1

I can't speak for the area immediately around the hotel...but generally in central Montreal there is free street parking. On any given side street, there will be a mix of free and permit parking. However, there will be one hour a week that you will not be allowed to park so you will have to pay attention and move your car for that hour. If you are coming in the winter and there is a snowfall, you'll have to listen to the sirens that tell you to move your car so the snowplows can come through. (You can probably get the details from the hotel staff.) In that area, the east-west streets are busy and without parking...but the north-south streets are residential and should have some free parking.

2

18 $ will buy you peace of mind. No need to pay attention to snowplow schedules, less need of a shovel, less possibility your car won't start in the morning (assuming your parking is underground, which is probably as I don't recall any outside parking exposed to the wind in that area).

Also, there's parking meters everywhere in that area, you don't want to walk too long if it's windy as it can be VERY cold and unpleasant, and local residents have a sticker in their windshield allowing them to park on the streets as it is densely populated. No sticker = towing fee and fine. If you still want to park on the street, usually in this part of town, you can find a few free spots, usually close to the street corners (2 or 3 cars spaces max, might need to be shovelled), as long as there's no commercial areas close by, otherwise, you'll see parking meter again. Also finding these free spots will be highly time consuming (well unless you go to the residential areas away from any tourist attractions).

If you visit stuff in town, just leave your car in an interior parking lot and forget about it. If you go to the Mont Royal or the suburbs, than yes use your car as it's no fun to wait for buses below zero temperature, especially if you think about windchill factor and after sunset. Ile Sainte-Hélène has a Metro station, and you don't need your car to go there. All major attractions are just a few minutes walk from a Metro Station.

A 3 day card or a weekly card (CAM) might be interesting for you.

http://www.stm.info/English/tarification/a-grilletarif.htm

Hope this helps.

3

Oh, I forgot. Be careful about jaywalkers, it's a national sport there lol :D

4

manatenish1 is right - that neighborhood is very busy, with lots of shops and commercial activity and limited (and complex) parking. The Institut parking will be the simplest choice.

Otherwise, there should be a few commercial parking lots nearby (all outside, so make sure the car battery is in good shape and have scrapers ans such). The nearest should be at the corner of Sherbrooke and Sanguinet street, some 200m away - but at most you'll save $6-$7 per day (or pay more) in exchange for having to walk several blocks to your car and clearing it of snow.

5

I you can't afford the $18 parking, you can't afford to visit Montreal!

6

Another caution about street parking: In many areas the meters have been removed. Instead, you pay at a central terminal, where you must enter the number of your parking spot when you pay. These terminals are monitored by computer which (according to legend) inceases the chances of a ticket when you overstay.