Montreal Bicycle Tours
 

Has anyone taken a bicycle tour in Montreal? I'm finding different companies and was hoping someone had one one. Going to Montreal for 3 nights for our 15th anniversary. Took a bike tour in Copenhagen and loved it so thought it would be fun to do in Montreal. Trying not to be a total tourist and build in lots for relaxing time for our anniversary. Thanks!

Bicycling is very popular, and you don't need to belong to a tour. The free Montreal city map shows all the bike routes in the city. Perhaps the most popular one is the Lachine Canal route, which runs from the old port out along the old Lachine canal. Other popular routes would be from Parc La Fontaine along Rue Rachael to Maisonneuve Park and the Olympic Park & Botanical Gardens. You can also bike from Rue Rachael up to the Jean Talon Market, and also in Mt Royal park up the mountain. There are many more. All these trails are very safe, and quite easy.

Thanks for your reply, zootsi. I'll most certainly get the map you are talking about!

A nice loop is along the Lachine canal and back on the river shore: http://goo.gl/maps/SxMa

As a Montrealer who cycles regularly, I wouldn't exactly describe the bike paths as "safe"; there's a considerable volume of bikes on the bike paths in Montreal. Sometimes cars and pedestrians don't pay attention to us and almost worst of all are your fellow cyclists that treat the urban cycling paths as if they were participating in the Tour de France. You must always be alert and cycling defensively.

This said, the cycling network is extensive, amongst the best I've seen in North America and there are a fair number that are separated from the street. My favourite routes are west to the Atwater Market/Lachine, cutting south from Atwater Market toward either Ile des Soeurs or the Lachine Rapids and northward to Ile de la Visitation park. The de Maisonneuve Park is great if you want to do laps

If you're actually interested in a tour, VeloQuebec is a good place to check out at the corner of Rachel/de Brebeuf.

Have fun! Daniel

Dan, you are undoubtedly more experienced on this than I am, but here's my take on the safety thing. We have been coming to Montreal on biking vacations now for many years, and usually feel quite comfortable biking around. My wife is basically a rural biker and doesn't like biking in crowds, but is ok in Montreal. What we've found in Montreal is that there are rush hours for biking just like driving - particularly on the main biking arteries thru the heart of the city. On weekdays after 9:30 and before 4:30 many of the trails are fairly quiet as are many of the streets. Recreational trails like the Lachine are more busy on weekends. On the other hand, yes there are some hot-dogs that will zip past you, so you do need to be alert.
Since the Lachine trail extends to the outermost part of the city, most of it is not on the Montreal tourist map, bit I think there is a separate brochure for it at the tourists offices.

Thanks for the additional replies! I don't plan on biking during rush hour or for very long for long:-) Just thought it would be a good way to see the city and learn some of the history if we took an organized tour like we did in Copenhagen. Thanks for all of your suggestions.

Susan

Zootsi-- I'll grant that I'll bike in Montreal, which is something I won't do in some cities (e.g., central London, NYC, Boston, Toronto) and that Montreal has made efforts to make things safer for cyclists in the last 20 years. You're right that off hours tend to be less insane.

Cyclists (and motorists and pedestrians and roller bladers and...) here have some rather atrocious behaviour and I've seen some pretty unpleasant bike accidents, even at the off-times. It's not as dangerous as some places during off hours but nor is it anywhere as safe as the Confederation Trail in PEI. I bike super-defensively (eyeing those left-turning taxi drivers, watching careless pedestrians) and even then I've been hit by a car door once, on another occasion by a cyclist with a joint in his hand in the wrong lane who I did everything to avoid (who yelled at me for being in the way!).

Not to discourage anyone... there's some incredible cycling to be had in Montreal. Just bike defensively and be alert.