Things to do in Montréal this January 2024

January winter wonders

Winter shines bright in Montréal throughout the month and across the city. Downtown, the Esplanade Tranquille proves itself to be much more than a typical skating rink: expect lighting displays, live music, performances, storytelling and sports activities, along with ice skating for all ages and levels. Rent skates or bring your own, learn a few moves from instructors, and go “dancing” on DJ nights! Come experience an awe-inducing art installation at the foot of the Place Ville Marie Ring that spotlights the Polar Circle, an art installation, made in collaboration with Cree artist Jason Carter and M.A.D. collective, that is inspired by the aesthetics of the First Nations.

At the rink and throughout the Quartiers des spectacles, experience illuminated artwork, activities and more. This year’s Luminothérapie outdoor exhibition, running all month long and beyond, features illuminated interactive art that makes us all feel like kids again.

Stroll along the glittering boardwalk in the Old Port of Montréal — also where you’ll see a great view of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge aglow with colour-shifting light. And while you’re in the neighbourhood, dance under the stars and in the snow at one of Montréal's favourite winter festivals, Igloofest, on its sweet 16^th edition this year! Prepare to dance under the stars in your best parka from January 18 to February 10. 

Wintry attractions & tours

In Old Montréal, walk the cobblestone streets to the St. Lawrence River and visit the seasonally illuminated square outside Notre-Dame Basilica — inside, see the gorgeous multimedia Aura Experience, a wonderful way to feel the grandeur of this landmark.

In the Old Port of Montréal, you can see incredible city and river views from the great Grande Roue de Montréal observation wheel, with its cozy heated cabins.

Stroll around the illuminated shopping mecca of Ste-Catherine Street and make a detour to see Claude Cormier et Associés’s massive The Ring installation aglow at Esplanade Place Ville Marie downtown. 

One of the best ways to discover the city is with expert guides on Montréal tours: in winter, you can dress warm and set your own agenda with private walking tours at your own pace. See the city like a local with MTL Detours, explore the wonders of Old Montréal with Fitz Montréal, take a day trip outside the city with N-Tours, call upon the experts at Guidatours, or take yourself on self-guided audio tours thanks to TourBird.

If you’re wondering why Montréal has so many colourful murals, hear more about them and their artists on a street art tour with Spade & Palacio, including new murals from this year’s Mural Festival and others. 

Get your own key to the city!

The easiest way to visit dozens of Montréal attractions, museums and more at a discount at any time of the year is by getting your own key to the city: Passeport MTL.

New year food and drink

Celebrate the fresh potential of a new year by discovering Montréal’s newest restaurants and buvettes, and don’t miss a classic Montréal brunch, whether you’re looking for elegance or comfort food. From some crowdsourced favourites, try Montréalers’ favourite lunch restaurants, from Old Montréal and downtown to Villeray or the South-West. Get a taste of long-time Québec classics like smoked meat, poutine and Montréal bagels and keep on ticking the boxes on your must-eat list with these other musts for foodies in Montréal. And enjoy dinner and a show at restaurant-cabaret Le Balcon’s nighttime parties or popular gospel brunch.  

Get an incredible bird’s eye view on Place des Festivals from within the clear geodesic domes on the terrasse of Bivouac, where you can taste the best of the terroir, or from the Terrasse William Gray in Old Montréal, whose clear domes give onto the Grande Roue de Montréal. Stop for a bite with a view at Muze lounge & terrace in Hôtel HONEYROSE downtown, or eat well at globally inspired Azalea restaurant and seafood specialists Maestro SVP in the Plateau.

The new year is also an excellent time to have dinner and see a show at the Casino de Montréal: live music and cabaret shows will entertain while you enjoy incredible seafood and more on the grill at Le Montréal, a gourmet buffet at Pavillon 67, and quick delicious eats at L’Instant. 

