jjune

Plan to be in Montreal this August and would like to stay at a centrally located hotel for touring the city. We have to stay at one of the listed properties...Any suggestions? We will be driving from NYC and probably leave our car at the hotel and use mass transit. SpringHill Suites Old Montreal ,Courtyard Montreal Downtown,Residence Inn Montreal Downtown or Montreal Marriott Chateau Champlain and in what order. Thanks.

jam40

My husband and I just got back from Montreal (and Quebec City) yesterday. We ate lunch one day at a restaurant (St. Gabriel's perhaps) that seemed to have some connection with Springhill suites. When I went inside the restaurant (we had been dining on the terrace) to use the restrooms, I noticed that I was in the lobby of the Springhill. It is in a nice location in Old Montreal that would allow you to explore this area easily from the hotel. Can't comment on the rooms as we stayed at the Gault (fabulous, by the way). If the restaurant is any indication of the hotel, the hotel should be great. We had a fantastic lunch there.

A word about using mass transit. We were sorely disappointed in Montreal's mass transit system. (We only used the subway; perhaps the bus system is better.) The subway was easy to use, but we found it expensive ($5/ticket, one way) and not very practical for touring the areas we wanted to see (and these were main sightseeing areas.) Montreal is a huge city; very spread out, and we got tired of taking the subway and having to walk what felt like miles to the area we were interested in exploring. Our touring became much more enjoyable when we started using our car to get to the different sites. It is not hard to navigate the streets; your hotel can give you a map. Traffic can be congested at times, but it was not too bad.

traveller69

When we were in Montreal and I believe it is still the same price - we bought a tourist card for the Metro. It was $8 for the day I believe or $16 for three days. It was very convenient. It is like a scratch card. You can buy them ahead of time and then just scratch out the day or days you want to use it. Perhaps someone from Montreal can verify that if it is still the same price etc. We used the system everywhere bus and subway.

Gavin

I can't help with the named hotels but feel I must comment on jam40's post about the metro. The highest fare is $2.50 and is only $1.88 per ride if you buy six at a time. It is true that the metro does not go everywhere and one is advised to consider the busses (or your car) for some trips. Details at http://www.stm.info/

jam40

Gavin: My apologies. You are correct. It was $5 for the two of us. I wasn't adding correctly when I posted. I don't mean to be so negative about Montreal's metro system, but I had read such good things about it before our trip that perhaps my expectations were too high. We rarely use a car when travelling (normally don't even have a car when we travel to big cities)and do not mind at all using a city's metro system. We just found that Montreal's system was not as useful as expected.

oneillchris

Born and bred montrealer says that for downtown my pick is always the Vogue on de la montagne and Springhill suites for old Montreal, If its the hotel I think which is a marriot affiliated, for the money the latter is a great Old Montreal Hotel, Many hotel in Old Montreal are boutique style and can cost mucho bucks, like the St. James hotel the ultimate in boutique high end, if your a luxury hound its great, the other two are 4-4.5 star excellent hotels. For cheapo hotels I am not a good source.

jjune

Yes, the hotels I mentioned are all Marriott hotels and plan to use "points" to stay in Montreal. Is Old Montreal the best area to stay if we plan to stay 3-4 nite to see the city? Also, if we take our car sightseeing, is parking available and/or expensive? Thanks.

zootsi

We've been to Montreal many times, and almost never use the car to get around. If you enjoy walking, just about everything you want to see is within a 45 minute walk, except for the Botannical Gardens/Olympic Park area, which is a 15 minute subway ride, and the north shore of the city which we've driven to. The only one of the hotels we've stayed at is the Courtyard, which is a basic 3* high rise hotel with a great pool, and in a great location. As for whether to stay downtown or in the Old City, that's a matter of taste. Our preferences are : 1. Plateau, 2. Downtown, 3. Old City, but some people would disagree.

jam40

jjune: We did not find parking to be a problem, and I do not recall parking being terribly expensive, by big city standards anyway. If you wind up staying in Old Montreal, as noted in my earlier post, you will not need to use your car that day at all. Just walk out the front door of your hotel and begin exploring.

I don't know what else you had in mind to visit, but many of the sites have either free parking (ie, St. Joseph's Oratorie) or inexpensive parking very close by (ie, Mont Royal - there was a pay lot just 5 minutes from the viewing terrace). We ate dinner several nights in the Latin Quarter (great place for dinner). We wound up parking in a garage as there was absolutely no on-street parking; I think the evening rate for the garage was $7.

We also used our car to go to Atwater Market (parking is free for 90 minutes) and to see the Lachine Rapids (free parking in lot a 5 minute walk from the rapids).

The one day that the metro was useful was the day that we wandered the Plateau area. Took the metro to the Mont Royal (I think) station and then followed a walking tour I had gotten out of a Frommer's guidebook. Took a couple of hours to do the walk; saw lots of cool stores and great cafes. The walk is perfectly laid out because you wind up at the Sherbrooke metro station at the end of the walk.

If you have any other questions, just post again. I will try to keep checking this board.

oneillchris

No parking is not abig issue unless you have no hotel parking and even then there is parking for 7-10 bucks a night on St. Laurent just as it meets Old Montreal. If I was staying in Old Montreal I would certainly use the metro or taxi everything is within minutes. Unequivocally Old Montreal is always my favorite spot to hang on Saturday there are also great fireworks. Try the following Vieux Montreal restaurants. Gibbys, Lèepicerie, La Marree for original style oh my god I could go for days Ièm on a diet waiting for my italy trip

jjune

Thanks for your help. We are going to stay at the Springhill Suites. I Like the idea of staying in Old Montreal and a little extra "room" with a suite! Just wondering...is there any advantage to seeing Montreal Mon-Fri. as opposed to going over a weekend for the 4 nites? Also, anyone know anything about a boat to Quebec City for the day from Montreal???