21 things to do in Montreal this weekend: January 18 to 20

A cold and snowy weekend may be in store for the weekend, but fear not. The city is bustling with so many events from January 18 to 20, that you might not even notice the cold or the snow.

From indoor activities to outdoor parties, here are 21 things worthy of checking out in our beautiful, albeit freezing, city this weekend.

See also

• Netflix Canada just called out MTL Blog’s stupidity and it was glorious
• Your ultimate guide to surviving Igloofest in Montreal
• Quebec comic Mike Ward appeals $42k penalty for 'disabled boy' joke
• Quebec man arrested after packing U-Haul with almost 3 million cigarettes

Friday, January 18

Igloofest

The first weekend of the 13th edition of Igloofest has kicked off and DJs Diplo and Nina Las Vegas will be spinning beats and warming up the outdoor music festival.

Shaydakiss, Eagles & Butterflies, Nic Falardeau, and Laurence Matte will also be on site (as well as thousands of other people).

When: January 18, 19 and 20
Time: 7:30 pm – 12:30 am
Where: Quai Jacques Cartier, Old Montreal
Price: $20.50 – $89, available online

Montreal Improv’s Main Event

How about some improv comedy to start off the weekend?

The ultimate improv competition in the city is happening on Friday as two teams collide for their weekly, main event.

Through a series of match-ups and challenges, all initiated through audience suggestions and interaction, only one team will leave Montreal Improv with the title of champion.

When: Friday, January 18
Time: 8:30 pm
Where: Montreal Improv, 3697 Boulevard Saint Laurent
Price: $8

SAT Fest

An immersive light, sound and visual art show inside a dome has taken over Montreal’s Society for Arts and Technology (SAT).

To use scientific language to describe the event, we’d say it’s totally trippy.

Trajectories, positions, distances, scales and speed are all interwoven in a show with music, fusing audiovisual and “infinite tridimensional space” in a complex and dynamic ecosystem.

Exactly, trippy.

When: Friday, January 18
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Where: Society for Arts and Technology (SAT), 1201, Boulevard Saint-Laurent
Price: $17.25 – $22.25, available online

Montreal Glow Party

Jet Night Club is hosting a huge glow party on Friday: blacklighting, laser lights, LED sticks, music and a whole lot of booze.

When: Friday, January 18
Time: 10 pm – 3 am
Where: Jet Night Club, 2020 Crescent
Price: $20 – $25, available online

Luminothérapie

Place des Festivals has brought Montreal sights and sounds by fusing dominos, music and lights.

The 9th edition of Luminothérapie, Quebec’s largest temporary public art installation, is called “Effet domino” by Ingrid Ingrid. The installation will feature 120 giant dominos spread out across several different stations. The public is invited to play with them, each creating different music and luminous effects in the process.

The dominos are all topple-able as a musical orchestra of dominos illuminate in a rainbow of pastel hues and sounds. Check out some photos here.

When: From now until January 27
Time: 12 pm – 10 pm
Where: Place des Festivals, Jeanne Mance
Price: Free

Saturday, January 19

Fête des neiges

The 36th edition of the Fête des neiges festival kicks off this weekend.

Outdoor activities include snow tubing, cross-country skiing, dog sledding, snow archery, an icy pirate ship, ice skating, ice sculptures, ziplining, a Ferris wheel, Tour de Lévis, axe throwing, a penguin village, a Polar Circus, snow scooters, an inflatable bouncy castle, and a mini igloo play area.

When: January 19 to February 10
Time: 10 am – 5 pm
Where: Parc Jean-Drapeau
Tickets: $8 – $25, available online

POP Yoga Neige

Downward dog-sled, anyone?

Montreal-based fitness company POP Spirit is hosting a series of outdoor snow yoga sessions this winter.

Aptly titled POP Yoga Neige, classes will take place every Saturday and Sunday from January 12 to March 24 at Parc La Fontaine and Parcours Gouin, respectively.

