Montreal (Travel Question)

[Claeren]

Hey All!

A friend and I are going to hit up Montreal this weekend on a last minute guys trip and I know CPuck is the place to go with these sorts of questions!

Where should we stay? We don't care about cost, we just want something with a fantastic location and a hip feel to it??

Hotel Germain, W Montreal, Hotel Le Crystal, and Hotel le Saint Sulpine all seem cool? But I see lots of other options: Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, Place D'armes, Omni Mont-Royal, Opus Hotel, Sofital Montreal Golden Mile, etc.

Location is first priority. Hip and/or historical right behind that -- something with character, regardless of what kind! I hate typical anything....

Thoughts?



Mostly I am asking about the hotel situation but if anyone wants to add a couple comments on where two single guys should go to experience the Montreal nightlife, great food, maybe a couple wicked breakfast places, and/or maybe a cool gallery or attraction I am all ears! I am really into modern design and architecture as a reference, oh, and really hot girls! lol



Claeren.

[HelloHockeyFans]

Not sure what kind of scene you are in (pubs vs. bars vs. clubs), but Time Supper Club is an awesome club in Montreal with some extremely hot women lol.

Can't remember which nights we normally went (I'm leaning towards Saturdays), but the party was always wicked. My suggestion is to get some ladies to go with you or get VIP ahead of time 'cause the few times I went there, it was obvious you weren't getting in unless you were with people the owners knew or you were with a huge group of girls.

www.timesupperclub.com

Review: http://www.clubzone.com/c/Montreal/L...pper_Club.html

[ben voyonsdonc]

You are going to the right city. It has an amazing nightlife - check out Ste-Catherines. So much to do. Stripper bars everywhere! Great city for hookers and blow.

Check out Buona Notte for good italian. Kinda expensive but is very high end.

If you want hip - Plateau Mont-Royal is pretty neat. There is also the area around the McGill campus which might be a little less pretentious.

[Claeren]

Not into the club scene really anymore unless I am with a big group of women, like you said.

More into the lounge scene? Chill and drink a few bourbons? Chat with people/women if it is easy to do so but not forcing it either.

Hotel with wicked location is the critical part here though. Even if people have not been inside but just walked by and noted that a certain hotel seemed to have a killer location where people should stay in the city. I am thinking I must want to stay in the older quarter in the city?



Claeren.

[BlackEleven]

A lot of the hotel names you've listed that I recognize are in the Old Prot. It's the more swanky area of town -- lots of business travellers and rich tourists as well as local business people. Not sure if that's what you're looking for. The hotels in this area are mostly all five-star kinda stuff.

The Plateau is the sort of hip bohemian area of the city if that's what you're looking for. Mostly artsy hippy types. It's also where most of the ethnic neighbourhoods are -- Little Italy, Portugal, France, the Jewish quarter, etc. Cheap, good restaurants and pubs abound.

Personally, if I had to get a hotel I'd stay around the Latin Quarter, which is about halfway between the Plateau and Old Port, geographically speaking. It's where most the young locals go (including myself); you won't find many tourists around. The lodging around here are mostly B&Bs, although nice ones. It's also primarily French speaking. Not sure if that bothers you or not. If it does, downtown (Crescent, Bishop, de la Montange) is mostly an English speaking crowd.

Downtown is another option. Close to everything listed above, but nothing overly spectacular to see (imo).

If there's anything else I can help with (restaurants and such) just fire away. I love this city!

[Barnes]

Bring me back some bagels please.

There's an older thread with tons of info if you want to search around.

hmm... I have some Dunn's, Reuben's and Chenoy's smoked meat in the freezer. Which should I have for supper?

I also have some St Hubert BBQ sauce for fries tonight.....

Gotta go..

[evilcougar]

wow, i can't believe no one has mentioned crescent street. you MUST MUST MUST go to cresent st. it intersects with st catherines. cresent in montreal is like how electric ave used to be here....now i'm dating myself a bit....except that cresent is way better. it has everything and every kind of nightlife. pubs, nightclubs, pub/nightlcubs and awesome restaurants. also hard rock cafe is there.
and definatley agree on buona notte. amazing food there.
my favorite club there by far is Thursdays. it's pretty versatile.
as for hotels, i have no idea b/c i've only ever stayed at the marriot (been on 2 work trips to montreal. and i always extend my visit b/c it's such a beautiful city with amazing shopping and super awesome nightlife.) which is about 5 blocks away from st catherines/cresent intersection.
if you're into any site seeing at all old montreal is very european. it's really really cool.
thats all i got.

