Day Trip to Montreal
June 12, 2011 12:34 PM Subscribe
We will be vacationing in northern Vermont in July and would like to take a day trip to Montreal. Can anyone suggest a place near the city where we might be able to park the car and then take the Metro? Or a place within the city where we might be able to park for a day? Our plan is to drive up in the morning, do some sightseeing, have dinner, and then head back to our Vermont B&B. Any advice would be appreciated!
OLechat beat me to it. I was going to recommend the same place. Whenever we go to Montreal, we stay at the hotel across the street from this Metro station.
posted by Ruki at 1:54 PM on June 12, 2011
posted by Ruki at 1:54 PM on June 12, 2011
If all you want to do is park the car, walk around the city, grab some dinner and leave, you don't need to park outside of the city and metro in, nor find a special lot. There is plenty of all day, non-metered, on-street parking available in the city, and you don't need any special permits or stickers. I know this, because I live in Montreal and park my car with Vermont plates on the street in front of my house every day and move it only for street cleaning.
You can park on the street in The Plateau or Mile End, both of which are fabulous areas to walk around. You can also walk, Bixi, or take a bus or subway to wherever else you want to go. As a bonus, there are tons of great restaurants in these neighborhoods so that, when you're finished, you just have to walk a block or two to your car, get in, and go.
The only consideration is to make sure that you read the street signs carefully for two things: (1) street cleaning; and (2) reserved residential parking. Here is an example. The top sign says no parking 4-6 Monday-Friday; the second sign indicates reserved parking for residents 9am-9pm, M-F; the bottom sign indicates no parking 9-10am Mondays and Thursdays, between March and December, for street cleaning. (That is an extreme example, most streets signs are much easier to figure out and have helpful directional arrows).
If you want specific recommendations, mefi mail me or respond here and I can narrow it down a bit more for you.
posted by googly at 4:04 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
You can park on the street in The Plateau or Mile End, both of which are fabulous areas to walk around. You can also walk, Bixi, or take a bus or subway to wherever else you want to go. As a bonus, there are tons of great restaurants in these neighborhoods so that, when you're finished, you just have to walk a block or two to your car, get in, and go.
The only consideration is to make sure that you read the street signs carefully for two things: (1) street cleaning; and (2) reserved residential parking. Here is an example. The top sign says no parking 4-6 Monday-Friday; the second sign indicates reserved parking for residents 9am-9pm, M-F; the bottom sign indicates no parking 9-10am Mondays and Thursdays, between March and December, for street cleaning. (That is an extreme example, most streets signs are much easier to figure out and have helpful directional arrows).
If you want specific recommendations, mefi mail me or respond here and I can narrow it down a bit more for you.
posted by googly at 4:04 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
I forgot to add as clarification: almost all of the streets in the Plateau and Mile End devote only part of the block to reserved residential parking, and indicate it clearly with arrows.
posted by googly at 4:13 PM on June 12, 2011
posted by googly at 4:13 PM on June 12, 2011
Alternatively, right downtown there's quite a few parking lots with reasonable rates. The cost of parking might turn out to cost less than the metro 2 ways for several people (depending on how many people you are), and it's more convenient -- especially if you're going in on the weekend or outside of rush hour (less traffic).
posted by Simon Barclay at 4:24 PM on June 12, 2011
posted by Simon Barclay at 4:24 PM on June 12, 2011
Yeah no need to park outside of the city. There's plenty of on-street parking. Lot of parking garages too. Two that come to mind in the the center of the city: the Marriott hotel on Peel has an underground lot that will take anyone that knows how to find it; underground lot on Parc street between Prince Arthur and Sherbrooke.
posted by smokingmonkey at 8:39 PM on June 12, 2011
posted by smokingmonkey at 8:39 PM on June 12, 2011
You don't have to park off the island, but as a Montrealer I want to thank you for having the consideration not to bring another car onto the island.
Also, there's a lot of road repair going on downtown this summer and rush hour gridlock seems to start around 2 p.m. all over the middle of town, so you're avoiding wasting time in a traffic jam. It's a good plan.
posted by zadcat at 9:47 AM on June 13, 2011
Also, there's a lot of road repair going on downtown this summer and rush hour gridlock seems to start around 2 p.m. all over the middle of town, so you're avoiding wasting time in a traffic jam. It's a good plan.
posted by zadcat at 9:47 AM on June 13, 2011
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posted by OLechat at 12:58 PM on June 12, 2011 [3 favorites]