Tag: montreal

Hotel Omni Mont-Royal – A Review

This post is made possible in part by my Patreon supporters, and for Rasmussen Travels for setting the trip up. Thank you.

This post is a review of the Hotel Omni Mont-Royal. They are not paying me for this entry, and in no way have sponsored, endorsed, or have administered me to have written this post.

This is the hotel we chose to stay at in the Montréal portion of our French Canada anniversary trip.

First Impressions

Getting into the hotel was a bit rough, but I give that more to the city than the hotel. We had to turn left in the middle of a block while on a fairly busy street when there was a bit of construction on the sidewalk by the parking entrance. When we finally were able to get to the valet, they were extremely helpful. They loaded everything up on the luggage cart, and brought everything up to my room. However, we forgot somethings that we needed in the car, so they ran down and brought them to my room. It was great. Like in Québec, they knew that we were celebrating our honeymoon/anniversary, so they upgraded our room. Also, they gave us a bottle of champagne and a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. This alone puts Omni on top of my list from now on to look for hotels when I go to a new location.

Room details

We booked a Deluxe Room, and ended up with an Omni Suite. This room opens to a living room with a couch, two armchairs, a desk with a coffee maker, and a TV. This room has its own bathroom. Through a set of French doors, you enter the bedroom with a king sized bed, a TV, and its own bathroom. I got a lot of use out of the sofa in the living room as we kept returning to rest between segments of our day. The available Internet was not wired, but there was of course WiFi, and the TVs were cable. Even though we were on the 10th floor, the windows actually opened to let in fresh air (a safe amount; a person cannot fit through)! That was a nice touch. Shout out to housekeeping for keeping the room spectacular as we explored the city.

View from 10th floor of Montréal. See Mont Royal in the background

Hotel Amenities

The hotel included a bar, the aforementioned valet, a fitness centre, a pool, a spa, a restaurant, a business centre, and more. Out of these amenities, we only took advantage of the valet and the bar. At the bar, I tried out a new drink that even the bartender had not done before. I based it off of the Manhattan, only it is Canadian whisky and Sortilège (a whisky based maple liqueur). It was very tasty.

“Lobby” Credit to OMNI Hotels & Resorts image library

Hotel Location

It was a far walk to Old Montréal, but it was still walkable. Yet, I would not judge anyone who would rather take a cab or public transportation to get there. Mont Royal was only a few blocks away, so we were able to walk there and back in the course of a late morning, early afternoon, and still get to Old Montréal for the rest of the day. It is also in the heart of the financial district, therefore RESO, the underground city, is easily accessible.

Recommendations

This stay was nothing short of amazing. I already know that we have to come back to Montréal to see more. This will not be my last stay at this hotel.

This post is a part of a series. Read more of the series here.

  1. “Le Voyage de canada français“
  2. “Un Jour en Québec“
  3. “Delta Hotels by Marriott Québec – A Review“
  4. “Un Jour en Montréal“
  5. “Hotel Omni Mont-Royal – A Review”

Un Jour en Montréal

This post is made possible in part by my Patreon supporters, and for Rasmussen Travels for setting the trip up . Thank you.

Description and Brief History

Montréal was the second major stop on our French Canadian trip. We quickly learned that Montréal did not attract us as fast as Québec did. I usually do not mind urban driving, but Montréal proved itself to have some of the worst drivers of a city I have visited. Up there with New York, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City. It was a great moment to pull into the hotel and drop the car off, not to need it again until we had to leave.

Montréal is the largest city in the Provence of Québec, and is an important economic hub for Canada. It is also the second largest Canadian city, right behind Toronto. Percentage-wise, the Anglophone community of Montréal is larger than Québec. It lies on an island where the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers meet, roughly a little more than 150 miles from Québec.

What We Did

After we arrived, we turned our car over the valet, and headed for dinner at Peel Pub, caught a movie, and turned in.

Waking up this day proved to be a bit more difficult. After days of moving on and on, exhaustion finally caught up to us. So we ended up sleeping in a bit.

When we finally got up for our day, we headed towards the mountain in the heart of the city that gave the city its name: Mont Royal (in English, Mount Royal). We spent all morning hiking this mountain. We did not take the direct pathway towards the summit, but taking the switchback pathways. While we were there, I thought that it had a Central Park “feel,” only to find out that the designer of the Mount Royal park was the same designer of Central Park. We stopped for lunch at a café. After lunch, we continued our hike, and ended at the famous Chalet du Mont-Royal. I was excited to find a piano found in the lookout, only to find that through use, it was well loved, but not as playable as I would have hoped. The views of Montréal from this lookout were stunning.

We then made our descent and went back to our hotel, rested a moment, and headed towards Old Montréal to visit Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal. Unfortunately, they had closed only 30 minutes before we got there, so we could not go inside. Oh well.

Then Jordan read about a cool place to visit for the evening after dinner: Bootlegger l’authentique, a jazz bar that serves whiskey and classic cocktails. We love jazz, and love swing dancing, and I am a fan of whiskey, so we walked there. Again unfortunately, they are not open on Mondays, so we could not get in. So we took a quick rest at Mckibbins Irish Pub, then walked back to our hotel to decide on dinner.

