If someone asked you to name the most romantic spot in Montreal, Notre-Dame Basilica would probably not be the first place you'd think of. You might picture Mount Royal at sunset, a quiet corner table in the Plateau, or even the Ring at Place Ville Marie (okay, that last one's a joke).
But according to a new global study, the Old Montreal church has quietly earned a reputation as a romance hotspot, ranking higher than some of the world’s most iconic destinations — including the Eiffel Tower.
Go2Africa recently analyzed nearly 1.5 million reviews left specifically by couples for over 200 locations worldwide, calculating which spots consistently earned the highest praise from romantic travellers. The results revealed some surprises.
Natural wonders and lesser-known cultural landmarks dominated the rankings, while traditionally "romantic" icons didn't always live up to the hype. Sitting at #39 on the list, with 95.17% of couples rating their visit four or five stars, was none other than Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica.
For context, the Eiffel Tower came in at #68 with just 90.91% of couples giving it top marks. Some called it "the most romantic place to propose," but others said it was "not as romantic as I imagined."
Meanwhile, Paris' own Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, which predates Montreal's signature church by over 700 years, claimed the 55th spot overall.
What sets Notre-Dame apart?
If you've been inside, you probably already know. The church's neo-Gothic interior features deep blue vaults overhead covered in gold stars, intricate wood carvings lining the walls, and stained-glass windows flooding the space with rich colour.
And if you show up in the evening, there's AURA — an immersive light and sound show created by Montreal's Moment Factory. The entire interior gets transformed with projections, orchestral music, and lighting that highlights the architecture in ways you'd never notice during a regular daytime visit.
Notre-Dame has been around for nearly 150 years, serving as Montreal's "mother church" and one of Canada's first Gothic Revival buildings.
Its proximity to the port and the picturesque Place d'Armes probably helped it earn a few extra points, too.
Other Canadian spots that made the cut
Notre-Dame wasn't the only Canadian landmark to crack the list. Stanley Park in Vancouver landed at #15 globally with 97.41% of couples rating it highly, while Niagara Falls came in at #21 with 96.60%.
Banff National Park in Alberta also made it into the top 60 at #59, with 92.13% of couples giving it high marks for its mountain landscapes and turquoise lakes.
How these places were ranked
Go2Africa's study focused exclusively on reviews left by travellers who visited as couples. For each location, researchers counted the total number of couple reviews and identified how many were rated four or five stars — basically "Very Good" or "Excellent."
To keep things statistically reliable, they only included destinations with at least 100 couple reviews. From there, they ranked each spot by its "Romance Rating" — the percentage of high-rated reviews from couples.
The findings were revealing. Places like the Eiffel Tower and Disneyland Paris (which came in last at 72.74%) are traditionally seen as romantic, but they were outranked by natural wonders and cultural landmarks many people have never heard of.
The top 50 most romantic spots on Earth
The Matterhorn in Switzerland took the top spot worldwide, with 98.66% of couples giving it near-perfect ratings.
Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni salt flats came in second at 98.55%, and Sydney Harbour in Australia rounded out the top three with 98.48%.
Here's the full top 50:
- The Matterhorn, Zermatt, Switzerland — 98.66%
- Salar de Uyuni, Uyuni, Bolivia — 98.55%
- Sydney Harbour, Sydney, Australia — 98.48%
- Les 7 Cascades, Riviere Noire, Mauritius — 98.43%
- Great Wall of China, Beijing, China — 98.11%
- Iguazu Falls, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil — 98.11%
- Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States — 97.96%
- Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, United Kingdom — 97.60%
- Victoria Falls, Victoria Falls National Park, Zambia/Zimbabwe — 97.52%
- Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates — 97.51%
- Mount Kilimanjaro, Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania — 97.49%
- Bondi to Coogee Walk, Sydney, Australia — 97.48%
- Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg, Russia — 97.47%
- Tarangire National Park, Tarangire National Park, Tanzania — 97.46%
- Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada — 97.41%
- Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa — 97.29%
- Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Melbourne, Australia — 97.04%
- Historic Centre of Brugge, Bruges, Belgium — 96.96%
- Machu Picchu, Machu Picchu, Peru — 96.90%
- Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia, Argentina — 96.66%
- Niagara Falls, Niagara Falls, Canada — 96.60%
- Central Park, New York, United States — 96.59%
- Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia — 96.50%
- Taj Mahal, Agra, India — 96.49%
- Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia — 96.41%
- Sugarloaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — 96.05%
- Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar — 96.02%
- Grand Canal, Venice, Italy — 95.98%
- Gardens by the Bay, Singapore — 95.97%
- Plaza de España, Seville, Spain — 95.90%
- Goreme National Park, Goreme, Turkey — 95.69%
- Anse Lazio, Praslin Island, Seychelles — 95.69%
- Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina — 95.58%
- Ngorongoro Crater, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania — 95.53%
- Lake Bled, Bled, Slovenia — 95.45%
- Pantheon, Rome, Italy — 95.43%
- Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, United States — 95.33%
- Milford Sound, Te Anau, New Zealand — 95.33%
- Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal, Canada — 95.17%
- St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City — 95.04%
- Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia — 94.88%
- Uluru, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Australia — 94.77%
- Torres Del Paine National Park, Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile — 94.62%
- Duomo di Milano, Milan, Italy — 94.51%
- The Roman Baths, Bath, United Kingdom — 94.47%
- Basílica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain — 94.39%
- Wat Phra Chetuphon, Bangkok, Thailand — 93.97%
- Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine, Kyoto, Japan — 93.94%
- Mount Fuji, Chubu, Japan — 93.90%
- Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, Argentina — 93.73%
So if you're looking to plan something romantic without leaving the city, Notre-Dame might be worth checking out. According to the data, you wouldn't be the first couple to think so.
