How to throw a Montréal-style bachelor party

It’s always best to work up a bit of an appetite before heading out on the town, and Montréal is far from short on bachelor-party-appropriate activities to get the ball rolling. Like, say, practising your medieval battle skills.

At 10,000 square feet of war zones, the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district’s Combat d’Archers bills itself as Montréal’s largest combat archery complex. In addition to archery and combat archery, bazooka ball (essentially Nerf guns taken to a whole other level), karting, axe throwing, a demolition room, a VR arena and more are also on the menu, with game modes specially tailored for bachelor party outings. 

But if choice is what you’re after, look no further than the Ministry of Cricket & Other Homeless Sports. Comprised of three indoor, dividable turf fields spread out over 14,000 square feet, the Ministry of Cricket specializes in extreme archery, bubble soccer, dodgeball, Nerf battles and even quidditch, and is also home to more conventional sports like flag football, ultimate frisbee, batting cages, softball, ball hockey and soccer. They’ve even got a Sherlock Holmes–themed escape room done up in true Victorian-era style. (Full disclosure: I brought my own bachelor party there, it rocked, and the guys are still talking about it.)

Still on the exertional side, the athletically inclined bachelor gang will want to raise their gaze to the Horizon Roc Climbing Centre, which offers more than 200 rope routes as well as a climbing area of over 3,000 square metres, making it one of the largest in the world. Its climbing surfaces have recently been renovated with the addition of a new block structure and a 15-metre-high speed wall, the only one officially certified in Québec. And be sure to try out the amazing indoor Acro-Parc aerial course featuring a 25-metre zipline.

If you want to get hammering (and we’re not talking tequila shots here), as well as do and learn something very cool at the same time, Les Forges de Montréal has just the thing for you and your mates. Dedicated to preserving and sharing the art of traditional blacksmithing, Les Forges de Montréal offer blacksmithing courses for private groups at their authentic workshop in an awesome-looking 19th-century industrial building. Make a coat hook at the 4-hour course or a camping knife during the full-day experience.

For those who want the stink of burning rubber in their nostrils, Action 500 go-karting is definitely the way to, er, go. Boasting powerful electric, adult go-karts (up to 55 km/h) at the largest indoor amusement centre in Montréal (two go-kart tracks, four paintball fields, six escape games and an arcade zone to boot), Action 500’s special bachelor party packages pack the right amount of action. And if lasers are more to your liking, downtown’s Laser Game Evolution takes place in three dark and winding, trap-filled labyrinths made up of partitions, reflective areas and obstacles of all kinds, all overlooked by mezzanines and walkways. You can also get your inner cowboy on by shooting two-handed.

And what’s a bachelor party without that other “b” word? By that, of course, we mean beer. Montréal Craft Beer Tours is offering a three-hour “hangover friendly” bachelor party craft beer walking tour of three noteworthy brewpubs. And in this instance only, you aren’t the competitors (no, this is not a beer drinking competition). Instead, the six local brews offered on the tour – paired with poutine, local charcuterie, cheese and chocolate – will be competing for your taste buds’ affection.

Before the lunacy, or rather, revelry starts, you’re going to need to put down a solid base. And top-quality steaks are the go-to bachelor party tradition. Always a serious contender for being one of the great steakhouses in town, the legendary Moishes is the oldest steakhouse in Montréal. Now at a new location in the heart of downtown, Moishes has a range of beautifully cured cuts and a recently updated menu. (And don’t dare miss out on their classic Monte Carlo potatoes, the stuff of dreams.)

The Plateau Mont-Royal location of the very popular L’Gros Luxe resto chain is a very a propos venue for bachelor party pre-eats not just for its Ultimate Bloody Caesar (which comes with spicy beans, caramelized bacon, beef jerky, fried pickles, avocado fries, a samosa, mini grilled cheese, onion rings, mac'n'cheese bites, jalapeño poppers, spring rolls, a mini pogo and a mini beef burger), it also enjoys a sweet spot just a short hop from Saint-Laurent Boulevard (a.k.a. The Main), Saint-Denis Street and Mont-Royal Avenue, making it the perfect jumping off point.

Downtown, Firegrill Restaurant and Bar revels in “the thrill of the grill,” serving up the essentials – rib steaks, filet mignon, prime rib, mesquite BBQ ribs, you get the idea – in a classy and classic steakhouse setting.

Old Montréal is another way to go, especially for Montréal first-timers on a tight sched. The double-baked potato and “Baseball Steak” knock it out of the park at the “Old Faithful” of steakhouses, The Keg Steakhouse + Bar (there is also a second location smack in the heart of downtown in the Place Ville Marie building, worth checking out in its own right). And the rib steak is one of the musts at old world, Old Montréal meat-eating institution Gibbys, while great service, great ambiance (a wood-burning fireplace!) and great steaks to match are the raison d’être of MTL fave Vieux-Port Steakhouse.

No bachelor gathering is complete without immersing yourself in Montréal’s world-renowned nightlife. To that end, we suggest an MTL-style pub-crawl, and we’ve proposed two different routes. First, we suggest hitting the lively pub/party bar/nightclub scene clustered around Crescent Street and Bishop Street downtown (they run parallel to each other). On Bishop, check out Grumpy’s Bar (always a party with live tunes), and McKibbin's Irish Pub (you won’t want to leave) before heading over to Crescent for Mad Hatter Pub (the name speaks for itself), the iconic Sir Winston Churchill Pub (lots of MTL history went down in here), Hurley’s Irish Pub (a real-deal Emerald Isle institution) and, of course, Brutopia (very cool seasonal brewpub and party place).

For those in your party who are perhaps a little more adventurous, who might want to get a taste of “le vrai Montréal,” we recommend a Mont-Royal Avenue bar tour that doesn’t stray far from easily accessible Mont-Royal metro. Start at Plan B Bar (great back terrasse) and head to Bily Kun (absinthe and ostrich heads on the wall, ’nuff said), Taverne Saint-Sacrement (great music and cheap eats), Chez Baptiste (très chic, très fun), Le Boudoir (lively and with microbrew prices that won’t break the bank), Barraca (rum and tapas anyone?) and Pub West Shefford (craft beers and a crazy cocktail menu).

Good luck and don’t do anything we wouldn’t do.