, specializing in maple products. I knew Quebec produced most of the maple syrup in Canada. I didn't know there were five types.
Assistant manager Mark McDonough, who was dispensing information and samples, told us they range from light to the late-season amber, the richest.
Nor did I know maple syrup had fewer calories than honey. Good thing, given what I saw next.
A tall, handsome, impossibly slim young man who looked as though he'd stepped out of a high-fashion ad bought a 100-millilitre bottle of syrup, unscrewed the top and stood nonchalantly swigging it like soda pop while chatting with friends.
Even McDonough was surprised.
"Some people love it that much,'' he remarked.
Our other two stops were Europea Espace Boutique, where the servers were scrambling to serve tiny pastries and coffee to a larger tour group, and Marche de la Villette, a cute little place that's a butcher's, deli and restaurant rolled into one.
Visites de Montreal does 2 1/2-hour tours of Old Montreal and Little Italy every Saturday, May through October. Visit vdmglobal.com/en/tours-individual.html.
You could do this tour on your own for the cost of whatever you consume. Marche de la Villette, which Thivierge said is popular with folks working in the area, could double as a lunch stop.
I'd add two Montreal landmarks -- St-Viateur Bagel, 263 St-Viateur St., and Schwartz's, a deli at 3895 Saint-Laurent Blvd.
St-Viateur operates several cafes but the original bakery, started in 1957, is an authentic experience. Open 24 hours, it's piled high with bags of flour. Stepping in on a wet, chilly day, the heat and the fragrance from the ovens was a real welcome.
Saul Restrepo, busy making dough, told me they Fedex bagels all over the place and ship them frozen to Metro stores in Ontario.
Their hand-rolled bagels are lighter and fluffier than any store-bought ones I've tried. One bite of a fresh one and the difference was obvious.
Schwartz's, open since 1928, is even more famous. Our guide thought its smoked meat was still the best in town. I have memories of a sandwich so thick I had to practically unhinge my jaws.
The cheapest tour would be to one of the city's four public markets.
Jean-Talon, in Little Italy, covers 3 1/2 city blocks and may be the biggest outdoor one north of Mexico.
Guide Ruby Roy, who happens to lives nearby, said it's strictly food, with 90% of it coming from near Montreal.
The fruits and vegetables displayed one of three types of flag denoting whether they were local or imported. A fleur-de-lis, for example, meant grown in Quebec.
You can nibble, sip and munch your way around -- for free. Besides maple syrup, Quebec is renowned for cheese -- more than 250 kinds are made there, more, they boast, than in France.
I had a sliver of blue at a stall whose name I didn't note, sampled some of the 40 types of olive oil stocked at Olive & Olives, but couldn't wait for the corn to boil at Le Rois du Mais, which cooks two kinds for customers to try before they buy.
Not that I needed it. We'd just breakfasted at a market bakery, Premiere Moisson: steaming bowls of cafe au lait, apricot pastries, chocolate almond croissants (their specialty), fresh baguettes and cretons, an oh-so-tasty-but-oh-so-bad-for-you Quebec pate, to spread on them.
Doug English can be reached at denglishtravel@gmail.com or by mail c/o London Free Press, P.O.E. Box 2280, London, Ont. N6A 4G1.
