Your 2024 guide to New Year’s Eve in Montréal

Old Montréal’s many luxury boutique hotels roll out the red carpet on New Year’s Eve and provide excellent jumping off (or staying in) points for the night. The chic W Montréal is offering Champagne & Celebration packages that offer varying degrees of cocktails and champagne in the W Living Room along with a performance by renowned house music singer/DJ/producer Sandy Duperval. Towards the Old Port, the stylish and contemporary Hôtel William Gray will host its lavish annual NYE Grand Ball soirée with a six-course meal, open bar, live music during dinner, DJ and dance floor, champagne at midnight and even a photo booth. 

The historic, amazingly old world, stone-walled Auberge Saint-Gabriel is renowned for its legendary parties, and on a night that’s famous for champagne, go to where they take the bubbly stuff seriously: the lively Maison Saint-Paul, a chic “sabering” champagne resto-bar where they’ll even lend you a sabre to slash open your bottle. It’ll be a Prohibition-era party (without the Prohibition) when the ’20s roar back to life at the utterly unique Bord’Elle’s “A Very Gatsby New Year’s Eve” blowout. Rocking culinary styling that sees the flavours of Thailand’s shores crashing into the beaches of Hawaiian cuisine (a fusion they like to call “Thaiwaiian”), The Farsides are hosting a hip-hop/R&B, old-school music video dance party featuring DJ Quest and DJ Bo.

As is the custom, Montréal’s beautifully restored Ritz-Carlton Hotel — at its haute cuisine, in-house restaurant Maison Boulud — will be hosting their annual New Year’s Dinner soirée, offering two services with multi-course menus as well as live music, a dance floor and countdown to midnight. Getting in on the exclusive New Year’s action is also the esteemed (and imaginatively renovated and redesigned) Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel. The “Queen E” celebrates New Year’s Eve on two fronts: restaurant Rosélys will welcome you with a delicious kir, followed by an eight-course New Year's Eve menu with live jazz during your meal and a glass of champagne for the big countdown to the New Year, while Bar Nacarat never fails to impress with the kind of outstanding mixology that inspires new resolutions. 

Over in the Quartier des Spectacles, with its commanding views of downtown and Place des Arts, the DoubleTree By Hilton Montréal’s in-house resto Bivouac (equal parts social lounge, artisan bar and modern bistro) will be offering a special Québec-sourced NYE menu. The stylish Le Boulevardier restaurant of the boutique Hôtel Le Germain Montréal will have an exceptional 6-course menu with wine pairings and a complimentary flute of bubbles. Cocktails are king at the elegant and sophisticated Vietnamese restaurant Hang, tucked in between Old MTL and downtown, where an array of dinner and VIP party packages are on offer. And the chic, boutique Hyatt Centric Montréal’s Pub Cartier Arms is offering an exclusive four-course culinary experience to tantalize your taste buds and set the tone for an incredible year ahead.

This year, for the very first time, epic winter-season, outdoor dance party Igloofest will take over the Old Port of Montréal’s free NYE festivities. Open to everyone, the snowy soirée will feature performances by approximately eight electro, pop, hip-hop and funk artists as well as a countdown and fireworks at midnight accompanied by a multimedia performance. The Casino de Montréal will ring in the New Year with a range of all-day New Year’s Eve entertainment experiences. They will throw an exclusive and immersive party featuring live shows and performances throughout the casino as it transforms itself into a one-stop fun shop (take note: only NYE party ticket holders will be admitted to the casino for most of the day). Le Balcon Cabaret Music-Hall on Sainte Catherine Street will be doing what they do best when they bring the house down with their New Year’s Mega Party featuring a selection of the best soul, Motown, disco and dance hits courtesy of Dorian Sherwood & Soul Tree. Their popular, annual New Year’s Eve party dinner-and-show ticket includes a multi-course gourmet meal and a toast at midnight.

Get the night flying at Jet Night Club, Crescent Street’s largest nightclub, which always promises the “ultimate VIP treatment” for you and 999 of your friends, music of the house/hip-hop/club anthem variety, and a live countdown on giant screens. Also keeping the Crescent Street New Year’s energy peaking is Club Electric Avenue with an ’80s and ’90s vibe. The spectacular resto-nightclub Yoko Luna will be hosting their annual Japanese-themed, Neo-Tokyo New Year’s Eve bash boasting a dizzying array of dinner/party ticket options and VIP offerings. 

The newly reimagined Montréal Marriott Chateau Champlain hotel promises an upscale experience featuring VIP bottle service, breathtaking city views, and glamorous people and surroundings at its annual “Final Fantasy New Year’s Eve” bash. And just to make sure all bases are covered, Montréal institution the Sir Winston Churchill Pub Complex has all the things on three floors under one roof: a nightclub with a bangin’ dance floor, a live music pub space and a laid-back club lounge with glamorous décor, all decked out with NYE bells and whistles.

