First Time In Montreal
 

My husband and I are planning a trip to Montreal the end of this month. Since we have never been there we are having a tough time deciding wether we should stay in old Montreal or downtown Montreal. We like to walk everywhere and are very interested in antiquing and just getting a feel for the culture. Any suggestions would be most helpful and very much appreciated.<BR><BR>Merci Beaucoup

I prefer the "downtown" section, near the museums, restaurants, shopping and most hotels. The Old Part of town is lovely, but worth only about a days time. <BR>For antiquing, you want rue Notre Dame Ouest-that would take about a day, there is nothing else to do there but go in and out of the shops. There are a couple of nice places to eat.<BR>There are some interesting places around rue St Denis, but someone else will have to direct you, I don't know the streets, but there are good poster stores and antique shops that are not so expensive as rue Notre Dame.<BR>Check a Montreal Visitors site and see what is going on at the Ballet and Concerts.

Wherever you stay in Montreal is not far from where you want to go as the metro system is great and walking is also very safe. I prefer to stay downtown for convenience however there are a couple of small charming hotels in Old Montreal that you may prefer. Old Montreal is an area you can easily see in one day.

We love to stay in old town in one of the boutique hotels. Then take the metro or walk to other parts of the city. Montreal is very easy to get around.

I have found that the colder it gets, the less populated the Old Town is. I was there in the end of November once, and the streets of the Old Town were deserted, as the tourists tend not to be around when the temps are below freezing.

A third area to consider is the plateau/St. Denis area, which is my favorite - more French, less New York feeling than downtown,with a lot more to explore than the old city.There are several antique shops on St. Denis, and many, many interesting cafes and shops. There are not too many big hotels in the area, but the Crowne Plaza is one. Of course the downtown and old city are also great -you won't go wrong in any of these areas! Choose the old city for charm and uniqueness, the downtown for the cosmopolitan feel, the St. Denis area for the French streetlife feel.