Leave cabin-cozy hygge to Scandinavia — Montreal greets winter with urban chic and a joie de vivre that’s oh, so Quebecois. Dusk finds locals savoring natural wine apéros in bistro bars or gliding across neighborhood ice rinks lined with hot cocoa stands.
“Montrealers embrace winter — and to do so, winter sports are the way to go,” says Martine Venne of Tourisme Montréal. On the 17th century waterfront, DJs play for late-night crowds of skaters, while opportunities to ski, snowshoe and sled abound within city limits. “It’s one big party,” says Venne, an avid figure skater who spends off-hours spinning and jumping on neighborhood rinks.
Creativity, meanwhile, shines brightest through winter’s long nights. Glowing sculptures and video projections throughout the city showcase Montreal’s growing reputation as a hub for digital creatives. And all winter long, crowds bundle up for events, including the outdoor electronic music festival Igloofest and Montréal en Lumière, which combines outdoor activities with top-end gastronomic popups and shows. This year’s edition also features a symphonic tribute to renowned Quebec painter and sculptor Jean-Paul Riopelle, whose 2023 centenary will bring dozens of events across the province. So, bundle up for a long weekend of the city’s wintriest fun — here’s how.
La Grande Roue de Montréal
Photo By Eva Blue
FRIDAY
4 p.m. Ride La Grande Roue
Get your Montreal bearings in a whirl around the observation wheel — called La Grande Roue de Montréal — that towers nearly 200 feet above the city’s historic Old Port, a 1.2-mile stretch of riverfront where French furriers established a trading post in the early 17th century. Views from heated cabins stretch from downtown to landmarks of the 1967 Universal Exposition that transformed the city into a modernist architectural canvas. During the 20-minute ride, look northeast to spot the Buckminster Fuller-designed Montreal Biosphere; it housed the United States pavilion through the ’67 Expo.
Montréal En Lumière
Photo By Eva Blue
4:30 p.m. Glide Until You Glow
The ice-skating rink at the foot of the Grande Roue is among Montreal's most spectacular — a glossy rectangle to mirror the observation wheel’s multicolored lights. Rent a pair of ice skates at its Bonsecours Pavilion, then kick off across the ice, where you’ll join a circling crowd of hand-holding couples, bundled-up families and hockey-skating hotshots. Friday nights from January through early March go electronic for weekly DJ on Ice events, followed by live music on Saturday evenings.
7:30 p.m. Downtown Dining
Winter dining in Montreal rewards cold-weather pursuits with rich, hearty flavors — equal parts refined and indulgent, Monarque invites lingering meals amid a dressed-up downtown crowd. Try well-aged beef served with cornets of crisp frites or a bouillabaisse with scallops, mussels and saffron potatoes. Impeccable service, a high-rolling wine list and flavors honed by Chef Jérémie Bastien explain the restaurant’s top-50 finish among Canada’s finest restaurants.
Ice Hotel
10 p.m. Nightcaps On Ice
If ice sculpture is a peculiarly northern passion, Quebec elevates the form with international ice-carving competitions, art installations and even the ephemeral Ice Hotel outside Quebec City. Ice Hotel designer Julien Doré is also the visionary behind the cool-kid riverfront bar Hiverside, whose tables, chairs and décor are carved entirely from ice to be swept away in the first spring thaw. Bundle up for a visit, then wrap your hands around a signature hot toddy made with a warming blend of Cointreau and Grey Goose vodka; equally festive are the bar’s ruby-red cosmopolitans, topped by snowdrift-light puffs of cotton candy.
SATURDAY
9 a.m. Un Bagel Très Montréalais
Opinions run hot regarding Montreal’s best bagels, but it comes down to two long-running rivals: St. Viateur Bagels and the 24-hour Fairmount Bagels. In the historically Jewish neighborhood of Mile-End, the bakeries are within walking distance, so you can sample each and draw your own conclusions. Both are popular with everyone from early-morning crowds to late-night revelers; both are masters of the signature Montreal bagel style. Sweeter than the New York version, their dense dough is boiled in honey water before baking in narrow, wood-fired ovens. Sesame seeds encrust the classic version, best eaten warm with a schmear of mildly tangy, Quebec-made cream cheese.
10 a.m. Play On The City’s Namesake Peak
The low-lying summit at the heart of Montreal is Mount Royal, believed by some to be the source of the city’s name. Today, it’s a Frederick Law Olmsted–designed park whose meandering paths and meadows freeze into a winter playground, including a sledding hill, snow tubing, snowshoe paths, skating rink and 14 miles of groomed cross-country ski trails. Rent your gear at the park’s rink-side Beaver Lake Pavilion, then go play outside. Snow-tubing is basically skill-free — just hold on and cruise — but novices at cross-country skiing and snowshoeing might want to start with one of the hour-long private lessons available onsite.
1:30 p.m. Lunch Chez L’Express
Montreal’s cuisine is emphatically not to be confused with the French version, but from its checked-tile floor to the authentic zinc bar, the bistro L’Express speaks pitch-perfect Parisian. The restaurant is a local institution, beloved for meals of chicken-liver pâté followed by confit duck leg or a French onion soup. Reserve well in advance to enjoy such warming Gallic specialties followed by an île flottante au caramel, a dessert whose “floating islands” of meringue bob in silky custard.
