Montreal is a magnet for unforgettable festivals that rock the city every year. You know it’s going to be amazing when you join a hundred thousand strangers for some proper raging. Here are the best festivals in Montreal, the ones that will tale your bachelor party to the next level.
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International Jazz Festival
Montreal, QC, Canada
Jazz Fest is quite possibly Montreal’s biggest event, and fans from all over the world come to celebrate all things jazz for almost two weeks. Since it started in 1980, this mostly free festival has featured everyone from Miles Davis and Leonard Cohen to Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. It is a huge affair (we’re talking Guinness Book of World Records holder for world’s largest jazz festival huge) and virtually the entire city participates in the serious partying. With that in mind, you best reserve your hotel room(s) in advance.
biggest event | serious partying | mostly free
Osheaga Festival
296 Chemin du Tour de l'isle, Montreal, QC, Canada
Held at Parc Jean Drapeau, Osheaga hosts some 100,000 people over a weekend in August, who’ve come to see the action on the huge outdoor stage with Montreal’s skyline as the backdrop. It’s a crazy music festival, and you won’t have to worry about college kids wearing Native American headdresses or gaggles of girls talking about their Coachella diets. Osheaga is not that type of festival. It’s really all about the tunes, so if your group of friends loves music, this is the destination for you. In 2017, the festival took on place August 4-6, and featured artists such as The Weeknd, Lorde, Major Lazer and Justice.
August | crazy music festival | all about the tunes
Montreal En Lumiere
Montreal, QC, Canada
No matter what anyone tells you, Montreal En Lumiere is basically a rave. The whole point is to lighten up the dark wintertime, and not just visually. Music, food, and a whole bunch of neon make it the best thing to cheer you up during the gloomy months. This winter festival lasts ten days, and everyone comes out wearing their ear muffs to immerse themselves in performing arts, food festivals, and outdoor activities. The biggest of those activities happens on the last night, Nuit Blanche, when everything stays open til the crack of dawn. If feels like you’re inside some fairy tale snow globe: streets are lit up in psychedelic, neon colors and they bring in a Ferris wheel and zipline, for crying out loud. It’s going to be cold, it’s going to be snowy, and it’s going to be an absolute rager.
winter rave festival | Nuit Blanche | absolute rager
Montreal Beer Festival
1001 Jean Paul Riopelle Place, Montreal, QC, Canada
Montreal is so cool they have an entire festival devoted to beer. We know you’ve probably graduated from beer pong so get ready to tap into your inner chug. Montreal Beer Festival brings out close to 200,000 beer lovers for four days of beer play (in 2017, it was held June 14-18). You’re going to “sample” more than 500 different kinds of beer, meads, ciders and other brews with organized, special events and tons of tastings.
200,000 people | 4 days | tastings
Grand Prix Montreal
Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal, QC, Canada
Ok, so not exactly a festival, but what can we say? We love things fast and furious. So will you when you see some race car action at Grand Prix Montreal, which happens to be one of the most famous Formula 1 races in the world. Thousands head out this way not only because the race is exhilarating (which it is), but also because the city gets race car fever. Clubs do special themed nights with international DJs, restaurants have special discounts and girls go wild waving Canadian flags and wearing booty shorts. Race cars AND booty shorts? Why haven’t you already bought your tickets?
Formula 1 race | whole city gets racecar fever
