By Boat:
Montreal is serviced by two airports, one is for chartered flights
Mirabel and the other for international flights and north American flights Dorval. Be sure to
check with your airline to see at which airport you are going to land because it can make a big
difference. Mirabel airport is farther away than Dorval and it's more expensive to get from
Mirabel to downtown than it does from Dorval to downtown Montreal. For more information
on either airport, call 1-800-465-1213 or go to Aéroports de Montréal's web site (it's the
company that manages both airports) for flight schedules and general information on the
airports.
There are four ways you can get to downtown from Dorval (and vice-versa) :
- The bus shuttle that costs around $9.00 and goes to the downtown airport bus
terminal.
- The public transit system (MUCTC) with a combination of bus/commuter train or
bus/metro.
- Windsor train station). To see the schedule of commuter trains on that line from
Dorval (5th column from the right on the schedule) to downtown. downtown, take
the green line).
- The taxi ride from Dorval to downtown is a fixed fair at around $24 for regular
taxis, you can always share a ride (there are also limousine services).
- By car (rental of course), it's about a 15-20 min. ride to downtown. If you want
to go downtown (that's where most of the hotels are anyway), take autoroute 20
east to the Décarie interchange then the 720 east (AKA Ville-Marie highway or
autoroute Ville-Marie) then take the Guy street exit (it will put you on St-Marc
street actually which is to the west of the most hotels downtown). The de la
Montagne exit is closer to the center of downtown.
Mirabelwhich is about a half hour drive north of Montreal. There's about a couple
airlines that service the Mirabel airport but it's usually used for chartered flights only, so
the transportation to Montreal will probably provided for you. You can visit the
Aéroports de Montréal's Mirabel section. To get a list of those airlines or for more
information on Mirabel airport, call (514) 476-3010.
There are three ways you can get to downtown from Mirabel (and vice-versa) :
- The bus shuttle (Connaisseur) that costs around $12.00 and goes to the
downtown airport bus terminal.
- The taxi ride from Mirabel to downtown is a fixed fixed at around $55, you can
always share a ride (there are also limousine services).
- By car (rental of course), it's about a 30-40 min. ride downtown. Take autoroute
15 south down to the 40 (AKA metropolitan highway or autoroute
métropolitaine), go west on the 40 until you get to the 15 south again then you
can take the Sherbrooke street east exit (that's where most hotels are located).
By train (train station) : If you take the train from the US using Amtrakfrom another province or from
anywhere else in Quebec, you'll arrive at Central Station (Gare Centrale) which is right
downtown. From there you can take the metro at Bonaventure station or even walk since
Central station is connected to the underground tunnels (see the Underground city district).
The only direct connection from the US to Montreal is Amtrak's Adirondack train that starts
from New York city.
By bus (bus terminal) : The bus terminal is located on Berri street near de Maisonneuve and
is serviced by Voyageurand other companies (Trentway-Wagar from Toronto, from
3-Rivières, Quebec city, Rivière-du-Loup (connections to the Maritimes), and Gaspé they are
run by Orléans Express, from Sherbrooke and Magog it's Sherbus, etc.) and Greyhoundand
Adirondack Trailways (from the US).lookup fares and schedules on the Greyhound
web site.
By car (autoroutes and bridges): There are many different ways you can get to Montreal
by car so I can't list all of them. I can, on the other hand, list the major highways (autoroutes)
that go to Montreal and its bridges (for a detailed road map of the region, visit the Mapquest
web site). Since Montreal is on an island, you'll have to cross a bridge at some point (or go
through a tunnel). By the way, most foreign drivers license are valid in Quebec, that includes
the US.
The main bridges that link the south shore to the island are :
- Jacques-Cartier Bridge: this is Montreal's most beautiful bridge and the best way to
see Montreal when you come in, especially at sunrise or sunset (although sometimes -
in winter that is - sunrise coincide with the morning rush hour).
- The Champlain Bridge: the Champlain bautoroute 10 will get you to the bridge.
- The Victoria Bridge:
The Victoria bridge : route 112 will get you to the Victoria bridge and can be accessed
the same way as the Jacques-Cartier bridge. N.B. The Victoria bridge is under
reconstruction is it is only open during rush hours only (morning and evening).
- The Hippolyte-Lafontaine Bridge:
Hippolyte-Lafontaine bridge - tunnel (pont-tunnel), it's a bridge? it's a tunnel? it's both.
If you come in from the south shore, it's first a bridge over part of the St-Laurent river
then it goes under the river (that's the tunnel part which is actually a large concrete tube
sitting at the bottom of the river). To get to the pont-tunnel, you use autoroute 20 and
you can take the Sherbrooke (route 138) west exit to go downtown.
N.B. all these bridges and autoroutes are busy (to say the least) during rush hour and to add
the the traffic, this summer (1998) the Victoria bridge will be under repair so there'll probably
be some major traffic jams. Also, the Jacques-Cartier bridge is closed for a couple of hours
for the fireworks during the summer competition either on Saturday or Wednesday nights
usually from 20:00 to 23:00.
By boat (ports and marinas) : I don't have a lot of information on this for the moment but I
know that there are cruises that come to Montreal either from Quebec city or from the east
coast of the US (Boston, New York). I'll try to get more information on the subject. If you
own a yatch or sailing boat, there are marinas where you can dock either in the old port or at
Ile Ste-Helene. There's also some shipping company let you hop on their freight ships (I'm
talking about legitimate travel...), it's cheap but it's not the most comfortable way to travel.
Special thanks to Tom Box for all his very informative comments.
By Airplane
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