Montreal?

[Stephanie218]

Hi everyone!

My friends from high school and I are heading up to Montreal for a weekend in July to generally have a good time and relax from work.

Where is the best places to stay close to the nightlife? Will we have to do a lot of walking/pay for a lot of cabs?

Thanks for any help!! I'm the planner in the group....if it were up to everyone else, we'd just head up there with nothing to do and no hotel booked

 

[Quinn222]

Montreal is a compact city so you should have a good choice of places to stay. The Metro is inexpensive and effiecient, so you also will not have to pay for a lot of cabs. Try and catch breakfast at Eggspectation while you're there! It's one of my very favourite cities on earth, I'm sure you'll have a good time there.

 

[Stephanie218]

bumping to see if anyone else has advice

 

[RadioFanatic]

we have stayed at the Delta Montreal on Kennedy many times and love it - easy walking distance to things, has an indoor pool - we have actually gotten it on Priceline each time for only about $35-40 a night.

 

[Vivig]

Here are my suggestions:

- Cresent Street always had a great night life.
- Old Montreal has a wonderful charm, you will get to go to Quebecois Pubs and have a good time.
- Prince Arthur, has great restaurants bring your own wine.
- St. Denis Street, again French but warm and wonderful
- St. Laurent and Laurier Streets are further out from the downtown core but also have a great night life.

I was born in Montreal and have moved to Toronto.

Montreal has wonderful warm people, who know how to shop, dress and have a good time!

I am sure you will have a wonderful time with your friends.

Vivian

 

[minkydog]

Definitely take the Metro--you can go all over the place with that. I can't remember the name of the hotel we stayed at--some big place on Rene Levesque. We toured the Basilica and took a carriage ride with Jean-Pierre, who looked just like a lumberjack and spoke with such a thick French accent we could barely understand him. Lots of fun, though!

 

[BunsenH]

Most of the 'business' type hotels, like the Deltas, have good weekend rates. Pick something in the center of the city or near Old Montreal and then take the Metro or walk. Montreal is a great walking city with lots of diverse neighborhoods.

There is a wide variety of night spots in the Crescent St. area, from pubs to clubs and some good restaurants.

During the day, you can keep busy with shopping, museums, cathedrals, Mount Royal, Old Port, etc.

Keep the thread bumped and perhaps toto2, a Montraler, will see it and offer some 'secrets'.

 

[PixieDustTink]

Maybe post this over on the Canadian forum and see if you get a local perspective. We live two hours or so from Montreal and have been there quite a bit but, I would still think it would be better to ask a local! Montreal is as others have said "compact" it's an easy walking city and as long as you stay in the metro area you shouldn't have a hard time getting around. Have fun!!

 

[Stephanie218]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

RadioFanatic -- would you mind explaining how Priceline works? I've never used it before because my dad's pretty neurotic about where he stays when we travel as a family. The Delta Montreal's showing rates of around $190/night right now though - if we could get it at your price, that would be amazing! How do you guarantee that you get that hotel?

 

[Stephanie218]

ETA: Nevermind - I was just starting to go through the steps and noticed you have to be 21 6 more months!!

The hotel restrictions on age drive me crazy sometimes!

 

[irishbosoxfan]

Ok I have to say I'm jealous!-I LOVE Montreal! If I ever have to leave the U.S that is where I'm going!

The Metro is awesome very easy to use and you can get a map of the sysytem and it tells where everything is--That being said though I tried to walk everywhere I could because of being able to check everything out!

Montreal is set to a grid pattern-all the streets either run north to south or east to west so it's very easy to get around without getting lost.
St Catherine is the main street in Montreal pretty much everything you could want to do or see is on this street-Clubs,stripclubs,shops--
One of my favorite places to eat while I was there is the PEEL PUB it is a college type hangout with American eats plus the Hardrock isn't to far from here.
I stayed in different hotels on each trip they were small inexpensive but I wasn't looking to spend a lot for a room I wasn't going to spend a lot of time in==I stayed in one right on St Catherine that had pretty rooms but you shared a bathroom but it was pretty cool and I never had to wait long to use it!
The last time I went in July they were having free jazz concerts in the north end and free comedy(plus music) concerts right outside my hotel(shared bathroom one) right on St Catherine

I will look thru my pictures and stuff to try and get you the names of all the hotels and restaurants and such==My last trip was supposed to be for a weekend and I ended up staying for 2 weeks!==Oh during the same time frame they also had their gay pride parade which was incredible-It was the first time I had ever been to one and it is definetly not to be missed!
If I can't find names I will try to give you the best directions I can!
Also the night club I went to is the Metropolis which is right on St Catherine.

 

[RadioFanatic]

ETA: Nevermind - I was just starting to go through the steps and noticed you have to be 21 6 more months!!

The hotel restrictions on age drive me crazy sometimes!

are any of your friends 21 yet? if so, it would be worth it. for priceline, I would recommend the sites www.betterbidding.com or www.biddingfortravel.com for insight on how to bid. probably in the summer you could get it for 60-75.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

Wanted to give you the addresses of the places I enjoyed

Peel Pub
1117 St Catherine

Hard Rock
1458 Crescent

Moes bar&grill
940 St Jean Blvd
This is a short walk from a Metro station---Everybody here was very personable--The Wait staff used to wear these white tshirts that had the Moes logo onthe back and a dirty(only if you thought that way)saying over the left front and I asked about buying one and they told me they weren't for sale but I smiled and flirted and managed to walk out with one for free!


http://www.go-montreal.com/index.htm

This has lists of restaurants and hotels as well as lists all festivals going on and the dates they'll be held

 

[damo]

My personal favourite hotel in Montreal is Loews Hotel Vogue. Here is the link: http://www.loewshotels.com/hotels/montreal/features/

 

[princess pooh]

Definitely stay at a downtown hotel. Hotel de la Montagne is well located and their roof-top pool is the place to be in the summer! I do a lot of walking in the downtown area, but it's easy to catch a cab or take the metro.

For restaurants I would recommend Chez Cora, Eggspectations, or Beauty's for breakfast; and Schwartz's for authentic Montreal smoked meat.