Montreal Travel Forum

Mr travelmad478 and I have had Montreal "on the list" for a long time. We've decided to do a long weekend trip (4-5 days or so) this February, and the idea of a train trip to Montreal came up. Are we nuts to contemplate a tourist visit to the city when it's so cold/dark? Are there lots of "inside" things to do, or good winter-y outside things to do without a car?

This would probably be around Feb 13-17. I understand that there are some winter festivals in Montreal--are there any festivals going on during that period that would be good to visit? Is it difficult to get a hotel at such times?

Trying to predict the weather can be difficult because of local on the day variations.
This information should be used as a guide only.
Here is the average weather for Montreal for this time of year.
Enjoy your holiday.

February.
High 24f / -4c
Low 8f / -14c
Rain 2.22in / 56.4mm
Wind (from the) West

Yes, nothing wrong with a trip to Montreal in February, though it will be cold!! If you enjoy winter sports there's plenty to do including cross-country skiing, skating, snow-shoeing etc and of course the city itself, with its galleries, museums, theatres, bars and restaurants etc., doesn't shut for the winter!

As to getting about without a car; the Metro is excellent and reasonably priced. Also, pretty much the whole of Downtown sits atop the underground city, the RESO, which means that you can get about in the warm in the city-within-the-city. The RESO is a system of underground passages originally linking the Metro stations and has developed as a city in its own right with 32 kilometres of tunnels and 120 access points and has restaurants, bars, cinemas, shops etc. This is quite fascinating and despite the fact that it might sound a bit futuristically nightmareish is in fact quite the opposite and various sections have developed their own characteristics much in the same way as the aboveground city has its neighbourhoods.

For more info on the RESO visit the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_City,_Montreal

The main winter festival is the Carnaval de Quebec which I haven't been to but certainly looks like fun but since Montreal is well equipped with hotel rooms for its summer season I shouldn't imagine there would be any problems.

Go for it and enjoy!

OOOPS!! Sorry I meant the Fetes de Niege, not the Carnival de Quebec ;(

As exemplified by the poster above, quite often there is confusion with the location of the Winter Carnival in Quebec. Montreal always offers interesting things to do and see but for a real taste of winter activities, I would suggest you take a bus, train, or car and make the 2.5 h trip to Quebec City to enjoy the Winter Carnival (www.carnaval.qc.ca/en/index.asp). This year the Carnival ends on Feb 15th so you could presumably spend a couple of days in Quebec City and then another 2-3 days in Montreal to get the best of both cities.

A word of caution. If you do decide to come to the Winter Carnival, you will need to book a hotel room ahead of time. Let me know if you need recommendations.

Travelmad478 - if I were you guys I would stay in Quebec City Feb 13-14 and take in the Quebec Carnaval. I can assure you guys will have a blast and Quebec City in winter is about as romantic as it gets. You could then go to Montreal ( 2 1/2 hours away ) and spend the remainder of your time there. Montreal has tons of GREAT shopping, GREAT restaurants, GREAT nightlife, history etc... 2-3 days there will give you enough time to get a feeling for the place.

Thanks Sparky--actually I have just booked us to stay in Montréal from the 12th-16th. We're not taking the car on this trip, and we only have 3.5 days to spend on the ground, so it would be hard to do both cities justice. We're going to have to make our own fun in Montréal, I guess (unfortunately we will miss Fête des Neiges too!)