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Area · L'Île-Dorval, a related municipality in the Montreal agglomeration

L'Île-Dorval

A 0.19 km² town, zero cars, a ferry for a road, and cottages that sleep all winter. My top 10, neighbour's view, not brochure view.

Let's talk about this area

Across from Dorval, about 500 metres offshore, floats Quebec's most surprising municipality: a 0.19 km² island that has been a town in its own right since 1915, with 30 permanent residents at the 2021 census. The name goes way back: in 1691, the La Présentation domain and its three islands passed to Jean-Baptiste Bouchard d'Orval, and the island kept his name. No bridge, no store, no car here: a ferry, cottages, and Lake Saint-Louis all around. I'll be straight with you: this is the most unusual market on my whole map, and that's exactly what makes it fascinating.

I put this top 10 together for a simple reason: when you buy or sell, you're not just shopping for a property, you're shopping for a life. Here, that's truer than anywhere. Each point comes with an opening for a conversation, so use it.

Maxime Laforest, real estate broker · Équipe Loiselle, RE/MAX Dynamique

The area's top 10

What makes L'Île-Dorval tick.

Ten reasons this tiny island town fascinates people, and why the ones with a cottage there never let go.

01 Aerial view of L'Île-Dorval on Lake Saint-Louis, across from the Dorval shoreline
The surprising fact

A full-fledged town on 0.19 km²

L'Île-Dorval is a municipality in its own right, with a mayor, a council, and bylaws. At the 2021 census, Statistics Canada counted 30 permanent residents and 79 private dwellings on 0.19 km², making it one of the smallest municipalities in Canada by both area and population. Incorporated in 1915 when it broke away from Dorval, merged into Montreal in 2002, it took back its independence on January 1, 2006, after winning its 2004 referendum 37 votes to 12.

Ask me about it: ask me what this tiny-town status actually changes for taxes and services when you buy here, it's far from a detail.
02 The L'Île-Dorval ferry dock and boat on the Dorval side, at the end of the season
Transit

The ferry, the island's only road

There's no bridge: you board at the dock at the foot of Dorval Avenue, and the island sits about 500 metres offshore. The ferry runs from May to October, from morning until midnight, and it's reserved for residents and their guests; the crossing takes just a few minutes. For materials and anything bulky, a barge rounds out the service.

Ask me about it: ask me how a visit and an inspection get organized when the property sits at the end of a ferry ride, I'll handle the logistics with the seller.
03 An 1855 photograph of Sir George Simpson's country residence on Dorval Island
History

Sir George Simpson's summer estate

In the mid-1800s, George Simpson, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, made the island his summer estate. An 1855 photograph shows his country residence, later used as a summer home by George W. Eadie. After Simpson's death in 1860, the island passed through the hands of prominent tenants, then the Dorval Island Park Company developed it as a resort community, with electricity, waterworks, and laid-out streets.

Ask me about it: ask me why that grand-estate past gives the island's oldest cottages their character, and the occasional surprise.
04 An 1860 engraving of the grand canoe reception given for the Prince of Wales on the St. Lawrence
The claim to fame

A Prince of Wales welcomed by canoe

In August 1860, the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, in Canada to inaugurate the Victoria Bridge, was received at Dorval Island: a flotilla of great canoes paddled by Hudson's Bay Company voyageurs came out to meet him, flags flying. The Illustrated London News published an engraving of the scene on October 13, 1860. Not bad for a town that now counts about thirty year-round residents.

Ask me about it: ask me how a story like that turns into very real value when it's time to sell in an area.
05 Frances Anne Hopkins' 1866 watercolour of Île Dorval, seen from the shore
Culture

The island painted by Frances Anne Hopkins

Frances Anne Hopkins, one of Victorian Canada's best-known painters, whose husband was secretary to Governor Simpson, stayed on the island and captured it in 1866 in the watercolour "Île Dorval", now held by Library and Archives Canada. In the scene: the island resting on Lake Saint-Louis, a rowboat, a stroller stretched out on the shore. The landscape has barely moved since.

Ask me about it: ask me why a landscape left intact some twenty kilometres from downtown has become a rare commodity, and what that's worth.
06 L'Île-Dorval from the air, covered in trees, between the Dorval shore and open water
Island life

Zero cars, zero stores, and that's the point

On the island, you walk: gravel paths, no businesses, and practically no vehicles apart from the truck that picks up the garbage. Residents share a tennis court and a pool, and the town literally closes for the winter, with the ferry stopping in mid-October until spring. In summer the island wakes up: around 130 summer residents, and reports have counted close to 200 people in the best weeks of July.

Ask me about it: ask me whether this seasonal rhythm fits your plans; a cottage you close six months a year isn't for everyone, and it's better to know beforehand.
07 Cottages on L'Île-Dorval glimpsed through the trees from the Dorval shoreline
The local real estate market

Cottages that play hard to get

I'll be honest: with 79 dwellings in total, almost all of them wooden summer cottages, often without foundations, listings are bound to be rare. Rentals are tightly controlled, which keeps the island in the hands of regulars. It's a market of patience and contacts, not a market of volume.

Ask me about it: ask me to put you on my watch list for the island; when an opportunity comes up, it's the buyers who are already prepared who land it.
08 Bushy Island, L'Île-Dorval's neighbour on Lake Saint-Louis
Parks and nature

A little archipelago on Lake Saint-Louis

L'Île-Dorval doesn't float alone: its neighbours, Bushy Island, also called Bouchard Island, and Dixie Island, both attached to Dorval, form a small archipelago with it at the entrance to Lake Saint-Louis. The water is one of the West Island's nautical playgrounds, between sailboats, kayaks, and anglers, with the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club right across the way in Dorval.

Ask me about it: ask me what direct lake access is worth around here, on the island or on the mainland shore; it's often what sets the price.
09 Shops in Dorval's village core on Chemin du Bord-du-Lac
The services across the water

All of Dorval, five minutes by boat

Once at the dock, everything is within reach: Dorval's village core and its shops on Chemin du Bord-du-Lac, the Dorval Museum of Local History and Heritage, the Pine Beach and Millennium waterfront parks, the grocery store, and the pharmacy. Dorval station, served by exo's Vaudreuil-Hudson line and by VIA Rail, puts downtown about twenty minutes away.

Ask me about it: ask me how islanders organize daily life between the dock, the car left in Dorval, and the errands; it's simpler than it looks.
10 The terminal and control tower of Montréal-Trudeau airport in Dorval
Airport and getaways

YUL in the backyard

Montréal-Trudeau airport is also in Dorval, a few kilometres from the ferry dock: handy for opening up the cottage on the way home from a trip, or for owners who spend part of the year abroad. The flip side is living next to a major international airport: depending on the winds and the runways in use, you'll hear the planes. I'd rather we assess it together, on site, than let it surprise you after signing.

Ask me about it: ask me for a visit on a day with normal air traffic; we'll talk about the noise honestly, right there on the ground.
Let's talk

Thinking about buying or selling on L'Île-Dorval? Let's start talking.

A free evaluation of your property, a picture of the local market, or simply answers to your questions. No strings attached, and a straight answer.

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