Things to do in Montréal: March 4 to 10

Where better to be in winter than in Montréal? Immerse yourself in the entertainment and culinary arts of the MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE winter festival, the city’s all-ages Spring Break activities, hockey games and Barbegazi sports, dance, theatre, film, art and live music.

Brighten up

MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE keeps downtown bright and bustling until March 5 with music and theatrical performances, extraordinary meals (including pay-their-age prices for kids), and a free outdoor site at downtown’s Place des Festivals featuring multimedia shows, ice slides, a Ferris wheel, a zip line, fabulous food and more – get the inside scoop with our MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE SURVIVAL GUIDE. Art lovers can do some shopping and see excellent contemporary art throughout the underground city during winter exhibition Art Souterrain. Consult our Guide to Spring Break Montréal Style for high-energy nightlife and restaurant ideas. On the glittering ice at the Bell Centre, watch the Canadiens play the Stars on March 8 and the Sabres on March 10. And make your visit even smoother with these Montreal-specific apps.

Delightful menus

Along with the many fine dining options at MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE, sit down to a gourmet meal during restaurant festival Relâche Gourmande, highlighting special table d’hôte menus at reduced prices – with a bonus 50% off for kids under 12 – at Old Montreal restaurants Les 400 Coupes, Helena, Tapas 24, Nolana and Portus Calle, until March 13. If you’re in the mood to splurge, try one of Canada’s Best 100 Restaurants for 2016. Warm up at Montréal’s hottest new restaurants and wicked winter bars, opt for healthy eating locales, or fill up and kick back with classic poutine, tasty tacos and authentic Mexican food. – from restaurants to nightlife – and go on a taco run no matter what the weather with our guide And families on Spring Break can keep kids happy and well-fed at Montréal’s best kid-friendly restaurants.

Great outdoors

Experience a real Québec tradition with a maple-syrup-inspired feast at a sugar shack in the city and just outside of town – go for an updated gourmet meal or pile your plate high with the classics (everything from pancakes to tourtière). Switch gears and see extreme winter sports at the free, all-ages Barbegazi Winter Action Sports Festival, March 5 to 6 on the Esplanade Financière Sun Life at Olympic Stadium – check out fatbike racing, snowskating, freestyle snowmobiling, obstacle course races, a hockey tournament and more. If you’re a cross-country skier, head to of Mount Royal, the Lachine Canal or Parc Maisonneuve. Snowshoe and try curling at the Stewart Museum at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Go ice skating to a musical soundtrack at Bonsecours Basin next to the Saint-Lawrence River in the Old Port and at the Village MAMMOUTH at Olympic Park. And further from the city centre, see animals native to Québec in their natural habitat at the Ecomuseum Zoo.

Spring Break entertainment

 Find something fun to do outdoors and inside for toddlers, pre-schoolers, elementary-aged kids and teens in our Spring Break for families in Montréal guide. See IMAX films and learn about the world through hands-on exhibitions at the Montréal Science Centre or go on an archaeological dig at the Pointe-à-Callière Museum. Everyone’s favourite Disney characters put on a show at Disney on Ice’s 100 Years of Magic at the Bell Centre, in English on March 3, 4 and 6. Game lovers of all ages can play board games, indie video games and physical games at Festival Montréal Joue, to March 6, and kids can climb the walls at Horizon Roc indoor rock climbing centre or pick up some serious tumbling tips from 800 athletes at the most important female gymnastics competition held in Canada, International Gymnix, to March 6 at Complexe Claude-Robillard. The Jeunesses Musicales Canada children’s music series offers workshops and concerts just for kids, including several for 3 to 7 year olds, to March 6. Little ones and older kids can play at circus centre La Tohu every day during Spring Break and see circus shows Remous Remis and Circus Igcognitus. The Barbie Expo, the largest permanent exhibition of Barbie dolls in the world, features over 1000 one-of-a-kind Barbie dolls free is and entry is free at Les Cours Mont-Royal.

Visual art

Along with the art discoveries to be made at exhibition Art Souterrain, the ancient Roman city of Pompeii reveals its complex history in hundreds of ancient art and artifacts, on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts – as well, from March 1 to 6, admission to the Museum’s permanent collection is free and the museum offers several activities for kids. Galerie de l’UQAM teams up with gallery HEAD – Geneva to present Motion. Montréal/Geneva, to April 9. The Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal presents captivating performance-video work by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson and Ryan Gander. And the breathtaking Northern Lights come to the city accompanied by Roman Zavada on piano in immersive audiovisual show Résonances Boréales at the SAT.

On stage

See contemporary ballet at its finest in Les Grands Ballets’ Préludes, March 10 to 19 at Place des Arts, a double program of Dim Light of Dawn, a tribute to Sergei Rachmaninoff by choreographer Ken Ossolaand and RE-(II), figuratively located at the Cambodian temple of Angkor Wat, by choreographer Shen Wei. Also in dance, television cooking shows come to the stage in Audrey Rochette’s humorous satire CAKE at La Chapelle March 8 to 12; and choreographer Lucie Grégoire finds inspiration in a novel by Paul Auster for her Les choses dernières, March 9 to 12 at Agora de la danse. See world-class puppetry shows for adults and kids from England, Poland, British-Colombia and Québec at the 11th edition of Festival des Casteliers to March 6 at various locations – see Louis Riel: A Comic Strip Stage Play (an adaptation of Chester Brown’s celebrated graphic novel), British troupe Blind Summit Theatre’s The Table, shadow puppet show Caws and Effect, and more. The final year of the Edgy Women festival culminates in Cabaret Edgy: Famous Last Words, a show featuring the best of the best in avant-garde performances by women, on March 5 at Lion d’’Or. And in English-language theatre, see mysterious drama On This Day and the English-language world premiere of Marilyn Perreault’s Bus Stops at Centaur Theatre, plus Scapegoat Carnivale Theatre’s tale of revenge and forgiveness among the animals, Bar Kapra the Squirrel Hunter.

Live music

Blessthefall and more metalcore bands get dark at Théâtre Corona on Friday night while electronic producer Oliver Heldens lightens feet on the dance floor at New City Gas, or you could go disco dancing at Bar le Ritz PDB. British indie-folk band Daughter comes to Théâtre Corona on March 5, while brilliant musician and composer Julia Holter plays a concert at the Maison des arts de Laval, Portland indie rockers Radiation City smooth out the night at Casa del Popolo, Blanck Mass do dark electro at Bar le Ritz PDB and Dutch electro veteran Hardwell rules at New City Gas. On March 5 and 6, Kent Nagano conducts the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and pianist Maria João Pires in a Beethoven-Bruckner program, and from March 8 to 10, Nagano conducts pianist Daniil Trifonov and the orchestra in Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Sunday night brings fierce singer and pop/hip-hop star Tinashe to Théâtre Corona and Chicago heavy rockers Sweet Cobra and Bloodiest to Bar le Ritz PDB. It’s a heavy metal Monday with Bullet For My Valentine at Metropolis and Cradle of Filth at Théâtre Corona and heavy experimentalists Rangda at Casa del Popolo. California surf punk band SWMRS rides into La Sala Rossa on March 9 and Hamilton rock dudes Monster Truck stomp into Théâtre Corona. And on Thursday, March 10, Haywyre mixes contemporary electronic music with classical and jazz at Le Belmont, Brazilian electronic producer Gui Boratto plays a sweet DJ set at Newspeak, and hot Montreal band Majical Clouds mesmerizes at La Sala Rossa.

Next up: Indoor family activities in Montréal