Montreal Info Requested

[holiday07]

We will be in Montreal for 3 days before boarding the Maasdam on Saturday, May 19th. We will be staying at the Doubletree Plaza Hotel at Sherbrooke. Are there any restaurants that you can recommend that is close to the hotel for breakfast? Also, any interesting places that we can visit on Thursday or Friday using the metro (or subway)? What is the best way to go from airport to hotel and from hotel to the port? I have doing some research and it looks like this hotel is near the park, St Denis street and the Plateau...and but quite a walk to the Old Montreal which we would like to visit.

[Ephraim]

I didn't know we had a Doubletree?! Oh, it's the old Holiday Inn.

 

That's two streets away from my house, in the village. Metro station is Berri-UQAM and the airport bus goes about a block and a half away, but the hotel is uphill.

 

Now, here is where my problem comes in. It all depends on how "open" you are. If you aren't, then there are a lot of beautiful little restaurants on St-Denis. Just make sure that there are lots of people in the restaurant. If you want a pretty safe bet at a pretty good price, I would suggest Zyng for noodles on St-Denis. There is also Nils Bleu an Ethopian restaurant that is further up on St-Denis and if you want to go all the way down to Ontario and Papineau there is Le Petit Extra, which has a good reputation, but has had mixed reviews from people I have spoken to. (It's actually talked about in one of Kathy Reichs' books.)

 

Now, if you are more open, there are a lot of great restaurants in the Gay Village. On St-Catherine street East, starting from St-Hubert and going East towards de Lormier. There is a great Asian place called L'Echalotte (The scallion) that has one of the best peanut butter dumplings around. And there are some beautiful restaurants in the village. You can tell, they are almost always packed.

 

For breakfast, there is Nickels in Place Dupuis and further on St-Catherine East, just before Amherst there is a chez Cora. They also serve breakfast at Da Giovanni and Mike's also serve breakfast. Le Triskill on St-Denis also serves crepes. If you want to venture further out, you can go for Dim Sum in old Montreal for brunch. Kim Fong on St-Urbain and Rene Levesque serves Dim Sum everyday, though it's always packed on Saturday and Sunday and you will have to wait in line.

 

There is plenty of things to do in Montreal and almost every part is

accessible via the metro. Old Montreal is at Place des Armes, though it still takes a bit of a walk. The Olympic Stadium is at Pie IX and Viau metro stations. The Botanical gardens is next door and so is the insectarium. If you want to see Mount Royal, you need to take a bus from the Mont-Royal metro station. Downtown Montreal clusters around the McGill and Peel metro stations. The amusement park should be open by then on the weekends if you are into that, take the metro to Papineau and transfer to the bus there. Remember when transferring that you must take a white ticket for CORRESPONDENCE when you first board the metro, not on your way out.

 

Ask any questions that you may have. I won't be able to answer them until the 7th, but I will answer them.

[holiday07]

According to the hotel website the Doubletree Plaza hotel is right next door to the Sherbrooke station at Rue Berri and Sherbrooke. I think this hotel is formerly Crowne Plaza.

 

It looks like there is plenty of choices to go for breakfast and we appreciate all your suggestions.. Are there any places close by the hotel for us to get some croissants/bagels for quick breakfast on Saturday morning? Most likely we will try the Dim Sum brunch at Kim Fong's when we visit Old Montreal on Thursday or Friday.

 

Thank you for including the metro stops in your reply. This really helps a lot. We would also appreciate any comments you may have about your underground city i.e. nearest metro stops etc or any reasonably priced restaurants for dinner etc. If we buy the 3-day metro pass, can we also used it for the buses?

[xanadu seeker]

Ephraim, I am coming to Montreal next year, probably early fall 2008. May I contact you on these board then regarding what I should see and do?

 

Janan

[Gunters Oma]

Hi...

Please join our roll call...we are organizing a meet & greet!

 

Ephraim....

Can you give a little information on the carriage rides? Is there one that goes to Mont Royal?

 

Thanks

Jayne

[senator6]

Ephraim;

Wonder if you can comment on the Quality Hotel at 3440 Avenue Du Parc, I ended up with it on Priceline.

Thanks

[ellamae]

Ephraim,

Our cruise disembarks in Montreal on 6-02-07 and our flight doen't depart until 5:30 pm. My DH and I would like to be able to see some of the city and have a nice lunch, but we don't know what to do with our luggage. Do you know if there is anywhere that we stow it for a few hours?

Thanks for your postings...they have been great to read!

[Ephraim]

The Doubletree is in fact the old Crowne Plaza (and Holiday Inn before that).

 

You can always contact me here or on my blog website. (Though I admit that I sometimes disappear from here when I'm not in cruise active mode, so the website is usually a better bet.)

 

Carriage rides (or calèche as we call them) are offered in only 3 places. Old Montreal, Dorchester Square (in the summer only) and on the mountain itself. There are none that I know that go up the mountain, it's a long and steep ride, even in a car. As far as I know, there really aren't set prices for a calèche ride, it's all negotiated with the driver. In Old Montreal, they sit at the end of St Lawrence street (St-Laurent in French) on de la Commune. For the mountain, they sit up at the parking lot for Beaver lake (Lac des Castors). Going from old Montreal to the mountain is too long for a calèche. Also, remember that when the temperatures got very hot, they are legally required to remove the horse from service and they can only spend a reduced amount of time on the road. The horses in Montreal are extremely well treated.

 

What meet & greet? I live in the city, not going on the cruise with you guys!

