Can you tell me about the different areas of Montreal? Are these good shopping streets? Does a particular street feature a different type of retail?<BR><BR>Duluth, Prince Arthur, Rachel, Mont-Royal, St-Denis<BR><BR>Thanks!

Here is some info in a nutshell:<BR>St Catherine downtown - Large department stores, huge underground malls. As you walk east it gets a little funky.<BR>St. Denis - Many blocks of stores, cafes,shops,bars,restaurants, etc.<BR>St. Laurent - Trendy restaurants and dance clubs, ethnic stores as you head uphill.<BR>Prince Arthur - Lots of byob restaurants. Lots of street activity in the warmer months.<BR>Duluth - Lots of byob restaurants in a quiet residential area.<BR>Mount Royal - Funky used clothing,second hand shops, cafes, attracts the spiked hair set.<BR>Rachel - Small retaurants and shops in a residential area. Some Spanish &amp; Portuguese influence.<BR><BR>Enjoy!<BR>

Thank's for the great info! Regarding St. Catherine, do you mean funky good? Or funky bad?<BR><BR>

Hi Sher<BR><BR>Zootsi gives you a good feel; Ste. Catherine changes character a fair amount as you traverse from west to east. From about rue Guy to about Place des Arts, you get your large department stores...there's a lot of chains, but a few jewels of smaller businesses here too (although I'd tend to look more toward some other streets for locally-run businesses). Walking east, from Place des Arts, you pass through the corner of Boul. St. Laurent/Ste. Catherine, which has had a reputation for being seedier...however, I've walked past this area many times and the worst that happened was getting solicited by a prostitute or getting asked for &quot;un peu de change&quot;. You get a higher proportion of squeegee and the punk crowd between St. Laurent &amp; St. Denis; I've not found this area particularly menacing and I've been through many times. Past St. Denis and toward Papineau, you get into the Gay Village. Parts of this area look a little seedy, but it's quite busy even quite late at night and I have not had any problems here.

I think I will check out the other areas first. Then if time allows, I will wonder around St. Catherine.

Sher, I didn't mean to scare you off St. Catherine Street! St. Catherine downtown near McGill is the business and commecial heart of Montreal, with tall skyscrapers, world class hotels and unlimited shopping. It just gets a but 'funkier' (sex shops, etc) as you walk away from the downtown towards St. Laurent. As Dan mentioned, even this area is not dangerous, and if you walk down St. Laurent from St. Catherine you will come to Chinatown, which is one of the more interesting parts of the city.<BR>As for Mt. Royal, this is 'funky' in a more positve way with lots of second hand shops and inexpensive cafes.

Don't miss St Catherine! There are great boutiques, book stores, HMV record stores, a wonderful cinema,many restaurants including a delicious vegetarian place! Most likely you won't have the time or energy to walk so far downtown on St Catherine that you would leave the better neighborhood.Every trip we take to Montreal, we walk everywhere, every day, you will be fine.

I won't miss it!!