Downtown, explore the wide variety of excellent meals at gourmet food halls including Time Out Market, Marché Artisans, Le Cathcart and Le Central. Get your caffeine fix at Montréal’s indie coffee shops — and fresh-baked doughnuts to go with it! Add more sweetness to your life at Montréal's best bakeries and pastry shops, best chocolate shops and candy shops.

Eat plant-based with our ultimate guide to vegan eating in Montréal or join the debate over who makes the best pizza in Montréal — or the best tacos. Warm up with authentic Japanese ramen and Vietnamese pho. By night, discover the city’s 30 top cocktail bars, inventive Montréal microbreweries and late-night eats. 

January sports & relaxation

As the snow falls, visit Montréal's parks for a natural winter wonderland experience. At the Espace pour la vie museums, stroll the Montréal Botanical Garden grounds and sprawling tropical greenhouse, experience several wild ecosystems at the Biodôme (there are penguins, otters, monkeys and more), explore the mysteries of the universe at the Planétarium, and learn about the thousands of butterflies, moths and other insects at the newly renovated Insectarium.

The West Island’s Ecomuseum Zoo is a wonderful place to glimpse local wildlife in their natural outdoor habitats and even have breakfast with some of them throughout January.

For some fresh air sports time, take the cobblestone streets of Old Montréal down to the Old Port of Montréal ice skating rink, where you can rent skates and glide next to the St. Lawrence River under twinkling lights. There are more great ice skating options in city parks throughout the city, and even indoors at Atrium Le 1000 downtown.

Among the many free things to do this winter, see incredible city views of the city from Mount Royal Park: bundle up for a walk through the park and up the stairs to the lookout or bus or drive up to Beaver Lake. Stroll (or cross-country ski, or skate) around Parc La Fontaine, go to St-Michel’s Parc Frédéric-Back, or cross the river to Parc Jean-Drapeau for a riverside walk and a different view of the city. While there visit the Space for Life Biosphère too for environment-focused exhibitions and more. And on snowy days, head to the parks for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and more outdoor winter activities.

Meanwhile, in pro sports: cheer on the Montréal Canadiens at home at the Bell Centre throughout the month. If you’re not at the game, watch hockey, football, basketball, fight nights and other sports at Montréal’s sports bars.

For ultimate relaxation after a day of winter sports (or just because you deserve it!), visit Bota Bota, spa sur l’eau, a spa in a moored boat on the St. Lawrence River, and other world-class spas like Scandinave Spa Vieux-Montréal, Avie Spa & Coiffure, Rainspa and Strøm Nordic Spa.

New year (new deals!) shopping

The holidays are over and credit cards the world over are aching from the workout — but it’ also a great time for deals. Shop for some new winter wardrobe staples in Old Montréal’s boutiques, downtown along Sainte-Catherine Street and in the underground city malls. Discover the latest styles at Montréal Eaton Center and Place Montréal Trust, including Uniqlo, Nike, Aritza, Decathlon and many more boutiques (and remember to ask for a VIP Visitor Card at Guest Services for exclusive discounts only for tourists). 

Keep your eye out for items made by Montréal designers and relaxing self-care staples and plenty of sparkly goods from the coolest Montréal jewellery stores. Shop local and eco-friendly at the most fabulous vintage boutiques in the city. Pick out the perfect new books for friends and family from Montréal’s bookstores, and dive into a wide world of music at Montréal’s excellent vinyl stores.

Start the art year strong with a visit to the Age of Union Centre in Montréal’s Mile-Ex neighbourhood on weekends. They have multiple exhibitions dedicated to raising awareness and mobilizing the public on issues related to the environment and nature. Click here for current and upcoming exhibitions at the 12,000-square-foot centre which is open Fridays and Saturdays from 11 am to 5 pm.

At Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, you can see Marisol: A Retrospective (an intimate look at a lesser known Pop artist) until January 21 as well as Françoise Sullivan, a solo exhibition featuring the legacy of one of Québec’s great artists. At Fonderie Darling, presented in collaboration with the Musée d’art contemporain, you can see Jeremy Shaw: Phase Sifting Index, a vast, immersive, seven-channel video installation described as “an exhilarating, para-scientific reverie of enormous intellectual and artistic ambition.” Whoa.

