Airport enquiries Dorval tel 394-7377; Mirabel tel 394-7377; both airports tel 1-800/465-1213.

Baseball The MontrA©al Expos' home ground is the Olympic Stadium, 4141 ave Pierre-de-Coubertin (MA©tro Pie-IX). Tickets cost $8-36 (tel 253-3434 or 1-800/GO-EXPOS, www.montrealexpos.com ).

Bike rental Bicycletterie JR, 151 rue Rachel est (tel 843-6989), rents from $20 per day, with credit card needed as deposit; The Maison des Cyclistes, 1251 rue Rachel (tel 521-8356, www.velo.qc.ca ) charges $8 per hour, $25 per day and is an excellent resource for cycling information and organized tours. La CordA©e, 2159 rue Ste-Catherine est rents bikes from $35 a day (tel 524-1106); VA©lo Aventure, Quai King Edward, Vieux-Port (tel 847-0666) charges bikes out at $20 a day and rollerblades from $8.50 an hour.

Bookshops English books can be bought from most major bookshops. Paragraphe Books and CafA©, 2220 ave McGill College, is the best independent bookstore in town. Double Hook, 1235a ave Greene, specializes in English-Canadian authors. Chapters, 1171 Ste-Catherine ouest, is huge, as is Indigo, 1500 ave McGill College. Androgyne, 3636 St-Laurent, is MontrA©al's definitive gay bookstore. Travel books in English and French are available at Ulysses Travel Bookshop, 4176 rue St-Denis, 560 ave du President-Kennedy and 1307 Ste-Catherine ouest.

Bus information Local transportation: tel 288-6287; long-distance travel: OrlA©ans Express tel 842-2281; Adirondack Trailways (to New York) tel 914/339-4230.

Camping equipment You can hire or buy all you need for the outdoors at Altitude, 1472 Peel (tel 288-8010).

Canadian football The Montreal Alouettes (tel 871-2255, www.alouettes.net ) represent the city in the Canadian Football League. Home games are at McGill University's Percival-Molson Stadium, and tickets range $15-50.

Car rental Avis, 1225 rue Metcalfe (tel 866-7906); Budget, 1240 Guy (tel 938-1000); Discount, 607 boul de Maisonneuve ouest (tel 286-1554); Hertz Canada, 1073 rue Drummond (tel 938-1717); Thrifty, 800 boul de Maisonneuve est (tel 845-5954); and Via Route, 1255 rue Mackay (tel 871-1166), which charges a bit less than the majors.

Consulates Belgium, 999 boul de Maisonneuve ouest (tel 849-7394); Denmark, 1 Place Ville-Marie (tel 877-3060); Germany, 1250 boul RenA©-LA©vesque ouest (tel 931-2277); Greece, 1170 Place du FrA?re-AndrA© (tel 875-2119); Italy, 3489 rue Drummond (tel 849-8351); Japan, 600 rue de la GauchetiA?re ouest (tel 866-3429); Netherlands, 1002 rue Sherbrooke ouest (tel 849-4247); Norway, 1155 boul RenA©-LA©vesque ouest (tel 874-9087); Spain, 1 Westmount Square (tel 935-5235); Sweden, 8400 boul Decarie (tel 345-2727); Switzerland, 1572 ave Docteur-Penfield (tel 932-7181); UK, 1000 rue de la GauchetiA?re ouest (tel 866-5863); US, 1155 rue St-Alexandre (tel 398-9695).

Dental emergencies 24hr dental clinic, 3546 rue Van-Horne (tel 342-4444); Walk-in Clinic, MontrA©al General Hospital, 1650 ave Cedar (tel 934-8397; Mon-Fri 8.30am-4.30pm; after-hour emergencies call 934-8075).

Exchange Agence Worldwide Maison de Change, 1411 rue Peel; American Express, 1141 boul de Maisonneuve ouest (tel 284-3300); Bureau de Change de Vieux-MontrA©al, 230 rue St-Jacques; Downtown Currency Exchange, 2000 ave McGill College; Thomas Cook, 777 rue de la GauchetiA?re ouest. You can also withdraw money at ATMs throughout the city, so long as your card is Cirrus or Plus compatible.

Hospital MontrA©al General Hospital, 1650 ave Cedar (tel 937-6011); Royal Victoria Hospital, 687 ave des Pins ouest (tel 842-1231).

