Montreal Neighborhoods

[Retired 07]

HELP! We will be renting a car in Burlington, Vt. and returning it in Montreal. The rental car website lists 6 places where we can return the car. (besides the airport, which we are trying to avoid.) The places are:

Cavendish

Mozart

Pointe Claire

Saint Leonard

Stanley

Ville St Laurent

Can anybody tell me if any of these places are near downtown, or the Old Port where we'll be staying? If so, how close are they?

Thanks.

[CelticDuck]

HELP! We will be renting a car in Burlington, Vt. and returning it in Montreal. The rental car website lists 6 places where we can return the car. (besides the airport, which we are trying to avoid.) The places are:

Cavendish

Mozart

Pointe Claire

Saint Leonard

Stanley

Ville St Laurent

Can anybody tell me if any of these places are near downtown, or the Old Port where we'll be staying? If so, how close are they?

Thanks.

 

The closest would be Stanley. This is in the heart of anglo Montreal; one street wast of Peel. You would be a 10-minute ride from the old port. You could even walk it in 30 minutes if the weather is nice.

[Ephraim]

HELP! We will be renting a car in Burlington, Vt. and returning it in Montreal. The rental car website lists 6 places where we can return the car. (besides the airport, which we are trying to avoid.) The places are:

Cavendish

Mozart

Pointe Claire

Saint Leonard

Stanley

Ville St Laurent

Can anybody tell me if any of these places are near downtown, or the Old Port where we'll be staying? If so, how close are they?

Thanks.

 

The two closest locations are Mozart and Stanley.

 

Mozart to the Old Port is 7km

Stanley to the Old Port is 2.5km

[Ephraim]

Forgot to mention

 

These three are actually the names of the streets that the office is located on:

• Cavendish - Cavendish at St-Jacques
  
• Mozart - Mozart near St-Laurent
  
• Stanley - Stanley at Rene-Levesque

These three are actually neighbourhoods...

• Saint Leonard - A neighbourhood in the north east of Montreal
  
• Pointe Claire - A suburb to the far north west of Montreal (past the airport)
  
• Ville St Laurent - A neighbourhood in the north west of Montreal (before the airport)

[Two if by Sea]

We've also rented (from Hertz) and will be returning it on Drummond Street at Rene-Levesque. Appears to be very close to the Old Port -- just a block from the Stanley location mentioned above.

 

I might even walk back, or else try the Metro. On the map it looks about 1 mile away. Should be a pleasant walk unless there's some reason not to.

[Retired 07]

Thank you all for your replies.

 

Two if by sea: Are you also renting in the U.S.? It looks like Hertz, and Alamo are the only two where you wouldn't have to return them to YUL. Unfortunately, they are the most expensive. The Alamo office looks to be just a few blocks from the Hertz office. I did a mapquest, and they are both about 1.5 miles from our hotel at the Old Port. Definitely walkable. I guess it would be worth the extra money not to have to return it to the airport.

[Two if by Sea]

Yes, we are renting in Boston and driving to Montreal. And I am going with Hertz because of the drop-off location. Returning at the airport would cost another $40 for cab fare back to the port, which would more than make up for any difference in rental price, at least for what I found.

 

Hertz also has a local office 5 minutes from where I live, so it's convenient at both ends.

[Retired 07]

Yes, we are renting in Boston and driving to Montreal. And I am going with Hertz because of the drop-off location. Returning at the airport would cost another $40 for cab fare back to the port, which would more than make up for any difference in rental price, at least for what I found.

 

Hertz also has a local office 5 minutes from where I live, so it's convenient at both ends.

 

You have a point there. The one other option we were considering would be to drop our luggage at our hotel, return the car at the airport, and take public transportation back to the hotel.

It's funny, we're flying into Burlington, renting a car, spending a night there, and taking all the next day to drive to Montreal, and it STILL will cost less than flying directly into Montreal from L.A. And we get an extra day of vacation in the deal!

[Two if by Sea]

Our plan is to drive in on Thursday, so we will have all of Friday in Montreal (as well as a few hours of Thursday afternoon/evening, depending on when we get in, and of course Saturday morning).

 

We'd have gone even earlier if possible -- obviously Montreal is worth more than a one-day visit -- but our schedules simply didn't allow.

 

We will be dropping off luggage at the hotel, then returning the car. I have a choice of returning it by 6pm the day of arrival, or at exactly 8am the next morning (to avoid a second day charge). I'd rather just return it immediately, so I don't have to worry about parking in the Old Port area, and about getting up early and facing rush-hour traffic the next day.

 

Ephraim (or anyone): how easy is the metro system to use? Looks like I can take it two stops from Bonaventure to Place-D'Armes after dropping off the car, if I want to, instead of walking all the way back. Does that make sense? Are trains frequent enough that that would be faster and less effort than walking? And the stations easy enough to navigate? Is it easy to buy a single fare?

 

In Paris it wouldn't make any sense at all -- I'd have more steps and corridors to walk up and down than it would be worth to go just two stops in most cases. Whereas in London even one stop often makes sense as the stations are so far apart. And in Caracas, it took me 20 minutes just to buy a one-way fare because the machines only took coins that nobody would give in change due to their scarcity (someone finally took pity on me and actually bought me a ticket with their own money). How does Montreal compare?

 

[Ephraim]

The metro is relatively easy to use. You need to know the name of the last station and the colour of the line. For example, the Green line going east is direction Honore Beaugrand and going west it's direction Agrinon. The trains are frequent. The fare is $2.75 cash (there are discounted tickets and passes, of course). Their website is at http://www.stm.info/English/a-somm.htm

 

To the right on their website you can click on Tout Azimuts and there is an interactive map where you can put in the time you are leaving and they will tll you the best way to get from A to B and how long it will take with the metro.

 

I wouldn't keep the car. There are few places to park in Montreal and even less in Old Montreal.

[Two if by Sea]

Thanks!