What's new in Montréal

After the winter thaw, the maple trees around Montréal sugar off with the region’s world famous maple syrup drip by precious drip and the city erupts in a sweet culinary celebration.

• Promenade Wellington—one of the coolest streets in the world—hosts the maple-themed celebration Cabane Panache festival March 20 to 23, 2025 with live music to boot.
• The Urban sugar shack returns to Parc Jean-Drapeau on weekends starting March 15, 2025 with a full menu of seasonal favourites and an all you can eat menu. Save space for seconds!
• Eleven of Old Montréal’s finest restaurants host the Happening Gourmand February 28 to March 30, 2025, offering gourmet dining experiences at unforgettable prices.
• Neighbouring Indigenous community Kahnawà:ke hosts the Maple Food Fest March 1 to 31, 2025, climaxing with the Maple Fest on March 23, 2025!
• The famed Le Renoir restaurant in the Sofitel Montréal Golden Mile hotel re-opens under the guidance of Executive Chef Olivier Perret, named as the official Maple Ambassador by Érable du Québec.
• Québec’s maple sugarmakers sell their wares throughout the spring at Montréal’s public markets including Jean-Talon Market, Atwater Market, Maisonneuve Market and the Public Market of Lachine.

Some of Montréal’s favourite winter terraces remain open into the spring, including:

• Les Refuges du Bivouac’s clear domes overlooking Place des Festivals
• The après-ski hideaway Belvu HORS-PISTE
• The Terrasse William Gray atop its namesake Old Montréal hotel
• Bateau-Mouche’s Frosted Domes on the docks of the Old Port’s Yacht-Club Montréal
• Brasseur de Montréal’s winter terrasse overlooking Griffintown.

As the city turns leafy and green, the season’s event timetable also blooms with unmissable fun for all ages.

• The glittering MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE takes over the heart of the city with installations, performances and a load of family friendly programming February 27 to March 9, 2025.
• Keep the party going with the 22nd edition of Nuit blanche à Montréal on March 1, 2025, when cultural institutions expand their hours late into the night.
• The Festival Art Souterrain brings cutting edge contemporary art to thousands of passerby in Montréal’s vast underground network from March 15 to April 6, 2025.
• Montréal’s vibrant Irish community gathers for the 200th edition of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 16, 2025
• The Go Bike Montréal Festival returns May 25 to June 1, 2025 with a week-long celebration of everything on two wheels, including the iconic Tour la Nuit night ride

For more Montréal fun, check our Guide to winter festivals in Montréal and a preview of the city’s packed summer calendar.

While the temperature steadily rises, Montréal’s outdoor activities shift into springtime mode, with plenty of unforgettable fun in the great outdoors.

• The city’s parks are prime for an invigorating spring walk, and if there’s still some snow on the ground there’s groomed pathways and off-road snowshoe treks at hand. Some favourites include Mount Royal Park, along the Lachine Canal, the islands of Parc Jean-Drapeau and the newest large-scale kid on the block Frédéric-Back Park. 
• Art Public Montréal’s website lists more than 25 self-directed walking tours on their website, from the treasures awaiting in Parc Jean-Drapeau to the public artworks on view in the Underground City. Make sure not to miss Spidertag’s neon façade on the corner of Saint-Laurent Boulevard and Mount-Royal Avenue and the newly-installed mirrored ORB at Place des Arts.
• Produced in part by Tourisme Montréal and MTL Zipline, the newly installed Montréal Bungee stands as Canada’s highest urban bungee jump, seeing the bravest of the brave leap (and bounce back) from a height 210 metres above the water from the historic Conveyors Tower. Yes, we’re screaming!
• Groupe Écorécréo’s Royalmount project expansion plans outline an eco-innovative neighbourhood that’s more than just an upcoming must-have address and shopping destination, but a leafy oasis punctuated with selfie-worthy large-scale public art pieces.

The winter’s thaw brings an exciting list of unmissable world-class exhibitions and cutting edge artistic premieres.

• The McCord Stewart Museum’s exuberant and fun Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870-1927 runs to August 17, 2025.
• The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (AKA “the MAC”) presents the architecture-themed Skyscrapers by the Roots: Reflections on Late Modernism March 6 to August 10, 2025.
• The Pointe-à-Callière—Montréal History and Archaeology Complex’s exhibition Witches—Out of the Shadows runs until April 6, 2025, taking witchcraft and its practitioners out of the dark and into the spotlight!
• The Montréal Museum of Fine Arts (or MMFA for those in the know) hosts the unforgettably radical Joyce Wieland: Heart On until May 4, 2025 and Bad Girls Only: Women and the Seven Deadly Sins, a collection of Dutch and Flemish prints including works by Albrecht Dürer and Hieronymus Wierix to August 10, 2025.
• Architecture fans shouldn’t miss the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s ongoing three-part film and exhibition series Groundwork, highlighting innovations in international architecture.
• Indigenous arts are on show at the Montréal Museum of Fine Art’s ᐆᒻᒪᖁᑎᒃ uummaqutik exploration of traditional Inuit artforms, the McCord Stewart’s permanent exhibition Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience, the MEM—Centre des mémoires montréalaises’ collaborative exhibition Still Here! Indigenous Peoples’ Voices in Montréal and daphne's Mile End location showcase of works by Anishinaabe artist Michael Belmore and Cherokee Nation artist Brenda Mallory. A series of bronze sculptures by Kahnawà:ke artists MC Snow and Kyra Revenko pay homage to Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen—the Kanien’kehá:ka ceremony of thanks—along Peel Street downtown (with audio accompaniment available on the Portrait Sonore app).

