I loved this city when we drove through on our 2022 road trip, but I never dreamed we’d be back again so soon. Thanks to a niece celebrating her wedding in Northern Vermont, we headed back to New England at the end of summer 2024, and I was happily surprised to discover that the nearest big airport was in Montreal. Thus, I was fortunate to spend my vacation both with family in Vermont and with French pastries in Montreal.
This time we stayed in an accessible room at the Hyatt Centric in the middle of Montreal. The location is ideal for tourists, since it’s close to downtown, Old Town, and the waterfront.
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The city’s first train station, now the home of Cirque Eloize, is directly across the street from the hotel, on the bridge. The Cirque offers performances, and there is a ramp up to the building entrance.
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Nearby Old Town is bisected by easily accessible paths at Place Jacques-Cartier, but the rest of the neighborhood can be challenging for wheelchair travel, because of cobblestone streets and sidewalks, poor curb cuts, uneven paved sidewalks, and inaccessible stores.
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Also nearby, the waterfront is very accessible, with walking and bike paths and flat terrain. The area near the hotel has even more bike paths, which I happily traveled on with my wheelchair.
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| Waterfront |
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There is an accessible metro station near the hotel at Champs de Mars.
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The hotel itself is accessible, through it requires some orienteering. The front desk is on the 3rd floor, which is accessed via a street on top of a bridge. The entrance is good and the sidewalk is relatively good, with curb cuts at the street corners, but those curb cuts are steep and uneven, and they are only at a distance from the hotel. Parking in front of the hotel is on the street, parallel to the sidewalk, and street signs warn of times that parking isn’t allowed.
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There is also parking and easier access to the hotel at the ground level (below the bridge), requiring the elevator to reach the 3rd floor front desk. The view from outside on the 3rd floor down the stairs into this courtyard is stunning (see photo above).
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The 14th floor -- accessible by elevator -- has a small indoor/outdoor bar. When I was there, I got a coupon for a free drink there when I checked in. I enjoyed that rooftop bar, even though the pool was closed and didn’t seem to have a lift. One night, I even watched a show projecting pictures of Montreal on buildings nearby. I never did figure out what the show was or where it was located, but it was spectacular.
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Our room (501) was specifically advertised for mobility disabled. It was almost truly accessible. The room itself had the usual accessibility features, such as a bare floor, a wheelchair-height bed with space beside it, outlets and a light switch by the bed, a lowered closet, and a roll-under desk. The bathroom had a wide door, a large counter top with a low shelf and a roll-under sink, a roll-in shower with a plastic curtain and vertical slide bar with a movable and detachable hand-held shower head. There was no shower chair upon arrival, but the hotel staff brought one right away when I called. The reason I wrote ALMOST accessible is that there were absolutely no grab bars anywhere — most notably, there were no grab bars near the toilet or shower. In addition, the entrance to the room was through two, heavy doors, making it difficult and noisy to enter/exit the room.
We were only in Montreal for a few days, so we headed to the pedestrian streets (temporarily closed to traffic) on the Plateau for most of the time. Some subway stations have elevators and are accessible, and the city is slowly working to increase the number of accessible stations. Two years ago, we had to take a slow and circuitous route to access the Plateau, since its main metro station at Mont Royal was not accessible. However, we noticed construction around it at the time and were very excited to discover that the station now has a wide entrance gate and two elevators, making it wheelchair accessible!
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We had a car one of the days, and we finally figured out that the blue on posts means the space is available for hourly parking; one can pay at the machine found down the street or around the corner.
I have read that the buses are accessible, but I don't have first-hand information for most of them. We only took one bus -- the #747 from the airport to the hotel -- and it had a ramp, lots of space for luggage, and a wheelchair space.
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On the Plateau, we spent most of our time on Mont Royal Street. Similar to last time, the street had barriers at the entrance to each block, closing it to vehicular traffic. Mont Royal Street was decorated with plants and furniture, and it was full of (accessible) outdoor seating for restaurants, cafes, and bars.
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We concentrated on favorite and new cafes with croissants, pastries and focaccia, including Premiere Moison and Cafe Farine et Vanille. We tried to go to Kouing Amman, which was highly recommended, but closed for weeks last time. Unfortunately, it was closed again this time, since we were there on a Monday (it’s always closed then). My favorite new bakery was Boulangerie Automne. We needed a car to get to this bakery, since it was not near a metro station, but once there, it was very accessible. It had a flat and smooth floor with lots of space and tables high enough for wheelchairs. They staff spoke English and had delicious food.
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Outside of the plateau, we visited two magical places. The first was a cheese shop, Fromagerie des Nations, in Brossard (100s of varieties of cheeses, and when I asked one sales woman's favorite, she responded -- correctly!-- that I couldn't afford it ... and then she steered me toward some more affordable, but delicious, cheeses).
The second was the Governor’s Garden connected to the Chateau Ramezay in Old Town. Although we did not go into the museum itself, we spent some time hanging out in the beautiful working vegetable and herb garden.
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Montreal is the birthplace and headquarters of the world-famous Cirque du Soleil. Beyond that, however, Montreal is a circus city — home to a circus school and various Cirques, offering shows and performances in circus tents and theaters. Every year there is a free two-week circus festival -- Montreal Completement Cirque -- turning parks and streets into colorful, magical celebrations with circus entertainment and demonstration into the late night. Last visit, we were lucky enough to catch the final night of the festival late into the evening near our hotel in the Quartier des Spectacles. This visit, we came too late, opting instead for a concert by a favorite Québécois band, De Temps Antan. Next time, however (and there WILL be a next time), we will make a point of timing our visit to match the July festival.
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