Ice hockey The MontrA©al Canadiens play at the Centre Molson, 1250 rue de la GauchetiA?re ouest (tel 989-2841, www.canadiens.com ). MA©tro: Lucien L'Allier or Bonaventure.

Internet cafA©s A  Le CafA© A?lectronique , 1425 boul RenA©-LA©vesque ouest (tel 871-0307), has forty online computers and French food to boot, $5.50/30min; Cyberground CafA© Internet , 3672 boul St-Laurent (tel 842-1726) provides access for $8/hr, as does Network CafA© , 5120 Queen Mary (tel 344-0959) where you can lunch on bagels, sandwiches and muffins at the same time. Online access also at many photocopy shops.

Laundry Net-Net, 310 ave Duluth, will wash, dry and fold your clothes in neat bags for you within 24 hours for 69A?/pound; doing it yourself works out to $7. Nettoyeur Daoust, 3654 rue St-Denis, does both dry cleaning and washing; $6.50 gets a load washed, dried and folded.

Left luggage There are $2 lockers at the Gare Central and Station Centrale d'Autobus de MontrA©al.

MA©tro General information (tel 280-5666); timetable information (tel 288-6287); lost and found (tel 280-4637). If you tire of being on hold, get your info online at www.stcum.qc.ca . Commuter rail and off-island bus services are co-ordinated by the Agence mA©tropolitaine de transport ( www.amt.qc.ca ).

Museum passes The MontrA©al Museums Pass (tel 845-6873 or 1-800/363-7777) allows visitors free admission to 20 museums in the city on any two of three consecutive days at a significant discount; $20 at both tourist offices and participating museums. The Get an Eyeful package ($22.50) is valid for 30 days and includes admission to the Olympic Tower, Botanical Garden, Insectarium and BiodA?me, none of which are covered by the Museums Pass.

Pharmacy Pharmaprix, 5122 chemin de la CA?te des Neiges, open 24hr (tel 738-8464). Most downtown outlets are open 8am-midnight.

Post offices The main post office downtown is Station B, 1250 rue UniversitA© (Mon-Fri 8am-5.45pm, Sat 8am-noon). The city's poste restante is at Station A, 285 rue St-Antoine ouest (Mon-Fri 8am-5.45pm, Sat 8am-noon).

Ridesharing AllA?-Stop, 4317 rue St-Denis (tel 985-3032 or 985-3044, www.allo-stop.com ). A carpool service matching drivers with passengers for destinations within QuA©bec and the Maritime Provinces only. Membership costs $6 per year plus your share of petrol. Drivers pay $7 per year but receive about sixty percent of passenger fees. Typical prices are: QuA©bec $15, GaspA© $42 and Rimouski $30. But plan ahead for GaspA© trips, as they're not common. Most cars stop in Rimouski.

Sexual Assault Centre Bilingual crisis line (tel 934-4504) or McGill University's hotline (tel 398-2700 day or tel 398-8500 eve).

Taxis Co-op (tel 725-9885); Diamond (tel 273-6331). $2.80 minimum fare, then 1.13A? per kilometre.

Telephones Bell-Canada, Bureau Public, 700 rue de la GauchetiA?re ouest on the corner of UniversitA© (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm). 25A? pays for unlimited local calls at a payphone; dial 411 for information, zero to reach an operator.

Train information Amtrak (tel 1-800/835-8725, www.amtrak.com ); Via Rail (tel 989-2626 or 1-888/842-7245, www.viarail.ca )

Travel agencies Tourisme Jeunesse Boutique, 4008 St-Denis (tel 844-0287) and Tourbec, 595 de Maisonneuve ouest (tel 288-4455) are both excellent sources for budget travellers. Voyages Campus, 1455 de Maisonneuve ouest (tel 288-1130), 3480 McTavish (tel 398-0647), 225 du President Kennedy (tel 281-6662) and 1613 St-Denis (tel 843-8511) does bookings primarily for students with an International Student Identification Card (ISIC).

Weather and road information tel 283-3010 or 1-900/565-MA?TA?O.

White-water rafting The RiviA?re Rouge offers the best white-water rafting in the MontrA©al vicinity. Adventures en Eau Vive, 120 chemin de la RiviA?re Rouge, Calumet (tel 242-6084 or 1-800/567-6881), runs rafting trips for $69/person during the summer, including two meals, taxes and five hours on the river.