Among the Montréal museum exhibitions this season, go to Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Archaeology and History Complex in Old Montréal to learn about why Montréal’s river-based location was so important in St. Lawrence River, Echoes from the Shores, among other exhibitions on show. You’ll also be near the kid-friendly Montréal Science Centre, where you can explore interactive exhibitions that investigate the scientific world.

The McCord Stewart Museum bridges past and present in its exhibitions, which in January include Wampum: Beads Of Diplomacy, featuring over 40 wampum belts that have traded hands for over two centuries, and Becoming Montreal: The 1800s Painted by Duncan, artist James Duncan’s documentation of the city’s development from 1830 to 1880 alongside artist Iregular’s AI-powered digital reinterpretation of the paintings.

Visit MEM – Centre des mémoires montréalaises, a cutting-edge museum dedicated to the voices of Montrealers presiding over the corner of Boulevard Saint-Laurent and Rue Sainte-Catherine. At the Canadian Centre for Architecture, catch Far from Nostalgia in the Octagonal gallery until January 21, or The Lives of Documents — Photography as Project, which will remain in the Main galleries until well into 2024. 

Travel back in time as you tour the rooms of Château Ramezay and visit historical site Chateau Dufresne near the Olympic Stadium, currently featuring works by artist Guido Nincheri. The Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal marks the bicentennial of Mount Royal Park’s creator, architect Frederick Law Olmsted with exhibition Our Mountain: Memories of Mount Royal.

Not far from the city, climb aboard railway cars, learn about the history of the railroad and explore miniature railways at the Exporail the Canadian Railway Museum. At the Museum of Jewish Montréal enjoy Back River, a multimedia exhibition by Montréal-based artist Sonia Bazar that reveals the history and legacy of Ahuntsic’s Back River Cemetery — one of the city’s oldest Jewish cemeteries that has been largely forgotten.

Explore the Afromuseum, representing the contributions of Afro-Canadians to the cultural landscape of Canada. Discover the vivid history and present of Québec ceramics at the Musée des métiers d’arts du Québec. And for another slice of Québec history, visit Montréal’s stunning churches and sacred sites.

At the Phi Centre, Love, Sex and Data is an immersive exhibition that explores the connections between sexuality and technology continues until January 7. Catch it while you can! 

Onstage in January

Montréal’s cultural calendar is packed this season, with entertainment for everyone on the city’s many stages. Among the world-class theatre, dance, opera, circus and more gracing the city’s stages throughout January, you’ll find Searching for Goya, an intense flamenco performance in which the artist Goya’s spirit is revived on stage through a series of vignettes . It’s presented by Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca at Théâtre Maisonneuve on January 18. Also at Théâtre Maisonneuve, ring in the Chinese new year with the Feng Hua Xue Yuegala, a dance extravaganza onstage on January 21, and see contemporary dance creativity at its finest in Soul Chain from January 23 to 27. 

All your senses will be awakened by Slava’s Snowshow, celebrating its 25 years in Québec at Espace Saint-Denis starting on January 26. This show is a poetic fairytale that combines music, mime and theatre to create an epic tale set in a surreal universe featuring hypnotizing balloons and a hallucinating, larger-than-life snowstorm onstage.

Among the shows in Montréal’s vibrant English theatre scene, catch the return of the Wildsides Festival, starting on January 18 at Centaur Theatre. Among the plays you can see Still Life, both a brilliant study of a writer struggling with general anxiety disorder, and a scathing criticism of performance-oriented culture; Ricki, a darkly absurd fable about the trials of a woman and her 10-year-old son who move to Montreal to rebuild their lives; Choose Your End, about sentient AI, environmental collapse, the end of civilization; and many more!

Montréal, arts interculturels presents Plasticity/Desires by Other Animals — it’s an artful mix of music and dance designed for seven performers to explore notions of individual and mutual desires. From January 18 to 27.

