Visiting Montreal, need help with hotel, transportation

I'll be visiting Montreal next week on business. Can anyone give some
tips on where to stay, getting from airport (YUL) to hotel and things
to do and see?

While I am working wife will want to shop (of course!). Are there
hotels near the underground shopping areas and subway stations?

Should I pick up a book on common french phrases or do most speak
enough english for us to get by?
Any good day trips by bus, train or rent a car?

Thanks

"Huff" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'll be visiting Montreal next week on business. Can anyone give some
tips on where to stay, getting from airport (YUL) to hotel and things
to do and see?


Take a cab - the airport is not that far from downtown, it's not that
expensive and totally convenient and fast.

Visit this website and clikc on "Eat Sleep & Shop" on the left side to get
you going with hotels, etc.. The subway system is not that extensive, mainly
for getting people to downtown. I would recommend staying in a hotel right
downtown, which is near everything. The site will give you your pick.


While I am working wife will want to shop (of course!). Are there
hotels near the underground shopping areas and subway stations?


It is a relatively compact downtown - see above.



Should I pick up a book on common french phrases or do most speak
enough english for us to get by?
Any good day trips by bus, train or rent a car?


Virtually everyone can speak English - whether they want to at the moment
you request their assistance is another question. If you simply ask if you
may speak in English, you will experience a much better reception than just
launching into English.

You won't need the phrasebook to get by, but it would be very useful to
memorize a few common phrases, such as Excuse me, thank you, etc., as a
courtesy.

Which website were you referring to? I don't see a link!
Thanks

Huff wrote:

I'll be visiting Montreal next week on business. Can anyone give some
tips on where to stay, getting from airport (YUL) to hotel and things
to do and see?

While I am working wife will want to shop (of course!). Are there
hotels near the underground shopping areas and subway stations?

Should I pick up a book on common french phrases or do most speak
enough english for us to get by?
Any good day trips by bus, train or rent a car?

I found the Hotel Clarion to be quite reasonable, one bedroom suite was
$100 per night. It's about a block to the Metro station. You could get
closer to the core but you would have to pay a lot more. Look into passes
if you are going to be using a lot of public transit.

It wouldn't hurt to be able to say a few phrases in French, but that might
lead them to think that you will understand them in French. You can get by
in English downtown and just about everywhere on the west side of the
city.

Ottawa is about 1 1/2 drive from Montreal, and it's a nice city to visit.

"Huff" wrote in message
oups.com...
Which website were you referring to? I don't see a link!
Thanks


Ooops, sorry....

http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/B2C/00/default.asp

Montreal is awesome! I would stay in a hotel downtown.. There is
lots. there is one right at the train station. I forget what it is
called. There is also a Holiday inn and pretty much all the major
chains. Get a cab from the airport. Travelling around Montreal isn't
that easy. So, I wouldn't be renting a car if I where you. Once you
are downtown you can take a cab if you need to, but mostly you will
walk. Old Montreal is the nicest. Good resturants and old world
charm. Even the corner stores in Montreal have great cheeses and
wines. The shopping is great too. There is lots of little boutiques.
Once you get to your hotel ask the front desk for some info of what is
going on. I found everything pretty accessable from that hotel at the
train station. I sure wish I could remember. But for sure the mid
town Holiday in is in walking distance to downtown. St. catharines
street has shopping but mostly peep shows. I kid you not.

When you are in Montreal you can get away with not speaking any
french, but, the menus will be in French. So you can ask, and they
don't mind if you try to speak french. They probably will find if
funny. I have had minimal problems with that.

Jan 2005 09:46:56 -0800, "Huff"
wrote:

I'll be visiting Montreal next week on business. Can anyone give some
tips on where to stay, getting from airport (YUL) to hotel and things
to do and see?

While I am working wife will want to shop (of course!). Are there
hotels near the underground shopping areas and subway stations?

Should I pick up a book on common french phrases or do most speak
enough english for us to get by?
Any good day trips by bus, train or rent a car?

Thanks

"Huff" wrote in message
oups.com...

I'll be visiting Montreal next week on business. Can
anyone give some tips on where to stay, getting from
airport (YUL) to hotel and things to do and see?

Stay downtown, unless business has you going somewhere else.

Easiest way downtown from the airport is by cab, there's a flat rate of
something like $30 CAD from the airport to anywhere downtown-ish. I've never
tried paying cabbies with American cash, but there's an ATM in the airport
and a few currency exchange wickets, so getting CAD is easy enough.

Alternately, there are buses that go downtown from the airport but they're
$12 or $15 CAD per person, so you wouldn't be saving very much since there
are two of you.

While I am working wife will want to shop (of course!).
Are there hotels near the underground shopping areas
and subway stations?

There are lots of hotels in the downtown area, thing is I can't recommend
any since I live here and have never needed to stay at one. You might want
to try looking at reviews of hotels online at a site like tripadvisor.com

If she does happen to get bored of shopping downtown, there's also a pretty
big mall in the West Island (common name for the suburbs to the west of the
city, geographically it's on the same island as Montreal itself) called
Fairview, which is on a road called St Jean, just north of highway 40,
though this is far past the edge of the metro network so you'd be best to
get there by car.

Should I pick up a book on common french phrases or
do most speak enough english for us to get by?

You'll be fine with English anywhere downtown. It's only when you start
heading further east that you might start running into problems finding
people who speak English.

Any good day trips by bus, train or rent a car?

Ottawa could be a day trip, it's about a 2-hour drive away and is easily
accessible by bus, train or car.

Quebec City could be a pretty long day trip, it's about 3 hours away, also
easily accessible by bus, train or car.

Hope this helps!

Richard

Claim Guy wrote:

"Huff" wrote in message
oups.com...

Which website were you referring to? I don't see a link!
Thanks



Ooops, sorry....

http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/B2C/00/default.asp

Thanks, that sites has alot of great info on it.

Richard wrote:

Quebec City could be a pretty long day trip, it's about 3 hours away, also
easily accessible by bus, train or car.

Was thinking of possibly renting a car and going up to Quebec City for a
night or two. Is the Winter Carnival there worth visiting? How is
highway 20 from Montreal to Quebec City in the winter? Would like to
come back from Quebec City on our last day for a noon flight out of
Montreal but would hate to get caught up in winter driving conditions
and miss a flight.

"miles" wrote in message
news:0aXLd.1890$Tt.193@fed1read05...

Was thinking of possibly renting a car and going up
to Quebec City for a night or two. Is the Winter
Carnival there worth visiting? How is highway 20
from Montreal to Quebec City in the winter?

Unfortunately I can't be of much help when it comes to Quebec City as I
haven't been there since I was 4 years old!

Would like to come back from Quebec City on our
last day for a noon flight out of Montreal but would
hate to get caught up in winter driving conditions and
miss a flight.

Would it be possible to redo your itinerary so as to flying into Montreal
but out of Quebec City, thereby saving you the drive back to Montreal?

Richard