I'm moving to Canada in 3 weeks to start my first studio position at Gameloft and will need to find a place to live.
Anyone have any suggestions on areas to look for/stay away from? Tips for traveling without a car?
I hate drawing attention to myself but I'm kinda going into unknown territory lol. I've seen a few threads on here before but they just kinda mentioned the awesome stuff like the foods and events.
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I couldn't tell you where to stay since I don't know the area.. but I've heard from a few different people that the public transit in Montreal is really good - most people don't own a car.
Make sure to pack your toque and mittens, your going to need them lol.
A popular place to live is the Plateau area, but the rent can be a little high then usual.
Neighbourhoods that are close to Gameloft are Mile End and Rosemont. I live in Outremont which is also close, however I take a 15min bus to work. Ideally you want to try to live close to the Orange Line Metro because it's the major subway line that runs through Montreal. And in the winter, you can just go underground as opposed to waiting outside for the bus. But overall, it's quite easy to get around by transit and even by walking. I haven't felt a need for a car at all since I got here.
Also, if you don't know yet, http://www.padmapper.com/ is a great tool to look for places to rent. On that note, there are tons of places available pretty much all the time. So you can also just walk around the neighbourhood that you like and look for the "A louer" signs. Talking with the landlords, on the other hand, may be tough depending on how much English they may know (or how much French you may know)
Lastly, most of Montreal seem to use http://montreal.kijiji.ca/ over craigslist. So run a few searches there for rentals as well
You don't need a car, just get a monthly metro pass and you can get pretty much everywhere on the island.
I've got a temp place for 2 weeks but after that I've gotta find my own.
Thanks for the info Alexk I'll definitely start looking around the Metro.
There's a REALLY good place for beer near there (best microbrew in the city) at Dieu du Ciel.
^_^
The few beers I've had from them... they were real good.
Hope you'll enjoy the city there.
Like others say, unless you travel a lot, don't think you'll need a car : parking are nightmare in downtown. Subway are great here to use and you'll only need to pay a card every month. Otherwise, houses are expansive in downtown. :P
Check out listings in the A/B section of this site: https://offcampuslistings.ca/home.html
Good luck! Hope you enjoy it.
quite a few of us montrealers here, let me know if you have any Q's. Look at as many places as humanly possible. I live on the plateau, it's more expensive but it rocks.
Trying to see if they'll let me start earlier than Monday because my computer didn't survive the flight . If anyone minds helping me trouble shoot it I'd greatly appreciate it.
Welcome to Montreal!
More and more PCers coming to Mtl! Maby its time for a PCM party?