• Digital arts lovers won’t want to miss the eye-popping journey through 3.5 billion years of history Life Chronicles at the King-Edward Pier until June 1, 2025, while the PHI hosts a multimedia exploration of one of Quebéc’s most beloved filmmakers with Jean-Marc Vallée: Mixtape featuring Laura Dern, Vanessa Paradis and Denis Villeneuve. Meanwhile, the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT for short) hosts a series of immersive experiences including the astronaut’s eye view of Umbra Mission and the compilation of filmmaker Sergey Prokofyev’s Immersive Architecture Essays. 
• Up your selfie game with the 16 sets available at Musée Imaginarium in the heart of Griffintown—don't forget the #mtlmoments tag! 
• The Pickle Centre offers 14 padded pickleball courts in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve quartier, coupled with on-site coaching and contests.
• Gamers of all ages will flip for the immersive experiences of Moment Factory’s ARcade at the Casino de Montréal, PLAYBOX Center’s crane and VR games in the Centre Eaton de Montréal mall and laser tag, AR darts and video games galore at Les Trois Monkeys.

For more Montréal museum exhibition listings, click here!

Ranging from #FOMO comfort to #YOLO luxury, Montréal’s hotel scene is a constant grower with glow-up renovations and new additions from trusted brands to boutique treasures. Here’s the latest talk of the town.

• Iconic city landmark The Marriott Château Champlain has just fully restored its iconic Caf’Conc cabaret theatre, first opened in 1967.
• The 17-room Le Petit Hôtel Notre-Dame brings boutique exclusivity to Old Montréal’s Notre-Dame Street, the second addition to the Petit Hôtel chain.
• The Moxy Montréal Downtown’s Griffintown location is the perfect point of access for the Bell Centre, Place Bonaventure and Central Station.
• Hôtel Le Centre Sheraton Montréal’s recent $50-million transformation sees this dependable favourite looking better than ever (and the upcoming Stanley Restaurant terrace will be a tasty addition too)!
• The legendary Hôtel Nelligan blends modern luxury in old school 19th century environs like no-one else, and this unique mix received the top prize for best urban hotel in Canada in the Travel + Leisure Readers’ Choice Awards.
• The Sofitel Montréal Golden Mile remains open during a 3-phase overhaul, featuring a complete top-to-bottom beautification of the French luxury brand’s flagship location and a highly anticipated re-opening of its Le Renoir restaurant.
• The Hôtel Honeyrose Montréal brings the style and elegance of the 1920s into the 2020s, right in the heart of the Quartier des Spectacles performing arts neighbourhood.
• The Courtyard Montréal Midtown offers comfort and flexibility a stone’s throw from to YUL Montréal-Trudeau International Airport.
• Residence Inn Montréal Midtown’s suites give that home away from home feeling with comfy sleeping quarters and fully-equipped kitchens on bustling Décarie Boulevard.

• Housed in the historic Place Gare Viger train station, the Hyatt Centric Montréal’s unbeatable views look over Old Montréal and Downtown and offer easy access to the city’s central districts.
• Vogue Hotel Montréal Downtown’s recent renovations saw its addition to Hilton’s upscale Curio Collection, hitting all new heights of luxury.
• The Warwick Le Crystal offers some of the city’s largest suites, based in the Golden Square Mile—the historic home of some of Victorian Montréal’s wealthiest citizens.
• Located across from Concordia University (and in close proximity to McGill University), Le Mont’s surroundings are suitably youthful and vibrant. Splurge on one of the penthouse suites to mark a special occasion in style.
• Offering an immersive sound and light experience, the Hôtel SonoLux is set to redefine experiential accommodation in Montréal when it opens its doors in spring 2025.
• The Mile End’s iconic Entrepôt Van Horne building (its water tower an enduring symbol of the neighbourhood) is under development as a multi-purpose hub including a boutique hotel designed by Zébulon Perron and Thomas Balaban. Stay tuned!
• The Casino de Montréal will soon unveil its on-site 200-room Hotel Le Germain, offering easy access to the gaming tables and Parc Jean-Drapeau.
• The Royalmount luxury shopping mall’s expansion plans include both the state of the art Aquarium de Montréal and an adjoining hotel projected to open in 2026.
• Converting a beloved neighbourhood multiplex cinema into a 200-room hotel (while still maintaining several screens specializing in foreign films), the StarCité Hotel is sure to transform Montréal Olympic Park when it receives its first guests in 2027.

You haven’t seen some of Montréal’s most popular sites until you’ve seen them in the springtime. From epic viewpoints to immersive experiences, here’s a few of the city’s de rigeur greatest hits.

• If you only take one picture on your visit to the city, Tourisme Montréal’s Structure BONJOUR sign on the Grand Quay of the Port of Montréal offers the ultimate backdrop with the city’s skyline soaring behind it. Say fromage!
• The Port of Montréal Tower (also on the Grand Quay, so two birds with one stone!) gives awe-inspiring 360-degree vistas over the Saint Lawrence River and city.
• Canada’s largest natural sciences complex in Canada, Espace pour la vie is home to the Jardin botanique, Planétarium, Insectarium, Biodôme and Biosphère, each with intriguing springtime-themed programming.
• Telling the stories of Montréalers in their own voices, the MEM—Centre des mémoires montréalaises combines memories via extensive interviews and artefacts into an unforgettable tribute to the city by those who know it best.
• Minds are regularly blown at OASIS immersion in the Montréal Convention Centre, via the latest in immersive projection technology. Check their website for the most up-to-date programming calendar.
• The Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal comes to life through jaw-dropping projection mapping with The AURA Experience, as breathtaking as the church’s archways and spires.