MTL mobile : This is a must have App for any visitor or local alike. It’s an interactive timetable trip guide and to  map to Montreal’s extensive metro and bus network. It instantly demystifies the entirety of the STM and puts everything you need to know right at your finger tips. You can always find your way back home with MTLmobile. Or at least find out you missed the last metro by 20 minutes. For Android users check out Transport Montreal, and Blackberry users can try the STM mobile site.

La Vitrine: This App is a long-needed gem. It’s a sleek and interactive cultural calendar of events, parties, shows and more! It has photos, videos, coupons and last minute details. So when you find yourself on the edge of a Saturday night, check La Vitrine and let it take you to the far cultural corners, the deep underground scenes and the best Montreal can offer.

Hotel Le Crystal: This App brings service into the 21st century. Hotel Le Crystal has quickly become one of Montreal’s premier hotels, attracting movie stars, singers, and people with a taste for luxury. And this App kicks it up a notch. Not only does up offer up dinning, entertainment and hotspots in the area hand-picked by their concierge, but you can do seriously cool stuff like: order room service from their interactive menu, summon your car from the valet and even order a bathrobe to be sent to your room! Now that’s what I call five-star service with an iSmile.

Wenite: Wenite is going to change my life. Wenite is a nightlife app that lets you know where the hottest parties, and most lively places are… IN REAL TIME! How it works is that people who are already in attendance vote for the place. If the crowd is dull and the music is lame, the place falls in the live rankings. If the vibe of the place is great, people can vote it up in the live rankings. It also offers up location specific special offers. For example, at l’Assommoir on Note Dame, once you vote you can show your screen to the waiter and get a special treat! The only thing I dislike about it is having the make an account for it to work, but you can also link it to your Facebook. Basically, never arrive at a party that is DOA again. But let’s be honest, Wenite can do what it does, but the party doesn’t really start until you walk in. Wenite is currently only available for iOS.

Spotcycle: Montreal’s famous (or infamous) Bixi bike-sharing system as spawned dozens of iPhone, Android and Blackberry Apps. Most are the same, some are terrible, but after field-testing a bunch I’ve decided that Spotcycle is the cleanest, fastest and easiest to use out of all of them. It works with not only the Montreal Bixi system, but all Bixi-based systems around the world, from Melbourne to London! It also has a handy feature that most other Bixi Apps don’t have… a rental timer! Spotcycle is also available for Android and Blackberry.

QueerMontreal: This is the iPhone version of the handy website Queermontreal.info that is an up-to-date guide to Bars, Clubs, Hotels and Restaurants in the Gay Village of Montreal! It’s easy to use and definitely informative if you’re looking to explore the Gay Village. The only thing I have a problem with is the $2.99 price point. If you have the spare change, this App is nice to have on hand. Otherwise, visit the site queermontreal.info on your iPhone for the similar information. A similar app is available for Blackberry called Bump! Guide Montreal.

District Montreal: This App offers a new and exciting way to discover Montreal. From the best-kept secrets to neighbourhood favourites, this app is fun, fast and full of information. Continuously updated, it helps you to located green spaces, the underground and its art network, public washrooms and a series of really cool audio walks! So plug in, explore and learn unique things about Montreal! For Blackberry, check out Montreal Traveler and and iGotcha Montreal for Android users.

If you think I’ve missed any great Montreal-loving apps, please let me know about them in the comment section of this post!

The post BEST MONTREAL APPS 2011 appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

With spring finally ours (thanks mother nature!), it means that Bixi is also becoming a daily activity of Montreal locals. Bixi is the public bike system phenomenon that has swept Montreal off their feet and onto the many (500!) kilometers of paths. I’ll show you my favourite ride starting in the Old Port and going right through Montreal’s Gay Village…

Starting at the corner of Rue De La Commune and Place Jacques Cartier, I grab my Bixi bike from the nearby station. An easy seat adjustment later and I’m having a leisurely ride along les Quays of the Old Port. After a quick spin around, I’m pedaling up Rue Berri while still remaining on the bike path. No scary cars! I dock my bike at Berri-UQAM metro and continue through the Gay Village on foot. Stopping in at the best ice cream in the Village: Le Bouche en Folie. This place has 35 flavours of soft-serve ice cream, and that’s before you start mixing and matching. You can’t Bixi and eat ice cream at the same time, so I go sit in one of the many parks that dot the village and enjoy the locals and sunshine.

