FROM MIRABEL AIRPORT -- 61 km/38 mi (45-60 minute drive)
Take Highway 15 South to Highway 40 West to Decarie South. Exit for Sherbrooke/St. Jacques St. Turn left on Sherbrooke to St. Mathieu St. Mirabel Airport Bus: Grayline bus service to downtown with transfer to hotel by shuttle van. $14.50 one way. Taxi from Mirabel: Flat rate to downtown, $60.00 CAN.
FROM DORVAL AIRPORT -- 22 km/14 mi (20-25 minute drive)
Follow 20 East to Autoroute Ville Marie (720 East). Take exit 3 for Guy St. Follow St. Marc to Sherbrooke, turn right onto Sherbrooke, the hotel is one block from St. Marc St. Dorval Airport Bus: Grayline non-stop to hotel, $9.00 per person one way. Taxi from Dorval: Flat rate to downtown, $25.00 CAN.
Traffic hours:
From the south shore of the St.Laurence river there are four bridges and one tunnel that can get you through the city. Champlain(route10 and 15) is the first to avoid under any circumstances aspecially from 6:00am to 9:45am and 4:00pm to 6:30pm. Mercier(route 138) is hard to predict but if you get on it before 7:00am your chances to get through are better. Jacques Cartier(route 134) is the sure shot in the morningand in the afternoon because with this bridge people are usually waiting not more than 15 minutes to get on the other side of the river. The L-H Lafontaine Tunnel(route 20 and 25) is also a lot of trouble strating from 7:30am to 9:15am and 3:30pm to 6:00pm in weekdays. Also, the Jacques-Cartier bridge is closed for a couple of hours for the fireworks during the summer competition either on Saturday or Sundays nights usually from 20:00 to 23:00.
From the Northern part of Montreal the traffic situation is concentrated on the 15 south from 6:45am to 9:30am and 3:30pm to 6:30pm. The other access are usually clear. Inside the city, St-laurent street between de Maisonneuve and Jean-Talon is a real mess on Friday and Saturday night, cars can hardly get through. The situation is the same on Cresent and St-Denis between Ste-Catherine and Sherbrooke. In Old port Vieux Montréal, during summer, it is better to go by metro and by walk otherwise the waste of time will be too big. Every driver who may want to park her or his car in the streets of Montreal should be carefull about No Parking signs, hours, right to stop, parking meter of 2 hours maximum... Also, you should know that you can't turn left on many major streets; therefore, prepare to turn a couple before and circule around. Although it might be hard to avoid, route 40 ,which can also be named Trans-Canada(T-Can), eleveted way or Metropolitan is always bumper to bumper. If you are planing to go in Ottawa, the nation's Capital, you should take route 20 West and switch in Vaudreuil on the route 540 then take 40 West. Moreover, heading for Quebec city is considered eaisier by route 20 East than route 40 East . St-laurent street which is considered a north-south axis street divides the East from West. The Eastern part is known to be mainly French speaking and the western part in known to be mainly English speaking. However, most of the Montrealers speak both languages.
A summer look at the Old port Vieux Montreal
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