There is no better time to visit Montreal, as the US dollar is stronger than ever right now.

“Every year, Montréal en lumière revitalizes our city in the middle of winter and thousands of people support and promote Montréal’s gastronomic, winter and musical culture with an enthusiasm that is reflected on the world stage.”
– Maurin Auxéméry, Programming Director, Montréal en Lumière

Meet Me in Montreal

We adore the bustling city of Montreal, soaking up their French Canadian culture, even in the single digits of winter. For the last quarter of a century, Montreal hosts one of the most exciting winter festivals called Montréal en Lumière. This is where food, culture, and the outdoors blend in the most magical way.

Each year has a special theme (which will not be announced until later – check out the 2026 dates). The 2025 festival theme centered around women (in 2025, 70% of the chefs are female) and pastries. What else does one need?

Only the most creative and vetted chefs are invited to attend, and they fly in from all over the world to take over local Montreal restaurants for the festival. For example, the chef at Comice in Paris took over the very cultured Chasse et pêche offering a six-course tasting menu. Starting with croutons de brioche with a beurre noisette and sauge frite and ending with a fabulous chocolate soufflé, every step on the culinary journey was superb.

Another example from the 2025 festival is when London’s Chef Moonhyung Lee from Silo joined Chef Noé Lainesse of O’Thym in Montréal, offering a gourmet multi-course tasting menu featuring fairytale winter carrots from Montreal. You likely haven’t experienced the taste of a winter carrot so don’t miss out!

You can also enjoy eating fabulous food from Montreal chefs at their own restaurants during the festival. Chef Paul Toussaint wows at his Caribbean inspired restaurant in the heart of Montreal, Kamuy. Bringing the flavors of his home country of Haiti and blending them with Quebec inspired food, diners get the most wonderful blend of what I would call gourmet soul food. His menu includes ½ Poulet Jerk, brisket, riz au pois et plantain and even a baked mac and cheese.

We also experienced a peek behind the kitchen door at Mastard, tucked into a residential neighborhood, featuring owner Chef Simon Mathys. In his simple kitchen, we witnessed greatness as we tasted dishes off his tasting menu such as a ham broth (the perfect salve to Montreal’s cold temperatures), a black bean foie gras combination (a unique blend of simple and fancy), and a local fish cooked to perfection.

If you’re like me and you must get your Canadian poutine fix, you can grab that comfort food at restaurants sprinkled around the city. My favorite place to get poutine is at a cozy pub, like Bistro Pub Nyk’s or Pub Saint-Pierre, because, of course, it goes great with draft beer. We can’t be fancy all the time!

In addition to exquisite dining opportunities, there’s plenty to do around the city during the festival, including their signature nocturnal event, Nuit Blanche, an all night extravaganza. Beginning after dinner and going through sunrise, there are museums, clubs, and other locations throughout eight neighborhoods of Montreal open throughout the night, offering special events.

For instance, spend a night at the museum walking through Redpath Museum on the campus of McGill University, where all lights are off so you are guided with your own iPhone flashlight (I kept an eye out for Ben Stiller and animals coming to life!). You’ll also find live music playing throughout the city all night long. Young people are certainly all up in the clubs, dancing to techno music and taking advantage of the opportunity to rave into the morning light.

Noctourism — experiencing global destinations at night — is a real trend now. From BBC.com: Noctourism — nocturnal + tourism – encompasses nighttime travel experiences, from late-opening museums to bioluminescent beaches to northern lights watching. Noctotourism interacts neatly with what’s always been a key tenet of the travel industry: fostering connection with the wider world. Popular spots include hot springs in Iceland, desert stargazing in Chile, and night safaris in Zambia. 

Other nights throughout the three-week festival, you can catch talented live music acts that have also come from all over the world, such as a percussion jazz band from Switzerland.

“Montréal’s full cultural richness is celebrated during the Nuit Blanche à Montréal, the only winter version of this all-night festival in the world! With a host of accessible activities that celebrate the great diversity of our city, one thing is clear —  During the Nuit Blanche, we don’t lose a night of sleep, we gain a night of wonder!”
– Maurin Auxéméry, Programming Director, Montréal en Lumière

Of course, build in a day to visit my most favorite day spa, Bota Bota floating spa on the river, which I wrote about in last year’s article. As Boston journalist Miles Howard calls it, “the ultimate winter tonic”. For only about $60 US, you can spend three blissful hours soaking in hot tubs, both indoor and out, detox in saunas and steam rooms, and even have a healthy lunch in the café overlooking the frozen water. Where else can you soak up a day spa on a floating boat?

Other Suggested Experiences and Facts around Montreal

Grab a work of art dessert at Patisserie Melilot (melilot is another version of vanilla used in pastries).

Eat some hearty Italian food at the very authentic Pizzeria Napoletana where you can bring your own wine, which I absolutely love. Purchase a bottle of red at nearby SAQ, the government liquor store you can find around town.

No trip to Montreal is complete without a visit to Jean Talon Market where you can find Quebec products throughout, including maple sap water.

If the cold temperatures scare you away, and you would prefer a summer visit, the Montreal Jazz Festival runs the last week of June and first week of July.

Rest your head at Hotel Zero because they are ideally situated in the heart of Montreal so it’s extremely easy to get all around the city, with a bus stop a few blocks away and a subway stop another few blocks away. In addition, it just makes it easy to walk throughout the center of the city, including it’s so close to the center of Nuit Blanche, so when you get tired in the middle of the night, it’s only a few steps to your bed.

Whether you decide to visit our neighbors to the north for the Montréal en Lumière (get the app here), or decide to visit for one of the many other festivals throughout the year, you will indulge in sumptuous food, meet friendly French Canadian people, and observe plenty of wonderful culture. 

More about Montréal en lumière Festival…

Strategically designed to happen during the more quiet winter months, this festival of lights celebrates 26 years. In winter, it serves to bring tourists and locals downtown to the restaurants, concert halls and outdoor spaces to enjoy culinary, music, and outdoors. It highlights a wide display of cuisines found in Montreal at all different price points. This year, it ran February 20 to March 9.

It is one of the biggest winter festivals in the world and the biggest culinary festival in Canada, where more than 200 local and international chefs and winemakers converge during 18 days to host special culinary events and tastings. Over the years, the festival has hosted more than 700 guest chefs. 

The festival’s outdoor site includes a giant elevated and illuminated skating loop with family-friendly activities every day.

Nuit Blanche, held on Saturday March 1 (2025), has more than 100 free activities to do across the city until the early morning, with the subway running all night.

There is a momentum in this Quebec province right now with the Michelin Guide inspectors currently evaluating Montreal’s restaurants. We will know in May 2025 who has won. Montréal en Lumière has been inviting these awarded chefs to Quebec for 26 years, while their own gastronomic scene flourished.

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Cover photo Nuit-Blanche ©2025 Benoit-Rousseau

See me talk about Montreal on Studio 512. 

Marika Flatt, Outstanding Austin Communicator 2021, is the Travel Editor of Texas Lifestyle Magazine. She began her travel writing career in 2002, and can be seen as a contributor on TV shows across Texas, such as Great Day Houston, San Antonio Living, Spectrum News, Good Morning Texas, KVUE, Daytime (FOX), and Studio 512! Follow Marika’s travels here.