OASIS Immersion
Photo By Christian Pomerleau
3:30 p.m. Digital Immersion
Local talent honed by leading universities and cutting-edge studios has turned Montreal into a global destination for digital art; interactive projections and colorful illuminations have become a familiar part of the urban landscape. Galleries are following suit. In 2021 the 0x Society NFT Gallery became the first of its kind in Canada, its walls lined with art that lives on the blockchain as non-fungible tokens. To experience that digital art on a grander scale, head to the ground floor of the Palais des Congrès. There, Oasis Immersion has three immersive galleries and two light installations that showcase work from leading artists — this winter’s highlights include Van Gogh Distortion and Transformé, an 80-minute virtual reality show running through mid-April.
6:30 p.m. Light Up The Dark
Long winter nights provide a natural canvas for such artists playing with light. To see their virtuosity on display, stroll through the Quartier des Spectacles entertainment district, where the glowing, interactive art installations Luminotherapie turn a compact grid of pedestrian boulevards into a free-to-access creative playground. A highlight is the ice-skating rink Esplanade Tranquille, where a new experience, Au Bord du Lac Tranquille, debuted in December: Projectors cast colorful images of sea creatures on the ice, using LIDAR technology so the fish, whales and narwhals can interact with the gliding skaters. (Shows, which start at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., last half an hour.) And, through early March, the festival Montréal en Lumière ups the ante throughout the Quartier des Spectacles with outdoor programming, including a constellation of flickering bonfires, popup vendors and a 300-meter elevated skating track lit with glowing batons.
8:30 p.m. Celebrate Northern Flavors
Montreal claims the same number of restaurants, per capita, as New York City, so it’s fitting its festival of lights has a gourmet twist. Each year, Montréal en Lumière pairs visiting chefs with local restaurateurs for one-off collaborations, and the 2023 edition features culinary guest stars from Scandinavia exploring the two regions’ shared northerly flavors. Call ahead to secure a table at Renoir Restaurant, where French-trained Executive Chef Olivier Perret will be teaming up with Iceland’s Sigurður Rúnar Ragnarsson to create a Nordic-Quebecois menu that’s among the season’s hottest bookings.
SUNDAY
10 a.m. Relaxation, Nordic style
A recent Canadian passion for Nordic spas started in Quebec, where locals use the ritual-like circuits combining heat and bracing cold to banish any lingering winter chill. You might dedicate a pink-cheeked week to Montreal spa-hopping, from quietly luxurious Scandinave Spa to the indoor-outdoor Strøm Spa on an island in the St. Lawrence River and still have a few left over to explore. Most beloved may be stylish Bota Bota, a Nordic spa in a refurbished ferry boat moored just off the city’s Old Port. In winter, its glass-walled saunas look out across undulating ice floes and the historic waterfront — a fitting view to cap a Montreal winter weekend.
WHERE TO STAY
Tucked down a cobblestoned lane in Old Montréal, the chic, 127-room Hotel William Grey occupies a renovated 18th-century Greystone building near historic Place Jacques Cartier in the heart of the historic riverfront. Winter transforms its rooftop Terrasse William Grey into a dreamy cluster of transparent dining bubbles with views across the port and the Grand Roue observation wheel; the onsite Café Olimpico is the Old Port outpost of a beloved Italian espresso bar that’s been a Mile End mainstay since 1970. A thermal circuit in the 5,600 square foot Spa William Grey includes two saunas, a steam room and a cold chamber complete with pellet ice for rubbing flushed limbs.
Bota Bota
Photo By Thibault Carron
TOP SPOT
La Grande Roue de Montréal
362 Rue de la Commune E, Montréal; lagranderouedemontreal.com; 514-325-7888
Old Port Skating Rink
Bassin Bonsecours, Montréal; oldportofmontreal.com; 514-496-7678
Café de la Grande Roue
362 Rue de la Commune E, Montréal; lagranderouedemontreal.com; 514-325-7888
Monarque
406 Rue Saint-Jacques, Montréal; restaurantmonarque.ca; 514-875-3896
Hiverside
5020 Rue St-Ambroise, Montreal; riversidemtl.com/hiverside; 438-922-1015.
St. Viateur Bagels
158 Rue Saint-Viateur Ouest, Montréal; stviateurbagel.com; 514-270-2972
Fairmount Bagels
74 Fairmount Ouest Ave., Montréal; fairmountbagel.com; 514-272-0667
Beaver Lake Pavilion
115 Remembrance Road, Montreal; lemontroyal.qc.ca; 514 843-8240, ext. 1
L’Express
3927 Rue Saint-Denis, Montreal; restaurantlexpress.com; 514-845-5333
OASIS Immersion
301 Rue Saint-Antoine Ouest, Montréal; oasis.im; 438-813-7878
Esplanade Tranquille
1442 Rue Clark, Montreal; quartierdesspectacles.com; 514-879-0009
Renoir Restaurant
1155 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal; restaurant-renoir.com; 514-788-3038
Bota Bota
Waterfront between McGill Est and Rue de la Commune Ouest, Montréal; botabota.ca; 514-284-0333