My first trip to Montreal is fast approaching. Very excited to visit, but have no clue as to the city's highlights, and particulalry the best neighbourhood to stay in. This is a "mother-daughter" trip (mom is 82) and we will only have one day and one night to explore, so would like to be located in a great area ... and I get the sense from my research that there are many fascinating areas to choose from.

I will have a rental car, but we would like to explore the neighbourhood we are in by walking as much as possible. We'll drive to major sights if needed.

I'd love to hear your feedback/advice on what you think are the best neighbourhoods in Montreal and also B&B recommendation would be very appreciated. Also, what should we not miss during our short stay in Montreal?

Thanks so much!

Hey Bowen,

I'd pick the Plateau Mont-Royal as I think it's a magical yet real Montreal neighbourhood. It's a very walkable neighbourhood, and the metro will speed you to wherever you'll want to go.

With such a short space to time, walking around Old Montreal and exploring your vicinity of the Plateau is all you'll likely have time to do. The commercial streets in the Plateau that I enjoy are Mont-Royal Ave., St. Denis St., Duluth, Prince Arthur, Laurier. But it's some of the in-between side streets in the Plateau that I love most for their architectural flourish. With nice weather, I'd go to Parc Lafontaine and/or Parc Mont-Royal.

I personally wouldn't mess with a rental car for a day; more of a pain than it's worth. Old Montreal is accessible by metro and most everything you might possibly want to see is accessible by metro or at worst bus. Taxis are everywhere should you get tired of walking.

You've been of help in the past with B.C. queries, so I'm glad to answer a question for you here .

Best wishes, DAN

The Plateau is a great place to visit and stay, but I can't comment on accommodations.

I can, however, heartily recommend a B&B in Vieux Montréal, Les Passants du Sans-Soucy on rue Saint-Paul, one of the nicest places I have stayed at in Montréal or elsewhere.

http://www.lesanssoucy.com/en/indexen.htm

We just returned from a 3 day visit to Montreal. We stayed in Vieux Montreal, the beutifully restored old town and tourist mecca. We loved being there, because we could easily walk to many really fine restaurants and shops. We stayed in a boutique hotel called Hotel Nelligan and liked it a lot.

I recommend the Plateau area. We stayed at a B & B there just off of Parc La Fontaine. We loved the area and I thoroughly loved walking in the area.

Thank you to all. I was leaning to Vieux Montreal area and will also check out the Plateau area B&Bs.

Dan, you are right about the rental car and if we were only visiting Montreal for a couple of days we could easily use public transit, but since we will already have it after our visit to Sherbrooke, we decided we will use it for our remaining day in Montreal allowing us to explore a bit more of the city if the walking for mom proves challenging. (Thanks for all your Sherbrooke advice too! So excited to visit there too!)

Cheers!