Customer Reviews

Top 10 Montreal and Quebec City (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This guide book is filled with colorful pictures and list top-10 tourist spots in Montreal and Quebec, it almost list top-10 tourist spots, dining, shopping, night life etc in different sections of the cities. Overall it's an excellent guide book to accompany one's trip to Monteral/Quebec.
The only problem is after visiting some of the top-10 spots I find myself disagreeing with the choice of the author. While some interesting spots were left out of given less attention. Some information is also outdated or incorrect, such as museum opening hours.
For example, while the cross on Mount Royal has historical significance, the steel structure itself is unimpressive and I doubt whether it's worth walking half-way through Mount-Royal Park just to see the cross.
Another example is the Museum of French America in Quebec city, which houses many interesting exhibits but it wasn't even mentioned in the guide.
Apart from tourists spots, I also find myself disagreeing with some top-10 restaurants picks. For example, the Alphenaus restaurant (in downtown Montreal) recommended by the guide is located in a kind-of-run-down neighbourhood and AAA only gives it 2 diamonds. There are some good picks though, like Le Latini in Montreal.

One last glitch about this travel guide is the inclusion of some seemingly irrelevant information. While it's good to know about Celine Dion or the separatist movement, I'm not sure how useful that information is to my trip.

Summary:
The good:
Clear, concise, numbered list of tourist attractions, restaurants, etc. Also some travel tips. Most attractions lists are show on mini-map and nearest metro station, which makes the job of finding that attraction/restaurant a lot easier.

The bad:
some out-dated information, some top-10 picks questionable

The bottomline:
This is an excellent guide to accompany anyone travelling to Montreal/Quebec city

This is a great little travel book if you are planning your first trip to Quebec. Not having any idea about what we wanted to do, this book basically planned our trip. It's also small enough to carry with you. It also has maps.

These books are always fantastic. They are choc-full of good information and it's so handy and useful. Inside, it talks about all the top 10 things in different sections. For example, the top 10 hotels, restaurants, shops etc. I also really love all the beautiful colour pages. Some guide books use black and whites etc, but these guys always make the city in question look stunning. Obviously this book is merely a small guide with only a certain amount of information - if you want a lot more depth, you have to get their full bigger books (which are also great). But for someone with a bit of knowledge already about a particular place, this is just a top up of info that comes in real handy. I highly recommend this book (especially since it is dealing with two cities instead of concentrating on only one). A good guide to two beautiful cities.

I really like these "Top 10" pocket guidebooks. They provide a lot of information and, best of all, fit nicely into my back pocket. [A trait that few other "pocket" guidebooks ever seem to achieve.]

However, this particular Top 10 guidebook -- Montreal and Quebec City -- only gets four stars because of various odd omissions.

There's no map of the Montreal Metro. Why not?

Although the book covers both Montreal and Quebec City, it neglects to provide information on how to get from one to the other. Is there a train? If so, how often does it run? How much does it cost? How long does it take? Are there busses? How long to drive from one city to the other by car? All this should have been described in detail.

Also, the book is needlessly vague at times. The author says that a taxi from the Montreal airport to downtown should be avoided because they're "too expensive." But what exactly is "too expensive"? $50? $100? More?

Currently, there is a fixed price of $35 Canadian dollars for a taxi from Trudeau airport to downtown Montreal. That's not exactly cheap. But, if you've ever taken a black cab from Gatwick to downtown London, you know it isn't truly expensive either.

The author should just list current prices and let the reader decide what is "too expensive."

Otherwise, though, the book is quite helpful.

This nicely practical guide to the charming city of Montreal plus Quebec City is clearly worth a look. At just 4 X 7 inches (and 1/3rd inch thick) it fits neatly into your purse, pants or shirt pocket. Despite its enticing compactness, the guide contains a surprising wealth of useful information and photos on top attractions, museums, restaurants, hotels, outdoor activities, attractions for children, etc. On our brief trip we never got near all of varied attractions and venues listed in these readable pages. The guide also provides useful (if small) city maps that include many station on the Montreal subway. There is also a brief phrase book by the index; non-French speakers should learn a few basic words and phrases for reasons of practicality and respect even though many French Canadians can speak at least some English.

As the title suggests this is not an all-ecompassing guide for long-term visitors on extended stays. But it's a handly little pocket guide for most casual travelers.

I was a bit disappointed that the pictures and print were so small. It was an adequate guide to travel the city.

I like the small size of this guide you can bring everywhere easily. It is really usefull to have it to choose and see everything important and to find your favorite interests,restaurants or hotels in this place efficiently by looking at the differents sections it proposes. The maps are well done...really, I have also this one for NY city and it worths its price. Enjoy.

I keep collecting the DK Eyewitness travel series, best ever :)
wouldn't travel anywhere without it, recommending everyone
easy-to-use, full of pictures and useful information from programs, restaurants to sights

I love this series. Have most of them and use them when I go to these cities. Very, very good item to carry with you as you travel. The only thing about the Montreal book is that it does not have the Metro line map (as the other books do). I use these books for navigating around by foot, metro, and bus. Loaded with great stuff from history to current spots to see. If you're taking one book along, take one in this Top 10 series...

Bought this for our trip to Montreal this April. LOVED the book and the guides. We used it for visiting the Olympic Village, Insect habitat and St. Joseph's Oratory. Easy to read directions and great highlights. My 16 year old son also enjoyed it. The map could have been a bit bigger (or had larger type) but other than that, fab. We dined at 3 restaurants they recommended and all were wonderful. Good buy.