All classes are free to the public and boast top-notch, professional instructors. All you have to do is bring your own mat and dress warmly (and we mean, really warm).

When: Saturday, January 19
Time: 1 pm on Saturdays, 10:30 am on Sundays
Where: Parc La Fontaine and Parcours Gouin
Price: Free

Parc-Nature du Cap-Saint-Jacques

The City of Montreal wants you to see more of this gorgeous province this winter by checking out the city’s biggest national park – for free.

So, pack a lunch, hop on a shuttle bus and spend the day in the great Canadian outdoors!

Parc-Nature du Cap-Saint-Jacques is offering free shuttle services from downtown Montreal this weekend (and six days afterwards).

With 330 hectares of land, the Parc-Nature du Cap-Saint-Jacques is the largest park in Montreal. It’s bordered by Lac des Deux Montagnes and the Rivière des Prairies, offering magnificent views of icy, snowy, land.

The park is also boarded by ecological farms that include cows, goats, sheep, donkeys, rabbits, ponies and pigs as well as a rustic sugar shack where guest can enjoy locally produced maple syrup.

When: Saturday, January 19
Time: 9 am – 4:15 pm
Where: Shuttle pick up Dorchester Square
Price: Free

Amaze Escape Room

Escape the cold and try to figure your way out of an escape room.

Try your luck at escaping from a prison, a military facility, a lost temple, or a laboratory. Make a reservation, choose your adventure and then you have anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to get out of any respective room. Each mission is reserved solely for your group and you’re given a walkie-talkie in case you need hints/get scared.

When: Saturday, January 19
Time: 2pm – 10:30pm
Where: 3550 Rue St. Jacques
Price: $15-$30 depending on your chosen mission (per person). Make your reservation first online.

$nowballin – Club Soda

$nowballin is a massive techno and house music party that features the snow of winter, indoors.

Even if you missed out on Igloofest, $nowballin is going to be – you guessed it – ballin’.

When: Saturday, January 19
Time: 9:30 pm – 3 am
Where: Club Soda, 1225 St-Laurent
Price: $40, at the door

Hackatown 2019

If you like to code, teamwork and make your ideas come to life then Hackatown is right up your alley.

For the third year in a row, Hackatown is hosting a 24-hour hackathon with the theme: the smart city. They will put at each contestant’s disposal: APIs, data and hardware for you to use and hack.

When: January 19 and 20
Time: 8 am – 3 pm
Where: Polytechnique Montréal, 2900, boul. Édouard-Montpetit
Price: Free

Atrium Le 1000

If the weather doesn’t bode well with you this weekend, lace up the skates and glide to the lively beat of music at the Atrium inside one of the tallest buildings in Montreal.

The rink is covered under an immense glass dome so you can feel like you’re outside without having to deal with the pesky weather. Plus, it’s gorgeously decorated for the winter season.

When: Saturday, January 19
Time: 12:30 pm – 9 pm
Where: 1000 De La Gauchetière
Price: $5 – $7.50 (equipment rentals range from $1 – $7)

Snow Tubing on Mont Royal

Take advantage of the pride of Montreal by snow tubing down it.

Discover the exhilaration of snow tubing down reserved lanes next to the toboggan hill overlooking Beaver Lake.

When: Saturday, January 19
Time: 10 am – 4 pm (until 6 pm on Saturdays and Sundays)
Where: Mont Royal Park
Price: $5 for 4 – 11-year-olds, $9 for 12 years old and up

Musée Grévin Montreal

Sneak away from the winter cold and spend a few hours in a warm room while staring at wax celebrity figures.

Check out your favourite actors, athletes, and artists in wax form. The figurines are displayed beautifully through the four-floor museum that also features optical illusions and interactive displays. It’s admittedly pretty creepy staring into Elvis’ eyes, especially if he starts blinking.

When: Sunday, January 19
Time: 10 am to 6 pm
Where: 705 Rue Saint Catherine (4th floor of the Eaton Centre)
Price: $19.50 for adult, $13.50 for children, $15.50 for youth and students and $18 for seniors

Station 16 Art Gallery

Station 16 Gallery is a contemporary urban art gallery that features an international roster of artists who are influenced primarily by street art and graffiti.