We chose 3 Brasseurs (3 Brewers in English) for dinner. We split a wonderful flammekueche, or tarte flambée, a flat bread topped with cheese and other toppings, similar to a flat pizza, and paired it with an amber ale. We were seated at a corner table, and it was a busy intersection, so it was a great time to people watch.

Conclusions

While not as enjoyable to us as Québec was, we still enjoyed Montréal and want to come back. One day is simply not enough time to explore what Montréal has to offer. So when we come back, it would be more than 1 or 2 full days.

Things I did not get to see or visit this time around, but will in the future:

  • Old Montréal and the Ports
  • Notre Dame Bascilica
  • Bootlegger l’authentique
  • Biosphère de Montréal
  • Biodôme de Montréal
  • Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
  • RESO, the underground city

This post is a part of a series. Read more of the series here.

  1. “Le Voyage de canada français“
  2. “Un Jour en Québec“
  3. “Delta Hotels by Marriott Québec – A Review“
  4. “Un Jour en Montréal”
  5. “Hotel Omni Mont-Royal – A Review“

Le Voyage de canada français

This post is made possible in part by my Patreon supporters, and for Rasmussen Travels for setting the trip up. Thank you.

Since we were graciously given time at a resort for our honeymoon in Cabo san Lucas, we could not go on the honeymoon of our original choice: Québec. Last year for our anniversary, we also could not go, so we went to Chicago. This year, thankfully, we were finally able to go. It was a 5 day Québécois vacation; half in Québec, half in Montréal.

Day 1

Thursday, May 24

I picked up the car from Enterprise, dropped off our rabbit, and we took off to drive through the night (something I usually try to avoid). The drive took 18 hours to get to Québec.

Day 2

Friday, May 25

Driving day. This sucked. It was supposed to take 18 hours, and ended up taking closer to 23. From car sickness, to construction, to car crashes stopping traffic, to even the GPS crashing and losing signal, it seemed like the Canadian highways themselves were determined to keep us from ever reaching Québec. However, I was even more determined to finally get there.

Eventually, we did get there.

After a 23 hour drive, and me being awake for almost 25 hours straight, we finally were able to check in at the hotel. That was not so easy either. Of course, we had bank troubles, as the credit card we originally planned on using apparently was not allowed to be used internationally (despite the fact of me checking if it could before the trip). We checked in, I changed into a polo and blazer, and my wife and I toasted to arriving at the hotel bar before going to bed.

We stayed at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Quebec. A review of that hotel is available.

Day 3

Saturday, May 26

We woke up, and immediately headed towards Old Québec. We also immediately fell in love. We spent the entire afternoon walking around the Old City: visiting the cathedrals, the Château Frontenac, and exploring the small shops and boutiques. Plus, it was great to be able to speak in French, something we do not get a lot of opportunity to back home in Central Illinois. Turns out that it was unusually warm that weekend, and it was nice and sunny this day. That made for easy walking. For dinner, we walked away from the touristy area, and found an inviting Irish Pub. Then we turned in for the night. Full details of our day can be found here.

Day 4

Sunday, May 27

This was another travel day. This being our last day in Québec, we departed for Montréal. About half way there, we stopped at Trois-Rivières. We were recommended to go by my voice teacher who grew up there. Unfortunately for me, I was getting frustrated with the GPS, and simply pulled over to the nearest bakery (“boulangerie“) for lunch, and then got back on the highway to get to Montréal. Sadly, this bakery was not in the best neighbourhood, and the stop made me frustrated further and not want to visit anymore of the city. It turns out that I simply needed to get two blocks more west to get to the main road and get downtown. The negative fruits of frustration.

Two hours later, we made it to Montréal. The people driving there are worse than drivers in even New York. Back to being frustrated. We pulled into the hotel, turned in our car, and checked in. We stayed at the Hotel Omni Mont-Royal. It was wonderful. Here is that review. For dinner, we went to a Canadian bar, and then watched Deadpool 2. Watching Deadpool in Canada (a Canadian character played by a Canadian actor) was a completely different experience, especially with all the Canadian jokes. After a tiring day, we turned in.

Day 5

Monday, May 28

This day was the first day we slept in this entire trip. It was great, and very much was needed. We spent the morning hiking Mont Royal, the mountain on the island where the city gets its name. We were able to get lunch and pictures of the skyline from the top. We then descended and walked over to Old Montréal to visit Notre Dame Bascilica. Sadly, they closed just 30 minutes before we arrived. So we turned around and went to dinner at a French style tavern and people watched while eating. We ended the day by visiting the hotel bar before going to bed.

Day 6

Tuesday, May 29

Thus ends our trip. We woke up, checked out, and hopped back in the car for the 15 hour drive home.

This post is a part of a series. Read more of the series here.

  1. “Le Voyage de canada français”
  2. Un Jour en Québec
  3. Delta Hotels by Marriott Quebec
  4. Un Jour en Montréal
  5. Hotel Omni Mont-Royal