Chambly: a local broker's top 11

01

The icon

Fort Chambly

A first wooden fort went up here as early as 1665, and the current stone fort, built between 1709 and 1711, is the only one from the French Regime still standing in the country. Today a National Historic Site run by Parks Canada, it sits proudly at the edge of the rapids, surrounded by a large park where all of Chambly comes to walk, picnic, and watch the seasons go by.

Ask me about it: ask me what it actually changes, day to day, to live within walking distance of a site like that. The streets around the fort have a charm you won't find anywhere else on the South Shore.

02

The marina and a pier on the Chambly basin, with the village in the background

Waterfront

The Chambly basin, a lake in the middle of town

The Richelieu River widens here into a huge body of water, with a marina, docks, and sunsets that make you forget you're half an hour from Montreal. At the Gervais-Désourdy nautical centre, you can rent a kayak, canoe, pedal boat, or paddleboard, and the sailboats anchored offshore give downtown a bit of a seaside-resort feel.

Ask me about it: ask me which streets let you walk down to the basin in five minutes. That detail carries real weight when it's time to resell, and it's a choice you make at the buying stage.

03

The Chambly Canal locks, with the basin in the background

Outdoors

The Chambly Canal and its bike path

Opened in 1843, this historic canal runs about twenty kilometres to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, with nine locks, several of which are still worked by hand in front of curious onlookers. The path alongside it is flat, lined with water on both sides in places, and connected to the Route verte: perfect for a family ride or for biking to work.

Ask me about it: ask me which part of town gets you onto the path without crossing a single busy street. That's the kind of question my cycling clients ask me first.

04

Shopping street

Avenue Bourgogne, the heart of Old Chambly

This is the main street of the old village: restaurants with patios facing the basin, cafés, shops, and old houses lined up all the way to the locks. The town actually lowered the speed limit here in 2026 to give the street back to pedestrians. On summer evenings, between the tables outside and the boats passing under the swing bridge, you'd think you were on vacation somewhere else entirely.

Ask me about it: ask me which addresses in Old Chambly get the best of that atmosphere without the crowds. That nuance is worth a lot when you're shopping in this area.

05

Délires et Délices microbrewery, on Avenue Bourgogne in Old Chambly

Local pride

The town behind Blanche de Chambly

The Unibroue brewery is based here, and its Blanche de Chambly carries the town's name onto grocery store shelves right across Quebec. La Fin du Monde and La Maudite come out of the same vats. And for the neighbourhood version, the Délires et Délices microbrewery is waiting for you right on Avenue Bourgogne.

Ask me about it: ask me why the Blanche was named after the fort. It's a nice story of local pride, and it says a lot about how attached people here are to their town.

06

Fort Chambly park, home to the Bières et Saveurs festival

Traditions

Bières et Saveurs, right at the foot of the fort

Every Labour Day weekend, the fort's park fills up with booths from microbreweries, cideries, and local producers: that's the Bières et Saveurs festival, one of the biggest beer events in Quebec. The 23rd edition runs from September 4 to 7, 2026, presented by Unibroue, of course.

Ask me about it: ask me how locals experience the festival, and why so many Chamblyens invite family over for that exact weekend.

07

Culture

The Pôle culturel, culture without crossing the bridge

A modern 20,000-square-foot library and a 400-seat performance hall under the same roof: the Pôle culturel has changed the game for cultural life around here. The hall is named after Emma Albani, a singer born in Chambly who conquered stages across Europe in the 19th century. Concerts, comedy, and theatre, without having to head into Montreal.

Ask me about it: ask me what a facility like this changes for a suburban town's appeal. When culture follows, families stay, and you can feel it in the market.

08

Saint-Joseph church in Chambly, seen in panorama from the waterfront

Heritage

Salaberry, Saint-Joseph church, and 350 years of history

In front of city hall has stood, since 1881, the monument to Charles-Michel de Salaberry, sculpted by Louis-Philippe Hébert. The hero of the Battle of the Châteauguay chose to settle in Chambly, and he rests at Saint-Joseph church, a parish whose records go back to 1706. Here, heritage isn't behind glass, people actually live in it.

Ask me about it: ask me what to check before buying an ancestral property in Old Chambly. I have a list of questions that avoids a lot of surprises.

09

Transit

The express to downtown (and free local buses)

No metro or REM here: the bus does the job, and it does it well. From the Chambly terminus, exo's express routes, including the 400, run down Highway 10 all the way to the Centre-ville terminus in Montreal. A detail a lot of people don't know: the local circuits in Chambly, Richelieu, and Carignan are free for everyone. By car, Highway 10 and Route 112 are right at the town's doorstep.

Ask me about it: ask me which parts of Chambly let you walk to an express stop. For a couple where only one person works in Montreal, that changes the whole calculation.

10

Chambly's city hall park, one of the town's many green spaces

Family life

A town built for families

More than 31,000 residents at the 2021 census, up about 8% in five years: young families are voting with their moving boxes. Services are keeping pace, with neighbourhood schools like De Bourgogne and Jacques-De Chambly, Chambly's high school, the arena at the Robert-Lebel sports centre, and a whole string of parks. In winter, a 400-metre ice ring waits for skaters at Parc Robert-Lebel.

Ask me about it: ask me which Chambly neighbourhoods families are fighting over right now, and which ones still offer the best space-to-proximity ratio.

What's coming

The old golf course, now a major nature park

The town acquired 70% of the former golf course to officially make it its largest urban nature park: dozens of protected hectares of green space right in the heart of the territory. Add the transformation of the Joseph-Ostiguy building, on Avenue Bourgogne, which will host a permanent exhibit on Chambly's history and a coworking space, and you've got a town investing in what makes it unique.

Ask me about it: ask me which neighbourhoods near the old golf course could benefit from this big green space in the coming years. That's exactly the kind of signal I watch for my clients.

Chambly

What makes Chambly tick.