Montreal and Quebec City Colourguide

Bruce Grainger is head of the Public Services Department, Macdonald
Library, McGill University.

This guide may be best for the armchair traveler, containing as it does,
a very large number of excellent color photographs of Montreal, the
Eastern Townships, the Laurentians, and Quebec City. Individual chapters
are competently written by knowledgable local writers under such
headings as “Montreal’s Top Attractions,” “Heritage and
Architecture,” “Museums,” and “Galleries.” Unfortunately, this
approach results in duplication of effort with, for example, the Chateau
de Ramezay being described by three different writers in as many
chapters. Nevertheless, the reader is given good, brief descriptions
with numerous interesting details of the history and attractions of the
two cities.

A better and more unified organization would have improved the
guide’s value for a real tourist. The maps of Montreal are especially
deficient because points of interest are not indicated, although two
pages of maps are used to pinpoint the locations of 27 downtown hotels.
Likewise, no information on urban public transportation is provided.
There is a useful summary of tourist information for quick reference
(including sources for additional practical information) and a
subject/name index (unfortunately, the editor missed one reference to
City Hall, which in the index is referred to as the Hotel de Ville
without a cross-reference from the English form of the name). Although
the guide is useful, an actual visitor would be well advised to acquire
supplementary information.