 

Quality Hotel is an acceptable hotel. Nothing fancy. Location is a bit out of the way, just a longer walk to go downtown. In fact a longtime friend works there cleaning rooms.... if you have Ruth cleaning your rooms, leave her a few bucks... she has the cutest son named Sebastian. All you ladies better guard your daughters from him... at 10 years old, he's already a real charmer.

 

Ask the Inter Continental if they will hold luggage for a fee. Otherwise, the two solutions are either the Bus Station (Station Centrale) on the corner of Berri and de Maisonneuve) or the Train Station (Gare Centrale) surrounded by Rene-Levesque, University, Belmont and Mansfield. Both have a place for left luggage.

[senator6]

Ephraim,

Thanks so much, we will leave a few bucks and if we meet Ruth will let her know how helpful you were.

[Ephraim]

She was here today and had a good laugh about my comment.... she also got to see my goodie stash from my last cruise!

[Martita B.]

Ephraim

I will be flying into Montreal in Oct. to board a cruise ship the next day. As a lady solo traveler I need a suggestion as to a small, nice reasonably priced hotel for the one evening. (my flight arrives at 5 p.m,) I don't want to spend over $200~~any suggestions?

Also I will need a driver/car to pick me up at the airport, then to the cruise ship around noon the next day.

Thanking you in advance for your help! I loveee Canada~~especially Quebec City. I know I will enjoy Montreal, as well~~

[Martita B.]

Ephraim,

As I just found The Hotel Nelligan for a reasonble rate do you think the property would be a nice place to spend a night before my cruise? Is it located fairly close to the cruise pier/dock? I will take either a Taxi or find a driver from the airport to the hotel.

Looks and sounds dee-lightful!

Thanks!

[Ephraim]

Ephraim,

As I just found The Hotel Nelligan for a reasonable rate do you think the property would be a nice place to spend a night before my cruise? Is it located fairly close to the cruise pier/dock? I will take either a Taxi or find a driver from the airport to the hotel.

Looks and sounds delightful!

Thanks!

 

Hotel Nelligan is a small boutique hotel in Old Montreal. It is quite close to the cruise port. In fact, it's one of the only hotels that I would suggest if someone insisted that they wanted to be in walking distance of the cruise port. It's quite pricey, but if you can find a good rate, it's certainly worth the extra money.

 

As for a taxi, it should be a fixed rate from the airport to the Hotel Nelligan. You can certainly walk around Old Montreal from there. The Notre-Dame Basilica is around the block and so the Architecture museum. It is far from Montreal night-life, if you were planning on going out to a dance bar or the late nightlife of the city. And it's quite a walk from the nearest metro station at night. You just walk up St-Sulpice and up to the corner of Viger, where the metro for Place d'Armes is. As far as Montreal is concerned, it's a very safe city.

 

If you did want to enjoy the nightlife, I would suggest a more central (downtown) Montreal hotel location.

[Martita B.]

Ephraim,

You are a wealth of information! Thank you soooo much!

As to "clubbing," I arrive in Montreal at 5 p.m., after flying from West Texas, so I will have a glass of wine, along with a snack for dinner at the Nelligan and get some needed rest. I will be boarding the Seabourn Pride (Yes, I'm an 'ole Seabourn-ite) the next day a'round noon. Seabourn's Hotel is The Queen Elizabeth`~~but I do not like large hotels~~and the rate for a single is VERY pricey!

I will call for a Taxi to take me to the ship~~~I have no idea where the cruise terminal is located, but I am confident the driver will take me and will safely "unload" moi and the luggage!

If you should have any other hotel suggestions or ideas, please post.

Again, many, many thanks!

[Ephraim]

Ephraim,

You are a wealth of information! Thank you soooo much!

As to "clubbing," I arrive in Montreal at 5 p.m., after flying from West Texas, so I will have a glass of wine, along with a snack for dinner at the Nelligan and get some needed rest. I will be boarding the Seabourn Pride (Yes, I'm an 'ole Seabourn-ite) the next day a'round noon. Seabourn's Hotel is The Queen Elizabeth`~~but I do not like large hotels~~and the rate for a single is VERY pricey!

I will call for a Taxi to take me to the ship~~~I have no idea where the cruise terminal is located, but I am confident the driver will take me and will safely "unload" moi and the luggage!

 

If you should have any other hotel suggestions or ideas, please post.

Again, many, many thanks!

 

If you look at the message above, I have linked the walking distance to the port with a google map that shows the exact distance, essentially, it's two blocks over and a block down. I'm assuming that like all the other cruise ships it's using Alexandra Pier, though if it is using King Edward Pier, then you are just a block away.

 

The Queen E is a fine hotel, but it's also a large chain hotel and definitely not as quaint as the Nelligan. You must have found an excellent deal for the Nelligan, because it's usuallly over CAD$190 plus taxes (our taxes are 3% tourism tax (though I see Nelligan writes 4%, 6% federal tax and 7.5% provincial tax. The federal and provincial are on the total including all previous taxes). So CAD$190 is actually CAD$225.17. But as I said, the location is fantastic as long as you don't want to go out clubbing and don't mind a walk to the metro. So, it does seem to suit your purposes.

 

Good luck and enjoy Montreal.

[Martita B.]

Ephraim,

I found the Nelligan at a "decent" rate so I think I will reserve a room for the one night. I usually stay in small boutique hotels as I don't enjoy the mega properties. I know I'll enjoy my short stay in Montreal.

I'll just take a Taxi to the Pier as I'll have luggage for the cruise.

I've been to Quebec City, Halifax, St John, etc. a couple of times and love the Country and the people! One of my favorite places to visit is the Sackville ship in Halifax~~~in fact, year before last I was invited to a fun party aboard~~~I like SAILOR'S! ha ha ha

You're the greatest~~thanks again!