Lonely Planet Montreal

Went to Montreal for the first time in August 2008. This guide does a great job of letting you know about activities off the beaten path. For example, every Sunday in the summer there is a drum jam by the University in a park by the hill (it's called the tam tam jam). It's like Woodstock and totally made the trip for me. No other guide book discussed it, but this one did.

I find Lonely Planet guidebooks the most practically useful of all travel guidebooks. I find the Montreal/Quebec City to be definitely no exception. Just the maps in the book make it extremely worthwhile...no other maps are needed. Interviews with Montreal/Quebec City residents provide informative and real insider information about the cities, as do sections on history, culture and the arts. Information is adequately up-to-date. I highly recommend this book for anyone making a trip to one or both of the cities.

I'm impressed by the amount of detail, all the stories and know-hows have matched to what a well traveled friend says of Montreal. Highlights dinning, lodging, and sites for each section of the city.

I spent a month in Montreal to study French and used this book to explore the city. It lead me to some cool places that I would not have found otherwise and gave me good insight into the neighborhoods. By going to the recommended bagel shops, I discovered Mile End, my favorite place in the city. I also found the recommended breweries to be worthwhile. Overall this was worth the money.

I used this guidebook while visiting Montreal in summer 2001 and had no problems at all. As to be expected from Lonely Planet, the color maps at the back are great and the three walking tours really give you a feel for the city. The restaurant list was excellent, especially an extended section on Montreal's famous bagels. There was a large chapter on excursions from Montreal, which included Ottawa, Quebec City and the Laurentian mountains among other places. All the standard Lonely Planet bits on history, culture, arts and religion were very informing; best was the little section on Canadian French where I learned to say "y'est quelle heure" instead of "quelle heure est-il."The only complaint I could have was the lack of a map of the underground shopping city, which we found confusing to navigate, even with the map provided by the tourist authority. Otherwise it's as good a guidebook to Montreal as you're likely to find anywhere.