Many creamy calories later, I take out my smartphone and open the Bixi station finder app. There are a few of these, but Bixou is my favorite. Locating a nearby station, It’s time for the cycle up the hill to Parc Lafountaine, located at the northernmost point of the Village. Getting there is a nice ride through the picturesque streets. Once at Parc Lafountaine, biking-while-people-watching is the perfect way to end the day. Don’t forget to return your bike every 45 minutes! A two-minute wait is worth avoiding those extra charges for going over the time limit.

If you don’t feel like riding up to Parc Lafountaine, another great route through the Village is the dedicated bike path along Rene-Levesque that will take you all the way to the Jacques Cartier Bridge and beyond!

BIXI BASICS:

• 45 minutes of free time, 2 minute wait time at a station. Average distance between stations is 400 meters. You can rent 2 bikes with one credit card.
• If you loose your number, just stick your credit card in again and another one will be given. You won’t be charged twice!
• If you plan on Bixing over an entire weekend, the 72 hour pass is a great deal!
• Any problems, call the help number posted on station. They’re very helpful and always get any problems fixed quickly.
• It’s against the law to ride a bike with headphones in.
• Obey all traffic laws, and be safe!

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Guest Blogger: Alex Dunphy

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The post BIXI TOUR OF GAY VILLAGE, MONTREAL appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

ON THE STAGE

If you like seeing groups of gay men performing on stage, then you’re in luck because Montreal can offer this not once, not twice, but almost too many times in April. On Sunday, April 17, the all-gay chorus Ganymède will be celebrating 20 years with a performance of Cherubini’s Requiem. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, fresh from Spain is the world-famous Matinée Group that will be taking their legendary party to Club Parking on Saturday April 23. This will be the first time Matinée has ever been hosted in Canada! Dancing her way into Montreal for her debut will be gay icon Kylie Minogue. Along with her (most likely gay) dancers she’ll be blowing the roof off the Bell Center on Thursday, April 28th. Ticket prices have even been slashed so if you’re looking for cheaper tickets, Montreal is definitely the place to see her. The “K for Kylie” after-party is happening a few blocks away at Newtown on Crescent. Tickets are only $10 so worth it to keep to energy alive!

On April 12 at the Bell Center, Ricky Martin will be shaking his Latino stud muffin buns for scores of middle-aged mothers and their gay sons. Gay reaches a climax though when Lady GaGa rolls into town again with her Monster Ball tour on April 25. Montreal has always been close to Gaga’s heart because Just Dance went to #1 in Montreal first. One year before it topped the charts south of the border!

ON THE DANCEFLOOR

April will offer up many opportunities to get your daily cardio in on the floors of Montreal’s legendary club nights in and outside the village. Inside the village there are the weekly club routines: Stereo consistently brings top DJ’s, SKY complex on a Saturday for straight up dancing, and top it off with Drugstore on a Sunday. Outside the village there’s the regular dose of monthly parties. Mec Plus Ultra on April 16th, POMPe on April 21 and Faggity Ass Friday on April 29.

Bal en Blanc, the dance floor king (queen?), will be dominating April. For the entire Easter weekend, clubs around Montreal will be hosting Bal en Blanc associated events that are too countless to all name here. Check out the Montreal Buzz preview for Bal en Blanc here.

ON THE STREETS

With spring, comes walking, sitting, and playing outside for leisure. The temperature is climbing along with our desire for the outdoors. Thankfully the terraces are opening up, BIXI is rolling out for its third season, and the streets have some nice foliage blooming. Gays & Lesbians especially love to sit on Montreal’s famed terraces. Check out some early ones at Croissanterie Figaro (pictured above), and Les Folies! Sainte-Catherine street in the Gay Village doesn’t convert to a pedestrian walkway until late May, so until then explore some of the surrounding streets with plenty of little parks. On a Sunday morning, these parks are filled with gays and lesbians with their dogs. Seriously, there are more dogs than gays!

With Bixi making its triumphant return on April 15, a spring bike ride around the Village would be in order. Stations are located throughout the village, but the big ones are at Berri UQAM, Beaudry Metro and the Ontario–Panet intersection. Exploring the little streets of the Village, or jetting down the Rene-Levesque bike path to the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, this is just how spring should be…

Guest Blogger: Alex Dunphy

Photo Credit: MEC Plus Ultra- Julien De Repentigny

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