Things to do in Montréal: December 25 to 31

During Christmas week, Montréal slows down, a peaceful quality permeating the air – of course, restaurants and bars still serve up fantastic fare, art and cultural activities abound for kids and adults alike, skating rinks and winter villages bustle, and by New Year’s Eve everyone is ready to party like it’s 2016.

Dazzling food and drink

Montréal knows that the pleasure and comfort of excellent meals and marvelous drinks is essential to the holiday season. Our guide to holiday menus in Montréal takes you around the city to discover the best in seasonal eating, from six-service table d’hôtes to classic French fare. Also peruse our guide to Restaurants open on Christmas Day for more first-rate feasting options. Add the unique quality of Québec-made alcohols to your holiday cocktails: try gin, vodka, ice wine, ciders and more made by Canadian distilling experts with a flare for flavour. And wine lovers should get cozy at these 10 wine-devoted restaurants. If you’re dining with a big family or friends, look into a private dining room experience. And if your holiday tradition involves Peking Duck and dumplings, let us show you where to eat Chinese food on Christmas and New Year’s. On the other hand, sometimes you just need a burger: these 5 must-try burgers are the real deal. And since a vacation isn’t enough time to eat everything Montréal’s cuisine scene has to offer, bring these made-in-Montréal treats home with you.

New Year’s Eve

Find out where the party’s at on December 31 with our 2015 Guide to New Year’s Eve in Montréal. From classy nights out at five-star hotels, award-winning restaurants or the casino, to Merry Montreal’s all-ages extravaganza at Place Jacques-Cartier in the Old Port, to late-late-night parties at music venues and dance clubs like New City Gas, the Sir Winston Churchill Pub Complex, SAT, Theatre Fairmount, Metropolis, Le Belmont, La Sala Rossa and many more, this city celebrates another year gone by and welcomes the new one in style. If you’re still looking for a place to stay and working with a tight budget, check out our new picks for affordable hotels. Even if you’re not here for New Year’s, Montréal is always ready to party, whether you’re planning a glitzy girls’ weekend or a classy Mad Men-style weekend with the guys.

Outdoor fun

Join the Montréal seasonal celebrations throughout the city, starting at the outdoor fires, Christmas market and more at Merry Montréal in Old Montréal until January 1. Right downtown at Place des Festivals find sparkle, gourmet food and drink and activities at Le Grand Marché de Noël de Montréal until January 2. Next door to the Marché play on the 30 illuminated see-saws of interactive art exhibition Luminothérapie, on until January 31 along with animated digital art projected onto nearby buildings and throughout the Quartier des Spectacles. Keep the whole family active, well fed and happy at the MAMMOUTH Winter Village featuring a huge family slide, ice rink and much more at Olympic Park. The lovely Old Port of Montréal’s outdoor skating rink adds different DJed music to your skate every day of the week. La Tohu circus centre’s Village de Noël offers activities, warm drinks, crepes, ice skating and more. Le Festival Noël dans le parc in the Plateau lights up Parc des Compagnons-de-St-Laurent (Mont-Royal Avenue at Cartier) with activities and music to December 25. And for more activities for the whole family, see our new guides to Free things to do in December, Festive fun for kids this holiday season and a Victorian Christmas in Montréal.

Circus, music and more

The acrobatic, bright, bold and beautiful circus of Cirque du Soleil’s TORUK: The First Flight, inspired by James Cameron’s film Avatar, transforms the Bell Centre until January 3. There’s more high-flying fun at La Tohu in Australian troupe Circa’s Carnival of the Animals, on to January 3. Classic Les Grands Ballets’s The Nutcracker keeps the Christmas magic alive and twirling until December 30 at Place des Arts. If you and your little ones speak French, see Caillou on stage. While most of the city’s museum’s are closed on Christmas and New Year’s they’re open in between: see seasonal and permanent art exhibitions at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (offering free entry in December) and the Musée d’art contemporain as well as multimedia history exhibitions at Pointe-à-Callière, Santa and more at the Stewart Museum at Parc Jean-Drapeau, historical facts and a room full of toys at the McCord Museum, animatronic dinosaurs, IMAX movies and more at the Montréal Science Centre, and tropical adventures and capybaras, candy-themed gardens and galactic adventure at the Space for Life’s Biodôme, Botanical Garden and Planetarium. Cinéma du Parc screens documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut along with Hitchcock classics this week. And in music, New City Gas’s Lumen Festival keeps the season bright with electronic dance music from Grammy-nominated producer DJ Snake (known for his Turn down for what) on December 26, Bakermat and Thomas Jack on December 27, and R3hab on December 28. Malian n’goni player and songwriter Madou Diarra launches his new album at Casa del Popolo on December 27, Oktopus and Friends throw a big-band klezmer party at La Sala Rossa and live ska music fills Foufounes Electriques on December 28, or stay punk forever at Casa del Popolo’s New Year’s Eve punk show. And keep life jazzy at the city’s best jazz and blues clubs.