I always forget to review this festival but it's my favourite winter event! It's so fun and lively,…read moreit'll make you forget it's cold outside. I try to visit every year because they always have new additions and activities. This year there were a few changes: -reservations ahead of time for the big 3 activities (ferris wheel, zip line, and slide). I think this change made sense theoretically but in practice it was very messy. They didn't advertise well enough that the tickets existed, so tons of people just showed up and were very confused. Also at first the tickets were available at 5pm BEFORE the day you planned on visiting and then it was changed to 1 hour before the festival opened for THAT day and that day only. Tickets were for 20 minute to 15 minute time slots. The scanning process was slow since so many people didn't know to reserve in advance, and sometimes the employees would just not care and let anyone in so the tickets served no purpose. -Less food trucks but more food booths (from sponsors like the milk company and maple syrup company). -The bell lounge didn't have phone cleaning or VR activities anymore, It was more for drinks and live music performances. - New Tim Hortons game where you threw pucks at a giant screen. -Cheese festival inside the mall! (very packed though so didn't visit) I really love this festival but it's too short! Make it available for 3 weeks and still end on the Nuit Blanche!

Went Friday night and wasn't disappointed. Weather was 2 no…read morerain and not to many people. There was a hour wait for the sledding you grab a pass and watch the clock. Ferris wheel was a super quick line. You go around slow at first then fast the last two times. There's curling and little hand clappers so you can cheer for your team. The saq is in a igloo which was super cool might not of been made of snow but It was just as cool. Fire pits everywhere to keep warm and you can even roast marshmallows super cute idea !

Great Jazz festival that happens every year late June to early July…read more Artists from all over the world come to several stages to perform for free or for a fee in some cases. This year, we saw many great artists along with thousands of other music lovers from all over. Metro Place des Arts or St Laurent for easy access.

Let it be known that you're going to Montreal in the summertime and the next thing you'll hear is…read more"Are you going for the jazz festival?" I was not. Regardless, when I realized my trip coincided with the festival I researched artists, venues, and dates only to come to the realization that a whole lot of Montreal's jazz festival takes place for free at multiple venues in a fairly concentrated area of the city. Assuming you can find the schedule (at staffed kiosks in the area) and locations and understand the program (no joke, it was a challenge), you can learn when and where everyone is playing and identify the free performances. Multiple nights on end I found myself at large outdoor spaces filled with folks there to enjoy the free offerings. Was it jazz? Let's just say that jazz is in the ear of the beholder because not once did I experience music that I consider to be jazz though that seems somewhat beside the point. Free live music is almost always enjoyable and this is no exception. The outdoor spaces are clean, the sound is good, and the large crowd is considerate even as they come and go. Were I returning to Montreal during another summer I'd most certainly plan my visit to coincide with the jazz festival and again attend several events.

As we head into our pandemic winter I can't help but dream of this brilliant festival. The…read moreorganizers work so hard and with so much heart to bring an authentic feeling of the Caribbean to Montreal's Old Port. The vibe and the musical guests are amazing, dancing in the afternoon sun with a super diverse, super happy relaxed, joyful crowd, eating the most flavourful snacks representing the many food cultures of the Caribbean is pure mellow delight. I can't wait to get back to it!

From the owner: Taste of the Caribbean is a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating and promoting…read moreCaribbean culture in Canada through diverse activities and events. Our flagship event is a 4-day festival held annually on the second weekend in July, at the Old-Port of Montreal, which brings together a vibrant mix of music, dance, cuisine, and art from across the Caribbean diaspora. The festival and other related events, encourages visitors to 'taste' their way through the islands by way of live musical performances from homegrown talent to Grammy-Award and JUNO-Award winning artists, dance workshops, music business master classes, video documentaries, educational and historical discussion panels, local authentic Caribbean restaurants, international guest Chefs and Rum Ambassadors via cooking and mixology demonstrations, and more. The large majority of our performing artists, associated products, and food vendors are culturally and authentically Caribbean in almost every way possible.

