Things to do in Montréal: January 1 to 7

A new year, a new week – welcome to 2016 and welcome to Montréal! The genuine joys of the holiday season continue into this week at excellent restaurants and bars, outdoor markets, museums and music venues, and out on the streets and ice rinks of the city.

New Year’s eats

We could technically still call this “the holidays,” and many of the restaurants in our guide to holiday menus in Montréal do! From six-service table d’hôtes to classic French fare, welcome in the New Year with an excellent meal or two. Celebrate your love of wine and good food at these 10 wine-devoted restaurants. Get your fill of Peking Duck and dumplings on New Year’s Day at these Chinese food restaurants open over the holidays. If a burger and fries is your comfort food, get back to basics with these 5 must-try burgers. And since a vacation isn’t enough time to try everything Montréal’s cuisine scene has to offer, bring these made-in-Montréal treats home and pack a bottle of celebratory Québec-made alcohol, whether it’s gin or sparkling cider.

Rewarding resolutions

If you’re prone to making New Year’s resolutions, it’s easy to follow through on the fun ones in Montréal: skydive or get a tattoo, drink good scotch or go surfing, and so much more. If it’s your first time in Montréal, we’re not kidding about these 10 Montréal musts, plus these 10 more wonderful ways to explore the city. Make your friend-focused dreams come true on a glitzy girls’ weekend or a classy Mad Men-style weekend with the guys And if you want it all but you’re working with a tight budget, it can happen right here: stick with our new picks for affordable hotels and inexpensive places to stay; eat well and often at these budget-friendly and bring-your-own-wine restaurants, never ruling out lunch and late-night menus; and see affordable shows on Montréal stages and at indie music venues. While you’re at it, go ahead and eat all the doughnuts.

Fun outdoors

 Christmas is over but the Montréal seasonal celebrations continue on New Year’s day at Old Montréal’s Merry Montréal events, and downtown at Place des Festivals’ Le Grand Marché de Noël de Montréal where you’ll find activities, gourmet food and drink and more until January 2. Over at the Olympic Park, the MAMMOUTH Winter Village boasts a family ice slide, ice rink, outdoor games and activities, food trucks and entertainment for all ages. There’s more ice skating at the Old Port of Montréal’s outdoor rink (complete with bar), open all winter, and La Tohu circus centre’s Village de Noël, open to January 3. Also on ice, but indoors at the Bell Centre, our hockey champs the Canadiens play the New Jersey Devils on December 6. Downtown at Place des Festivals, 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. For more activities for the whole family, see our new guide to Festive fun for kids this holiday season. And stay happily well-fed with our many picks for kid-friendly restaurants.

Colourful entertainment

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. Kids can experiment and build, see animatronic dinosaurs and IMAX movies, and more at the Montréal Science Centre. Tropical adventures and capybaras, candy-themed gardens and galactic adventure await at the Space for Life’s Biodôme, Botanical Garden and Planetarium. While most of the city’s museum’s are closed on New Year’s Day, their doors open again on January 2: see seasonal and permanent art exhibitions at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts – including 70 zebra finches “performing” live on electric guitars – as well as acclaimed contemporary art the Musée d’art contemporain. Dig in to Agatha Christie’s life and work at Pointe-à-Callière museum and see multimedia history exhibitions there and at the McCord Museum and the Stewart Museum at Parc Jean-Drapeau.

Live music

On January 1 at Place des Arts, Québec soprano Karina Gauvin and German tenor Tilmann Unger join the Strauss Orchestra for the Salute to Vienna, featuring Viennese waltzes, polkas and operetta arias plus stage shows featuring the Austrian Europaballett company and International Ballroom Champions. More classical music captivates January 6 to 8 courtesy of the Montréal Symphony Orchestra’s Tchaikovsky Festival, featuring the 1812 Overture, Symphony No. 4 and more. Québécoise singer-songwriter and former Star Académie reality show finalist Marie-Mai and her band continue their pop-y, heartwarming residence at Théâtre St-Denis until January 9. Dada Life keeps the New Year’s party going in electronic dance music style at New City Gas on January 1. Local electronic noise-pop makers Lowebrau and Marie Davidson play Casa del Popolo on January 2. On Tuesday, January 5, hear the heavy sounds of Cloakroom, Wildhoney and Femme Accident at Bar “Le Ritz” P.D.B., followed on January 7 by the indie-rock psycheldia of Keep, Growing Pains and Big Knife Little Knife, while at Casa del Popolo hear the soft yet striking sounds of violinist and guitar duo Needle Gem along with Shyre and Gabrielle Marlena. And jazz up your nights at the city’s best jazz and blues clubs.