Travel: Flights to Montreal Dorval from London Gatwick (lgw)

Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport (IATA: YUL) (formerly Dorval Airport) is about half an hour west of the city centre on highway 20. Note that travel time to the airport from the city centre can be as much as an hour, depending on traffic. The airport is served by all major Canadian and U.S. airlines, and is a major hub for Air Canada and WestJet . There are multiple daily trans-Atlantic flights to and from (amongst others) London, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, Madrid, Lisbon, Munich, Moscow, Cairo and Casablanca.

The taxi fare to and from downtown is a fixed price of $35 (a sticker on the window behind the driver gives the boundaries of the zone where the flat fare applies; for origins and destinations outside this zone, you will have to pay a metered fare). The Aérobus is a shuttle running from Dorval to the aérogare Centre-ville (777 De La Gauchetière, angle rue University) and to the city's inter-city bus station, Station Centrale (505 boul. De Maisonneuve East, above the Berri-UQAM métro station) via a number of downtown hotels. It departs every half hour from 7 AM to 1 AM. Tickets are $13 one-way.

Alternatively, public bus no. 204 (STM ) leaves from outside arrivals every half hour to Gare Dorval (Dorval train station - check with the driver which direction he is going in, as both bus routes stop at the same pier). From Dorval, you can use your transfer ticket to catch express bus no. 211/221 to the Lionel-Groulx métro (subway). Your transfer will then let you into the métro. This costs only $2.75 but exact change must be provided to the first driver.

Another option is to take the VIA Rail AirConnect service from the airport terminal to downtown by shuttle and train. This service runs infrequently but costs only $11. The same trip can be made on the AMT commuter train for $4.25 if you can figure out how get to nearby Dorval Station from the airport, but check the schedule first.

Montreal has another airport, Mirabel (the second largest airport in the world by area, incidentally) about an hour north of the city centre. Since October, 2004 it has been used exclusively as a cargo terminal.