Onscreen in January

Get an eyeful (and then some!) at the grandiose Lasting Impressions experience at Espace Saint-Denis, a voyage inside the painting by Renoir, Degas, Monet, Seurat, Van Gogh and many others, presented in 3D on a gigantic ultra-high definition screen. Live among the brushstrokes and be part of the paintings, transported by a perfectly choreographed soundtrack.

Experience family-friendly cinematic shows on the domed screens of the Planétarium, including Celestial Chronicles, Aurōrae and Total Eclipse: Chasers of the Lost Sleep. The Montréal Science Centre’s IMAX cinema puts nature on the giant screen in all its glory — this month see the incredible Animal Kingdom 3D: A Tale of Six Families and Into Nature’s Wild 3D.

See independent features, family films, documentaries and more at Montréal’s indie cinemas including Cinéma Moderne, Cinéma du Parc (including late-night cult classics at Parc at Midnight screenings), Cinéma du Musée at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, and the iconic Cinémathèque québécoise in the Quartier des spectacles. 

Explore the city through cinema in these Hollywood movies made in Montréal. And see the art world in a whole new light thanks to the International Festival of Films on Art year-round ART FILM program.

Live music in January

Catch Bugs and his Warner Bros buddies in a classical music concert at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier called Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, presenting a dozen of the world’s most iconic Looney Tunes episodes projected on the big screen while their exhilarating original scores are played live by the FILMharmonic Orchestra. The fun happens on January 13 and 14.

For more classical music, see the Orchestre métropolitain perform Tout feu tout flamme at Théâtre Desjardins on January 19, directed by Kensho Watanabe.

At the Bell Centre (between all the hockey games) you can see Travis Scott on January 9 and the legendary Madonna on January 18 and 20, if you were lucky enough to nab tickets. Aerosmith closes out the month on January 26.

You’ll find all sorts of fun music shows at MTELUS, including Sword & Anonymous on January 13, Beartooth on January 20 and DYSTINCT on January 29.

At Théâtre Fairmount in Mile End, Plaid is playing on January 9 with Automatisme as opener. On January 12 it’s going to be Kpop Night, while House of Namito plays on January 13 and Jody Wisternoff on January 19. Gimme Gimme Disco will get you boogie woogie-ing on January 26. Turbo Haüs has a couple of fun shows in January too.

At Beanfield Theatre, you can catch The Gracefully Hip: A Tragically Hip Tribute on January 12 and Deluxe Rodeo on January 18. On January 21 it’s Rad Museum, on January 22 it’s Mick Jenkins, and on January 23 it’s Josh Ross. On January 16, see Nataly Aukar at Le Studio TD, where you can also catch Anees on January 27. 

Over at Le Ministère, dance the night away at Afro Party on January 12, and on January 20, see drum’n’bass at its best in DLR’s Money Till I Got None tour.  See what else they have in store for the month here.

Groove to live soul, disco, jazz, funk, salsa, Cuban music Fridays and more at Le Balcon, where you can have dinner with a show, go dancing, and enjoy a gospel brunch on weekends. Hear live jazz nightly at Montréal’s amazing jazz and blues clubs, like Diese Onze and Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill. And go out dancing late into the night at Montréal's dance clubs.

Indie venues Casa del Popolo and Sala Rossa have chock-a-block full December programs featuring both local and visiting bands, which you can find here. Look here for the many live events at hole-in-the-wall Barfly. Same for Bar Le Ritz PDB, where there’s a show nearly every night. Follow L’Escogriffe on Facebook to stay on top of all their upcoming shows. L’Hémisphère Gauche, up in Little Italy, is packed with music lovers for their nightly shows, as is Quai des Brumes on the Plateau — it never has a night off.

TO GET AROUND TOWN

To get where you’re going hassle-free, public transportation is the way to go. The STM has special offers on fares and a handy tool to plan your trip quickly and efficiently. You can also download the Transit and Chrono apps for up-to-the minute bus schedules.