Date of visit: June 11, 2023…read more We were staying right down the street on Saint-Laurent during the festival and were quite amazed at just how giant it was! We started walking through near the beginning of the day and some of the vendors were still getting set up; the streets weren't very crowded yet. But by the time we were close to the western end (close to, because this was giant and we didn't get through it all!) and turned around, the large mass of people was impressive! The wide variety of art, shops, and food is hard to do justice with words, it's something you truly have to see for yourself. I didn't see much that tripped the lights fantastic for me, but I was more than happy to window shop for the most part. Part of our intention for visiting the festival was the drag brunch, which was not quite accurate. Drag, yes. Brunch, nowhere to be found. But the show was quite good, even if my French was not good enough to keep up with the mistress of ceremonies! Again, very impressed with this festival, Montreal should be proud of this gem!

Love Mural Fest. Only Montreal has that caliber of talent in such a small city. Not saying Montreal…read moreisn't a cosmopolitan city but it is sort of like the Boston of Canada where Toronto is NYC but you really can't compare. Anyway I love going. They do an amazing job. Last couple of years it has seemed more about the music and party and less about the art but partying is fun too! I know a lot of these street artists personally from working at S16; I am blown away by how much talent Montreal alone has then of course all the international heavy hitters come into town too.

Igloofest is one of my favorite music festivals I've been to. Artists are always incredible, and…read morethe vibes are great! Love seeing everyone come together in their ski/cold weather clothing and dancing to the music. Would recommend!

Great venue, too cold and more warm places to settle in would be nice. People here are friendly…read morealthough some may get drunk typically a bit and some only speak French basically. I would not suggest going alone if possible as I had to do that. I also had to get my ticket by buying a hotel package and could not buy a ticket separately from the IF site directly. I had wanted VIP and this was not an option for me by choosing a hotel package. IF took 2-2.5 weeks to respond to my email inquiry regarding this. It seems an app was an option but I didn't know what app I could download and if it would have been compatible usage within the US. Internet coverage was included to Canada w my plan but my data roaming auto-turned off and I could not figure out how to turn it on right away. I was also driving in the evening and I could not find a comfortable place to stop for awhile. I almost did not go but decided I needed to go as I was interested in both main stage artists and had my own edm outfit that I should've done a better job showcasing. Food options were decent and alcohol was easy to get. Bathroom access was okay . I think it was so cold that they should've opened up the dining areas on the other connected island and had TVs to watch the performances from inside the dining areas of that part of the Old Dock. The safe space would have been good here too. Providing this environment and resource helps encourage and maximizes diversity with race, sexuality, religion, and minimizes bias. There are recycling bins here and the culture here seem to make best efforts to follow. Many Americans would sadly see this as another trash bin. Montreal has a ton of TooGoodToGos including mini-supermarkets. The little contributions we can do to help sustainability can only help our world, and the culture seems to reflect this too. I wore double layers and it was enough for awhile. Some of the locals didn't seem to have more than a single layer and they seemed fine. Main stage artists did not have merch available to sell and side stage had a few things that I felt were over priced on top of my lack of interest. Some great beats and covers from the side stage though I am not a big fan of covers. Igloofest has some great sponsors and I like how they support some local French hotels too and not just the American standard ones. Some of the friendly people here, I do wish we could've bonded to be even friendlier . Not being able to speak French fluently didn't help. Too cold for Google Translate to be my constant friend and my juice almost ran out near fest end too. Maybe if I had put my reversible sequin jacket on earlier and had IF on it, this would have rocked everyone's world that much more. There was a free picture booth and a chance to win a free VIP package. I tried it later in the night, and a group of people get a picture(s) for free at the end. In my first take, one of the staffers got in the pic since it was just me. I kind of wish I had asked to keep it but maybe to ask if I win, that I would win a boyfriend too, lol. Alas, it was too cold for me to really think and the idea of being in a new area and being able to speak only minimal French (Je joue les echecs.) Maybe if I make my social media public, with all these pictures and certain tags, maybe something positive could come of that. The loneliness I felt here reminded me of a person who won the same type of award I did where he told me to carry my award around everywhere. Or online where some people pretend they want to meet you and purposely don't. The struggles I took to get here on my own ( 3 car dashboard warning signals all resolved after stopping on the side 3 times), product shipped under proper protocols that could not be done in the US, appreciating some food quality, drink, and a gym, all help culminate an independence for me to attend an event and the related prep and struggles all on my own.