Over on Saint-Laurent Boulevard – or “The Main” as it’s known to the homegrown – there’s club scene action all along the strip, beginning on lower Saint Laurent. The ultra-modern Society for Arts and Technology (a.k.a., the SAT) is one of the more unique spaces in the city, and lends itself to a cutting-edge electro dance party every year. This year they’re promising an ultra-curated musical program and immersive visuals to get you in the New Year’s mood. Further up Saint-Laurent, the two floors (one a lounge, the other a dance club) of party mainstay Rouge will be bouncing to the sound of hip-hop, club anthems and Top 40 hits at its “Golden Kingdom” event. Over at Muzique, similar musical stylings will be on offer in multiple themed rooms for their annual, swanky “Montréal Ball,” “where the champagne never stops flowing, the music never stops playing, the jewels never come off and the party never ends...” Various early bird/VIP group passes are available. 

With a lending library of designated dancers for wallflowers, and a dance card booklet to set up dances in advance if one desires, Mainline Theatre’s “New Year’s Eve Slowdance” has all slow songs, all night long — usher in the New Year with an embrace. At Club Peopl, masked mystery will be the name of the game for their “Masquerade Countdown” party with no less than six different ticket packages. And it’s a New Year’s ball at Montréal’s legendary Club Balattou, which will host a Caribbean/African live music, tropical dance party with bubbly to usher in the New Year at midnight. 

Wholly unique Griffintown party palace New City Gas, built in the historic, industrial-age New City Gas complex that lit Montréal streets once upon a time, is a New Year’s staple for dance music partygoers. This year, Markus Schulz, Adina Butar and Sarah De Warren, among others, will keep the tables turning. If you’re the kind of person who only gets their party started by the time most clubs are closing, the Gay Village has the answer at the iconic Stereo – which boasts the city’s best sound system – where they have programmed a marathon run of dance music DJ sets, featuring headliners John Digweed and Ostrich, in their two spaces. The singular NOMAD coworking and events space in MTL’s Mile End district is pulling out all the stops to make this NYE one for the ages. Their “ANTENNAE | Immersive Psychedelic Experience” party is promising bad-ass electronic beats, a healthy food spread, magic chocolate and champagne at midnight.

Celebrate the new year in wild style at Cirque De Boudoir’s “Fire and Ice” Carnavalesque party, this year at Théatre Paradoxe. It features DJs (house, electro, techno) all night as well as circus, burlesque and fetish performances, gogo dancers, dungeon spaces, and trippy visuals and more. And who wouldn’t want to eat, drink and dance in an enchanting underground forest? The completely unique Soubois (resto by day, woodsy party jungle by night) will host their annual event featuring an irresistible menu and an array of DJs. And it’s an open bar, buffet and bubbly at midnight at North Montréal’s Club L’Ami Temps, all to the sound of musical host extraordinaire, DJ Vlad Guzu.

Resolve to eat well this New Year’s Eve as Montréal’s many world-class restaurants get creative with their cuisine. To wit, let Maggie Oakes, where the finest Québec-produced foods are featured, offer you a luxurious environment in an ambiance of refined elegance, and where an unforgettable, gourmet four-course menu awaits. The ever-popular Méchant Boeuf Bar-Brasserie is preparing a two-service offering that leans heavily into a couple of their specialties — dry-aged beef and seafood — with a DJ spinning tunes deep into the night. Nearby, the much-loved Vieux-Port Steakhouse will ring in the New Year with cocktails, canapés and a raw bar, followed by a three-course dinner and open bar. Toast the midnight hour with Mionetto and enjoy a late-night snack table as the night continues with dancing and celebration.

Pastis is king at Modavie (recently named one of the Top 100 Restaurants in Canada), where they’re putting together five-course and seven-course menus complete with live music. And expect an equally lively atmosphere at Bevo Bar + Pizzeria, where they’re preparing a special NYE menu inspired by Italian traditions. Tucked cozily into the Montréal Marriott Chateau Champlain, chic eatery the Lloyd proposes a journey of flavours from the Polynesian archipelago to Quebec over two services, the latter of which features fancy bubbly and live music until the wee hours.

Tuck into a multi-course menu of gourmet comfort food in Taverne Gaspar’s warm and rustic setting, while the elegant, Parisian pub-inspired Brasserie 701 in the prestigious Hôtel Place d'Armes will have two services to choose from. Also in the hotel, Kyo Bar Japonais has created an imaginative multi-course New Year’s Eve tasting menu over two sittings while offering a selection of over 25 sakes. Restaurants in the city’s Little Italy district are getting into the swing of things in a big way with inventive and outstanding holiday menus from Italian cuisine institutions such as Ristorante Pizzeria Corneli. And craving a Parisian New Year’s Eve? Look no further than brasserie Le Pois Penché, a Golden Square Mile dinner tradition. Expect a feast of original French flavours, a full house, Parisian atmosphere, warm hospitality and a DJ on deck.

The classy Les Enfants Terribles brasserie in Place Ville Marie is offering a magical, festive evening complete with a gourmet dinner, a complimentary raw bar on arrival (unlimited oysters, tartare, tataki and cocktail shrimp), open bar from 11 pm to 1 am, DJ entertainment and a midnight countdown. And the vibrant Time Out Market, a foodie’s dream, in the heart of downtown is not just for next-level eating, it’s a cool jumping off point for your NYE festivities. Enjoy an amazing meal in a unique atmosphere in the company of a DJ who will set a festive mood for the evening.

Bonne année!