[Tyler]

The W is an amazing hotel, and is located pretty centrally.

Stayed there for a week for a conference and had an absolutely blast. Super modern, super swanky, and a dance club in the lobby!

[Slava]

I stayed at the Hotel Queen Elizabeth a year or two ago and it was good. You can walk to a lot of good places from there (if you don't mind a bit of a walk). I walked to Old Montreal, as well as Ste. Catherines (numerous times) and Crescent Street.

I can't say that I recommend Crescent Street...it just wasn't my cup of tea. Its a fantastic city though and in some ways you just can't go wrong!

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

I know all the characterless, practical business hotels. So i can give you the don't stay list other than location. Sheraton Centre is perfect for hockey. International is handy fr old montreal.

Le Meridien has a bit more character but the restuarant is quite good and the location is great for museums and things.

A colleague loves the Germain for some of what you are after. She's got good taste too - though always business travel.

[Hammertime]

Grab some breakfast at Eggspectation off St. Catherines.. Best eggs benedict I've ever had

http://www.eggspectation.ca

[Claeren]

Thanks everyone, some really good info there!!

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

The Plateau is the sort of hip bohemian area of the city if that's what you're looking for. Mostly artsy hippy types. It's also where most of the ethnic neighbourhoods are -- Little Italy, Portugal, France, the Jewish quarter, etc. Cheap, good restaurants and pubs abound.

Can you think of any cool hotels in this area? (I am looking also.)

Personally, if I had to get a hotel I'd stay around the Latin Quarter, which is about halfway between the Plateau and Old Port, geographically speaking. It's where most the young locals go (including myself); you won't find many tourists around. The lodging around here are mostly B&Bs, although nice ones. It's also primarily French speaking. Not sure if that bothers you or not.

French speaking as in I am screwed if my french sucks? lol

Any hotels in this area you can think of?



Generally if I can reference the location of one area hotel I can kind of go from there!







Claeren.

[Barnes]

The W is a good location. I stay at the residence inn on Peel because of the awsome free breakfasts. It's a bit out of the way but easy walking to most things plus I know my way around the underground an Metro.

And Cresecent St is for 16 year olds and Americans.

[TimSJ]

I am a big fan of the W as well. Also really like Le Germain as well.

[BlackEleven]

Can you think of any cool hotels in this area? (I am looking also.)

It's hard to know for sure. Since I live in the city, I don't stay in hotels obviously But from what I see when I'm walking around in the area its mostly small B&B type places. After all, the hipster artsy crowd frown upon big corporate hotels and such

French speaking as in I am screwed if my french sucks? lol

Any hotels in this area you can think of?

No, not at all. Montreal is a very bilingual city. Almost everyone speaks both languages. You'll just hear French spoken around you a lot more around here. Traditionally, the French have their bars and pubs and the English have theirs, but the lines are blurring more and more all the time.

As for hotels, I know the Manoir du St. Denis is right there because I walk by it all the time when I'm going out. It's not a swanky hotel by any means (probably a 3 star or something), but its right in the middle of the action, which is why I always notice it. It's right on the corner of St. Denis and Ontario, which is right smack in the middle of a bunch of cool pubs and restaurants. Le Mer a Boire, St. Bock, the Distillery, Magellean, La Paryse (maybe the best burger joint in town), and on and on.

[Cactus Jack]

Originally Posted by Hammertime

Grab some breakfast at Eggspectation off St. Catherines.. Best eggs benedict I've ever had

http://www.eggspectation.ca

I believe it's on de Maisonnueve?
________
Lovely Wendie

[JerzeeGirl]

And here's the obligatory mention of Schwartz's Deli - must have a smoked meat sandwich there whenever one is in Montreal....mmmmm....

[mykalberta]

The Laval Campus, bring lots of condoms.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Claeren

Thanks everyone, some really good info there!!





Can you think of any cool hotels in this area? (I am looking also.)



French speaking as in I am screwed if my french sucks? lol

Any hotels in this area you can think of?



Generally if I can reference the location of one area hotel I can kind of go from there!







Claeren.

No worries, pretty much everyone speaks English in Montreal, even in the Latin Quarter. I stayed at a hostel last summer very centrally located in that area (Near Sherbrooke and St. Denis) and got served everywhere in English. I made a point of speaking as much as I know to not come off as much like an ignorant Anglo from the west and was fairly well recieved. You will have a great time there.

[Jiggy]

I'm going to be making a trip to Montreal next month. Is St.Catherine's st in downtown? If not, how far is it from dt?