Too much salt. Too much sugar. None of us could finish their order. Too pricey. Not recommended.read more

Fog clouds my mind as I stumble from booth to booth. The fog of fries and cheese and gravy, but the…read morefog of so many other flavors. Lobster? BBQ? Bacon? The haze stupefies me while I wander. Skin and bones, I feel like skin and bones and in need of the fatty food. I can't pick, so at this point I just walk to the nearest booth. Lobster it is. Nearly $20 later, I get a mammoth size portion and I find my way to the seating area with large picnic tables and belly up next to strangers. In no time I've demolished the basket. I'm stuffed, and sorta sad that it was such a big portion. I would have liked to try a few other vendors. The haze has lifted, or maybe sunk to my belly and I need a nap. I was lucky to wander into Poutinefest. It looks like a lot of carnival/festival type operations and less like local restaurants with a booth, and that's fun in its own way with the stage and the music and the other non-food booths, and the fresh squeezed lemonade. But it's festival poutine, not heart of Montreal poutine. Both have their place, this is just not the latter.

Every July, the Cirque festival takes place in Montreal. This year, the focus in downtown is the…read morearea on la rue St Denis between Ste Catherine and Sherbrooke. There are performances in Place Pasteur near the UQAM as well. Some suburban areas like Verdun also have free outdoor performances. The acrobats are very good and very well trained. There are also some paid performances in theaters around the city. A great way to see circus performance for days !

Every time I spend time in Montreal, I go to the Quartier des Spectacles because most Ville Marie…read morefestivals take place in this area. In the summer, it's pedestrian only on the area right around St Catherine, so it's easy to get around on foot and see all the stages and sights. The present-day Quartier des spectacles largely overlaps the site of Montreal's former Red Light district, whose history extends back to the beginning of the 19th century. Between the 1920s and the start of the 1960s, the neighborhood was home to an impressive number of cabarets that headlined famous artists. Montreal garnered a reputation as a fun-loving city, and tourists started to arrive in great numbers. The American Prohibition (1920-1933) increased Montreal's popularity, but also created conditions that led to the growth of organized crime, prostitution and illegal gaming houses. It is during this time that the neighborhood was christened the Red Light district. Beginning in the 1950s, professional theatre started to take hold.... in this neighborhood, the new energy took shape in the construction of Place des Arts, the metro system (three stations service the Quartier) and in the establishment of Hydro-Québec's headquarters. The following decade was marked by the building of Complexe Desjardins, which spurred commercial activity in the area, and the campus of the Université du Québec à Montréal, a university founded on the values of the democratization of knowledge and culture. In 1982, the Montreal International Jazz Festival presented outdoor concerts in the neighborhood for the first time. The natural vibrancy of the downtown area along with the many empty lots supported the proliferation and expansion of festivals over the years. Important cultural events became one of the Quartier's motors and one of the principal attractions of the city for tourists and locals alike.

There is so much going on at the Quartier des Spectacles especially on a weekend or even on…read moreweeknights. You will find a lot of tourist in the area. We arrived on a Tuesday night to Montreal and because we were staying 13 mins walk from Quartier des Spectacles, we came here for a visit. We didn't expect that there would be performance happening at night in the center of Quartier des Spectacles (near Desjardin Complex). At the Quartier des Spectacles, you will find a lot of restaurants and as mentioned before the entrance to the beginning of the Underground Tunnel is located at Desjardin Complex. This part of the city is quite busy after 10 am to 11 pm. Places des Art is also located smack center at the Quartier des Spectacles for those who wants to watch any live orchestral performances. https://www.quartierdesspectacles.com/fr/carte/#places-publiques-animees

