Map Guidebooks for Montreal, QC, Canada

City Guides with Maps are a Quebec Vacation Essential

Jul 29, 2009

When the warm weather makes it pleasant to venture out on a Montreal walking tour, a Montreal guidebook with great maps is an essential item.

Fold out map books encourage visitors to walk the streets and make their own discoveries. In Montreal, a summer vacation exploration could lead to the public spaces such as Place Jacques Cartier, shops districts such as Saint Denis, or Montreal landmarks such as the Expo ’67 Biodome. Pocketing a great guidebook with easy-to-read maps will help visitors from getting lost while on a Montreal walking tour.

Montreal Pocket Map Guide from Eyewitness Travel

Priced under $10 Canadian, this DK Publishing guide does as promised: it fits in a pocket thanks to its slim profile (less than 1cm thick). The narrow book is only 7cm (about 3 inches) wide making for pages with tight margins and small, hard-to-read text.

The Eyewitness Travel Montreal Pocket Map and Guide has one large, fold-out map and 64 pages of favorite bars, shops, restaurants, and sightseeing stops. While the map is detailed, marking the main attractions and neighborhoods, the multiple folds and larger size make it harder to disguise being “the lost tourist looking at a map”.

Published in April 2008, the guide offers brief introductions to favorite Montreal neighborhoods such as Vieux Montreal and the Latin Quarter. Essentials include a map of the Montreal Metro and two pages of Quebecois French phrases.

Montreal Guidebook from Knopf Mapguides

For a few dollars extra, the Knopf Mapguide to Montreal offers an easier-to-read format with more maps. As the maps are slightly smaller than the Eyewitness guide with fewer folds, the book will make lost travelers more inconspicuous. Also a 2008 edition, the book offers maps and sights for six sections, each including one to three neighborhoods:

Each section offers a map, photographs of the main attractions, and list of places to eat, shop, and see. Even unfolded, the maps measure only slightly larger than a closed magazine. Information sections offer horizontal fold-out sections, making the guide more of a comfortable read than a book to squint at. Unfortunately at 12cm (nearly 5 inches wide), the guide is larger than most pockets.

Moleskin Montreal Guidebook

For the true explorer, the Moleskin Montreal edition provides fold out maps, a street index, and blank pages. Tagged as “the first guide you write yourself”, there are 15 zone maps to help keep independent travelers and would-be guidebook writers on-track. The guide acts as a mini-filing system with a tabbed archive, a classic Moleskin expandable inside pocket, and removable pages.

Choosing a Montreal Map Guidebook

For those seeking out a Montreal map guidebook, a quick visit to a travel bookstore will also help in determining the best guide. Visitors can flip through the various Montreal guidebooks to determine whether a pocket guide, a write-yourself guide, or a guide with discreet but clear maps is the best option.

The copyright of the article Map Guidebooks for Montreal, QC, Canada in Quebec Travel is owned by Chloë Ernst. Permission to republish Map Guidebooks for Montreal, QC, Canada in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.