Montreal Central Station...?

Question

I'm planning to take Amtrak to Montreal from NYC. Is the area near the Montreal station a "walkable" area? Do I need a car? What are some of the local areas that I can go to without a car? What are some "must-see" places? Is there a cheap decent hotel in the area too? I'm planning to be there from Saturday night and leaving Monday.

Thank you!!

Answer 1

Montreal central station (Gare centrale) is right in the heart of downtown.  You do not need a car, and it would in fact be extremely inconvenient to have one (crappy drivers, expensive parking/petrol).  You can cover a good deal of the sites on foot, and the metro system is decent to see some of the farther sites... it might be worth getting a daily pass (I believe 8$) since metro tickets add up (1 is $2,75, a 6-pack is around $12).

  Must-see places: Old Montreal, Rue St. Catherine (if you wanna see some real crazy people), Rue St. Denis (nice bars and restaurants), St. Joseph Oratory (beautiful church- take the metro to Cote-des-Neiges), Musée des Beaux-Arts on Rue Sherbrooke near Crescent is a pretty good (and free!) art museum.  The Underground City is interesting, but not much to do there but shop.

    I don't know about a cheap hotel.  I would do interenet research for a decent place... it totally depends on your budget.  When I travel, I try to aim for less than $10 a night on lodging, but I don't think thats possible in Montreal.  $25 might get you a bed at a hostel, $60-80 a kinda dingy hotel room, $120 for a reasonable room, and $180+ for luxury would be my guess.... but as I live here, I've never had to pay for a hotel room.

Answer 2

You got some excellent answers already.

Why am I even here?!?

Surplus to requirement, I'd say.

Answer 3

Montreal Central Station is in the heart of montreal, inside the 'underground city'. It is part of Montreal's core area directly connected to the subway via the Bonaventure station (orange line).

You will not need a car once you are in downtown Montreal (awesome, eh?). To move around, you can easily walk around town and buy a subway Tourist Card, good for 3 days at 17$CAD (ask them at any ticket booth).

Some touristic attractions:

The Old Port of Montreal is a popular tourist area with lots of open space, right next to the Marché Bonsecours. Once you get out of the Place-d'armes metro station (orange line) walk to your right.

The Stade Olympique is at the Pie IX metro station (green line) and it's right next to the Botanical Garden and other tourist attractions.

Montreal's nightlife is pretty much everywhere downtown. But must of the action is on the Main street (St-Laurent). Get there via the green line at the St-Laurent station. There is also Saint-Denis and Ste-Catherine (Berri-UQAM station, the main station).

There is also 'Le Plateau', a very hip neighborhood with Montreal's typical staircases. You can get there at the Mont-Royal subway station on the orange line. At the same station, you can also walk to MontRoyal, the 'Central Park' of Montreal. From the top of the mountain, you have a splendid view of the city.

Finally, yes, Montreal is in Quebec and it's population is mostly francophone. Everyone is very kind and especially kinder if you know some french words like 'Merci' (thank you), 'Pouvez-vous m'aider s'il-vous-plait?' (Can you help me, please) and 'Bonjour/Allo' *(hi/hello). Almost every francophone knows some basic english and (almost) all  employees have to be bilingual to work.

Tourism Montreal has more details on things to do and to see:

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

You can also browse the 'answered' section, there is a lot more information there.

Have fun!