We were 7 friends that headed to this event Saturday afternoon. It was my first time. Crowds…read moreclogged the passages with the smell of cooked food swirling around us. The event started Friday. Many trash cans were overflowing with containers. The most popular kiosks had long lineups. It was a hit or miss with the food. There were some great flavours to discover but which ones. The strategy is to walk around, look at what's cooking, inhale and watch what people are ordering. Even that's not a guarantee. I enjoyed most of my choices. Sweet and sour pork, skewers and so on. It's definitely an eye opening experience if you don't mind crowds. See you next year

Hosted by FoodfestMTL , the first of its kind Night Asian food market started with a BANG! WOW is…read moreall can say as my initial reaction. More of a regular Asian food market (its open during the daytime) I headed there 30 mins from opening time and the line ups were huge - (get here early!). I didn't have to wait too long but it got worse as we progressed into the evening. Eventually they had to turn back people because the waits were just exceedingly long just to reach the north entrance (for some reason they wouldn't let us in through the closest entrance - safety issues). Over 7000 ppl + are anticipated at this event! And the organizers did not fail to please and owned this event - The first day was a huge success! The location -Village au pieds de Courant was perfect overlooking the Jacques Cartier Bridge! Something about a food fest on a "QC beach side" is exotic! Better to come by bus - no street parking available. ATMs were available on site as well. There were over 20 vendors- featuring some of the finest - the line ups were long (15 mins +) but well worth the wait. Prices were very affordable!3-8$ a dish and good to share. I tried 8 of the restaurants in the following order: (Ratings on 5 Stars) 1) Tran - (Vietnamese) I've been wanting to try this new Bahn- mi joint that recently opened up. New to the resto scene - I tried their chicken bahn mi sandwich ** (found it heavy on the mayo- sweet and less pickled veggies. It was ok compared to competitors like Vua) 2) Kalbi - (Korean)- they only had two choices - of which I picked the beef Korean BBQ** that came with a side of Kim chi and a whole lot of rice for the price! Would've loved to have more meat! 3) Nudo (Taiwanese) - these guys are known for their handpulled noodles that they made on site!! What an art- the chef picked it up from his mother- I had the BBQ beef noodles ****vs the traditional sesame sauce. Loved every bit of it! 4) kokoro - never heard of this chain - it was empty - they had one serving of a oyster in dumpling/soya sauce** 3$ -tasted funny...the colliding taste of too much salt. 5) Wonton Girls (Chinese)- new to the scene I love this place I had the choice of regular jumbo Wontons or peanut butter dumplings ****as recommended by their lovely volunteer Julie (4 pieces for 4$ -great flavours with a homemade peanut sauce that wasn't too heavy!) 6) PHO Mc (Vietnamese)-my regular I've already previously reviewed. Beef pho**** 6$ ( lacked the fresh sprouts and mint so lost a star) filling 7). Les street Monkies (Cambodian)- also previously reviewed ***** I got to meet the owner the genius behind the business, William, in action! Love this spot. And I bought a cool hat for 25$ Of all purchases lol I guess I'm a street monkey! 8) dessert : Ca Lem - soooo excited to have tried the guys - I bought one scoop of strawberry lychee.***for 3.50$ (lychee was undermined by the strawberry flavours) but I do want to go back and check it out. there were side vendors of corn and potatoe swirl chips ( leftovers from rib and poutine fest).

Gourmand Vagabond Food truck can be best described as fusion sandwiches on wheels. They just do 3…read morekinda Sandwiches. Roast beef, Chicken Vindaloo & Ham sandwich. The ingredients are fresh and the sandwiches taste yummm, my favorite being the Chicken Vindaloo sandwich. Just one thing, even though its called vindaloo, it has nothing to do with the actual Indian vindaloo dish. Nevertheless its tasty. Sandwiches are 9 bucks each (including taxes) and you can get a salad and a beverage (gazpacho, strawberry juice) for 14 bucks. The take cards too. Food : Good Service :Fast Ambiance : It's a Food Truck Worth the price : Yes