Winter shines bright in Montréal

Keep your eye out for illuminated artwork, activities and more as part of Les Moments lumineux du cœur de l'île. Playful art event Luminothérapie brightens downtown's Place des Festivals with innovative interactive art from December through March. Nearby, try ice skating to music on the new rink at Esplanade Tranquille.

See The Ring installation aglow at Esplanade Place Ville Marie downtown: so massive and impressive! 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.

A winter city through and through, Montréal keeps celebrating the season in January and February, both outdoors and in the city's renowned restaurants and cultural venues. Electronic music pulses from Montréal's Old Port during now-famed festival Igloofest. Dressed in colourful parkas and ski suits, happy crowds take to the snowy dancefloor by night, waving their hands in the air to some of the best electronic producers in the world.

In February, international gastronomy meets Montréal's famed food, arts and culture scenes at festival MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE, where food lovers rub shoulders with guest chefs and sommeliers and theatre, dance, art and live music inspire audiences. An outdoor site illuminates Place des Festivals with a Ferris wheel, ice slides and entertainment, while Nuit Blanche closes out the festival with a bang as thousands of people explore Montréal's cultural venues and hidden corners from dusk until dawn.

Night or day, in sun and snow, Montréal's parks are a sparking oasis. Ice skating in Montréal is an experience not to be missed, whether alongside the St. Lawrence River on the Old Port of Montréal Skating Rink, next to Beaver Lake in beautiful Mount Royal Park and on Parc La Fontaine's softly lit pond. Meanwhile, the Montréal Canadiens show everyone how the pros skate at NHL games at the Bell Centre. The energy's high and festive in Parc Jean-Drapeau this winter on a riverside ice-skating path and snowshoeing and cross-country ski trails. And from late February to early April, urban and countryside sugar shacks warm visitors up with huge plates of authentic Québécois food like tourtière and maple syrup candy tire d’érable.

Known for its architectural glory and peaceful ambiance, Old Montréal's Notre-Dame Basilica shows its beauty anew in high-tech multimedia experience AURA. Also in Old Montréal, one of the biggest urban lighting installations in the world, Cité Memoire transform historic building facades with multimedia tableaux projections. Montréal's many museums shed new light on local history and global events, while art gallery exhibitions shift perspectives of the world around us through painting, sculpture, virtual reality, and everything in between, including at the PHI Centre in Old Montréal.

Throughout the season, international and local stars of theatre, dance and music shine on Montréal's stages (and one of Montréal's brightest stars, Leonard Cohen, stands out on murals on Crescent Street and just off Saint-Laurent Blvd. near Schwartz's deli.) Pick up the Passeport MTL to visit museums and must-see Montréal attractions for a great price and save on your stay with the featured deals!