The gallery constantly reinvents itself and breathes life into the Montreal art scene, exhibiting works of art that challenge the traditional white cube gallery space.

It’ll be toasty alternative to that frigid outdoor temperature.

When: Saturday, January 19
Time: 12 pm – 5 pm
Where: 3523 Boulevard Saint-Laurent
Price: Free admission

Sunday, January 20

Wolf Moon Total Lunar Eclipse – Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan

Skygazers are in for a treat this weekend.

According to The Weather Network, since the moon will be “very near perigee – its closest distance to Earth -” it will be a Super Blood Wolf Moon Total Lunar Eclipse.

And no, we didn’t make that name up.

The eclipse is expected to last a total of five hours and 12 minutes, with the total eclipse lasting for an hour and two minutes. The eclipse is slated to start at 11:41 pm and the Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan is inviting skygazers to check it out at the planetarium.

When: Sunday, January 20
Time: 9:30 pm – 1:30 am
Where: Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan de Montréal, 4801 Pierre-De Coubertin
Price: Free

iSaute Kirkland

Take your kids to iSaute Kirkland and pretend it’s for them when it’s really for you. iSaute is a massive venue that has over 30 giant trampolines, trampoline basketball, wall climbing and a trampoline jungle gym. You pay by the hour, there’s a lot to do and it’s actually a fantastic workout. Fun for all ages!

When: Saturday, January 20
Time: 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Where: 3220 Jean Yves, Kirkland
Price: $16 for the first hour, $10 for the second. Tickets are sold at the door

Natrel Skating Rink

From indoor skating to outdoor, we can’t call ourselves true Canadians without offering both.

Known for its outstanding quality of ice, excellent facilities, and breathtaking views of the city and the Saint Lawrence River, this is the place to go outdoor skating in Montreal.

There’s no better way to stick it to winter than bundling up and hitting the ice.

The chilled 2,500-square-metre rink features a cozy village right in front of the ice and is a puck’s throw away from Bistro Bonsecours for a little post-game refresher.

Natrel’s Skating Rink plays rock, classical and jazz music on large outdoor speakers to add to your soundtrack of whizzing down the ice.

When: Sunday, January 20
Time: 10 am – 10 pm
Where: Natrel Skating Rink, Bonsecours Basin
Price: $6.95 general admission, $4.90 kids aged 6 – 12, free for children under 6

Notre-Dame Basilica

Celebrate Sunday mass at Montreal’s most viewed structure at 11 am and hear a 25-person choir accompanied by the organ. Or, take a walking tour of the basilica which is an absolutely gorgeous spectacle. It is filled with hundreds of wooden carvings, several religious statues, and gigantic stained glass windows.

When: The Notre-Dame Basilica is open year round
Time: 12:30 pm – 4 pm on Sundays (mass starts at 11 am)
Where: 110 Rue Notre Dame Ouest
Price: Free

Pente à Neige

No offence, Mont Tremblant, but we might hit the slopes a bit closer to home this weekend as La Pente à Neige has constructed a man-made ski hill at Parc Ignace-Bourget.

If you’re up to braving the cold, the second edition of the urban hill is big enough for up to 250 people and there’s also a mini slope on site to accommodate up to 50 mini-skiers.

The hill welcomes skiers, snowboarders, tubers and sledders of any age and features a cozily heated yurt, mulled wine, hot chocolate and music.

Guests can bring their own equipment or it can be rented on site.

When: Sunday, January 20
Time: 10 am – 6 pm
Where: Parc Ignace-Bourget
Price: Free admission

See also

• Netflix Canada just called out MTL Blog’s stupidity and it was glorious
• Your ultimate guide to surviving Igloofest in Montreal
• Quebec comic Mike Ward appeals $42k penalty for 'disabled boy' joke
• Quebec man arrested after packing U-Haul with almost 3 million cigarettes