Travel

Underlib's list of daytrips

What to do/where to stay

in Montreal

• Friends of mine swear by a small hotel called the Versailles.
• Definitely the Fine Arts Museum ... the old city with wonderful bistros and cafes, winding streets, the Cathedral in the old city; and McGill University campus (also a neat museum there). Wonderful coffee everywhere.
• ...the botanical garden. From driving by it numerous times on a pipe organ tour it looks big. Should be easy to find - right near the huge Expo'67 monument/ tower/sculpture - whatever it is.
• I used to stay at the Travelodge downtown near Place d'Arts. The price was cheap, the location central, and the rooms super small, but efficient. The last two years I have been closed out, because sports teams and dog clubs seem to like the hotel.
• I highly recommend getting around by Metro (SCTUM) I also recommend the vegetarian cafeteria Commensal. There are several locations. Mount Royal park is an impressive Olmsted-designed park with a superb view of downtown and the Saint Lawrence River valley. St. Denis has several bookstores, coffee houses, and restaurants. It is the center of francophone culture. The area near the Mont-Royal station is lively.
• The Museum of Fine Arts is quite good. Permanent exhibits are free. Shows have charges. I especially recommend Pointe-a-Calliere, the Montreal archeological museum near the St. Lawrence. Vistors see the layers of Montreal history by going down to the original foundations of buildings in the area.The Insectarium is the best insect museum I have seen. The remnants of Expo 67 and the 1972 Olympics are big parks with their own attractions.
• Go to the top of Mount Royal and see the view - the city is named after it (Mont Real).
• Eat breakfast in any bakery on the East side of town. (Croissants are heavenly)
• Eat dinner in Old Montreal.
• Cross at least one bridge over the St. Lawrence.
• Visit the little museum in Old Montreal that dates back to the early settlers - Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum in the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel.
• Check out the Architecture Museum, cinema culture, and les Habs (hockey team), but not necessarily in that order.
• The monument/tower/sculpture is all of the above and more. It was built for the Olympics to remove the roof from the stadium below -Astrodome with a French accent. The top of the structure offers great views, including an overview of the botanical gardens below. Locals call it the Big Owe. Avoid that topic. Photos are here: http://www.rio.gouv.qc.ca/

Plane tickets

• Airlines of the Web
• Continental.com: "I've made reservations online (and paid for my tickets online) a few times at the United web site and have always had good luck. I've done so once at the Continental site, and that turned out fine, too. They both have secure sites (the little key appears in the bottom left corner of your Netscape browser) and nothing bad has ever happened to me (no one has stolen my credit card number, I really did get a seat on the plane)."
• Expedia
• Lowestfare.com: "you might try www.lowestfare.com. They guarantee 20% savings on flights to 85 major cities. I was looking for an inexpensive flight to Charlotte NC (USAir has a corner on the market on this one) and the cheapest flight I could find was about $250. I checked on lowestfare.com and found a flight for about $100 less. It might be worth a try."
• Onetravel.com
• Orbitz
• Priceline.com
• Travelocity
• United Airlines: "I like United because they show you the availability of other airline's flights as well. I've never tried to purchase tickets from their site on another airline, but it seems like it would be possible to do so."

last modified October 30, 2001