Montreal
VisionOfClarity
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Registered User regular
So I'm thinking of going to Montreal for a long weekend from Jan 26/27- Jan 31. Any advice on places to stay or things to do. I;m looking to spend up to $120 a night. I've found some nice ones on Expedia like Hotel de la Montagne but I'm not familiar with the city layout so I don't know if it's in a good spot. We probably won't be renting a car, will this be a problem?
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Catch a habs game.
As for things to do... as mentioned a Habs game if you're into hockey. There's the Biodome which is an indoor zoo which is kinda cute and fun. There's the casino if you'd like to go do some gambling (my gf won $200 last time we went). Plenty of museums to visit. There's the "underground city" that you can go shopping in. Old Montreal is good for a nice walk or a tour. Plenty of good restaurants/bars/clubs in the area too. LOTS of strip clubs along Ste Catherines St. Last but not least, assuming you're not vegetarian and enjoy a good smoke meat sandwich... you MUST go to Schwartz on St Laurent... delicious!
The Delta Montreal was pretty awesome and is nicely located downtown for walking and whatnot. I think it was only with a deal that I got it down to your rate, but it's worth looking into, for sure. Right now, looks like $134 per night (CDN). Ha... with their websaver calendar, it comes down to $101 CDN per night (single King or two Doubles--your choice). This is definitely worth it.
Also, join the Delta Priveledge program. It's free (just an online signup) and they treat you even more amazingly well. Like, if you want late check-out, if you're a Priviledge member, you just say what time you want to check out. It was great for me for walking around my last day without having to worry about my baggage.
Seriously, highly recommended. Book now! :P
[Edit]
I cabbed where I did not walk and it was decent. I mean, I don't think it was overpriced. (It was like $15-18--I don't recall--from the Delta Montreal to the Casino, for reference.) It's a flat rate from the airport to any of the hotels downtown (on the island) and vice versa, which was great (not cheap, but still a better deal than regular rates). Not renting a car shouldn't be a problem at all.
And some vague guidelines on what you enjoy wouldn't hurt :P
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Also Québec city is about two and a half hours from Montreal hahahaha
The Québec Carnival is starting on january 29th you can check out the calendar here
This service is a carpooling thing, if you're into that kind of stuff anyway.
http://www.allostop-quebec.com/voyage.php
Also, couchsurfing.
If you're curious about the legendary poutine, "La Banquise" is pretty much the place to go. Very popular and they have a lot of variations of the standard poutine.
It would be easier to give you suggestions if you could tell us what kind of things or locations you would be interested in.
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As for what we're interested in doing, I love hockey but the bf doesn't, so a game will be on the maybe list. We both love art museums (I'm a MoMa, he's a Met), we'd definitely want to hit some nice places to eat (I love going out to eat and price isn't an issue if the place is good), go to a few bars, not the nightclubs though (we can't dance), like walking and wine. I've never been to Montreal before so any interesting sites that tourists normally hit I'll probably want to do as well. I'm also a big shopper.
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For shopping, I'll second the underground city. Most downtown metro stations are connected to the tunnel network, so it's easy to get to. Peel Station is a good place to start. Alternately, if it's nice out there are tons of shops along St. Catherine.
In terms of the hotels mentioned, I'd say Hôtel de la Montagne is more conveniently located for tourist purposes. It's steps away from Peel Station and steps away from the shopping on St. Catherine. The Delta isn't much further from a metro, but the intersection it's at is a lot more traffic-y, since it's right on a major north-south route that leads into Highway 10 and Pont Victoria (one of only a handful of bridges connecting Montreal Island to the South Shore). It is a nice hotel though, I stayed a night there once when my company held their xmas party there.
We pretty much just walked around downtown and old montreal checking places out and had fun. You said you are into art, the fine arts museum is on Rue Sherbrooke, near the downtown core, the contemporary museum is on Rue St. Catherine west.
I'd also second the Notre Dame Basilica, just fantastic. As for restaurants, I'm drawing a blank on where we went, but you can't really go wrong, it was all delicious! As was mentioned, transportation is easy and most everyone speaks english if you don't speak french.
For art we have a bunch of museums all over the city, and if you end up exploring the Old Montreal Port, which you definitely should, there's a part of a street that is almost completely filled with small art galleries. I don't remember which street it is but the Old port isn't that big so you'll probably end up on it while exploring.
As for restaurants "L'Auberge du Dragon Rouge" is a really fun place to go, though if you guys don't speak french I guess it might not be really worth it. It's a medieval themed restaurant where all the staff speaks in a fake old-french. You have a ministrel playing music and singing funny songs. It's a really festive place. People cheer and sometimes sing along while drinking beer and doing shots of "Dragon's blood".
For a truly unique experience I would suggest the restaurant "O.Noir". It's a restaurant where you eat in absolute darkness. You choose your meal in the lobby then a blind waiter leads you to your table where you wait to be served. The whole eating area is completely dark, you can't even see your hand in front of your eyes. Being completely blind, you end up focusing much more on your 4 other senses, which I found very interesting.
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If you ever go back, schedule in July so you can see the greatest comedy festival in the world.
I've never been but it looks pretty fancy on their website. Also, their rates goes a bit over your hotel budget. The cheapest is $151 first night and $127 following nights.
http://www.montrealmarriottchateauchamplain.com
Their location is pretty much downtown so it would be convenient enough to get around.
Last time I went I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express... rooms start at $100 and we got bumped to a suite for no extra cost (not sure why though).
This said, you won't need to rent a car. With the bus, the subway and your feet, you can cover everything easily.
I'll remember the no right on red. In MA and most US states you can do that after a full-stop so we probably would have done that.
Only on the island.
Especially to pedestrians.
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That's not to say that people throw themselves under cars or anything, but you should be alert for pedestrians occassionally doing very stupid things, especially if you're driving in the downtown core.
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Check out Chez Paree or Wicked Wanda's if that's your cup of tea.
Not really our thing, also, unless that's a tranny Montreal has some awful strippers if that's the 'best'.
At the same time, sometimes cars will not follow the signs and drive right in front of you while you're trying to cross. Again, not every driver is this dumb, but in Montréal, if you're crossing on foot, or driving, you always need to be alert and pay attention to your surroundings.