I visited the second most beautiful café in Canada and it may be the most stunning on the planet

This Old Montreal gem tucked inside one of the city’s most gorgeous historic buildings is guaranteed to leave you awestruck.

Written by Laura Osborne

Editor, Time Out Canada

When it comes to Montreal’s cafés, I’ve drunk my way across most of them.

But the architecture and decor inside this coffee shop, located inside one of the city’s original bank buildings, is massively dizzying in all the best ways.

I immediately clocked the impossibly grand limestone and granite exterior of Crew Collective & Café (recently ranked the second most beautiful in Canada), thanks to the imposing facade of the heritage building (originally the Royal Bank of Canada in the 1920s).

Once I pushed past the giant brass doors and stepped inside, a reverent hush descended—not unlike the feeling of walking into a cathedral.

The soaring arches and vaults might have had something to do with this feeling. Picture glamorous coffered ceilings, lofty archways, romantic staircases, brass chandeliers and luxe burnished gold touches.

I let myself relax into the sexy, hushed, hallowed vibe—the perfect spot for some R&R during the hectic holidays, or the most romantic coffee date ever.

The gleaming workspaces sprinkled throughout the venue, and amongst the immense plaques listing the names of fallen soldiers during the first world war, made me rethink my lifestyle choices.

And while I sipped a brown sugar oat latte while waiting for my smoked salmon on a Montreal bagel—perhaps in the exact spot millions of Montrealers cued to cash their cheques—I wondered if Crew Collective & Café is not one of the most beautiful cafés on the planet.