The second largest city of Canada, Montreal is an island-city with a long and beautiful French past. It took its name from Mont-Royal, a triple-peaked hill situated right in the heart of Montreal, and calls travellers for a holiday packed with plenty of exciting experiences amidst its unique culture, history and vivacious vibe.

Here are some reasons that make Montreal one of the best tourist destinations in Canada:

Festivals

Montreal is a city of festivals with around 100 multi-day events per year. It is one of those few cities where something exciting is happening all the time, be it related to art, music, literature, dance or cinema. The city is best known for its Montreal International Jazz Festival, which holds the 2004 Guinness World Record for being the world’s largest jazz festival, and the Just for Laughs Festival which is the world’s largest international comedy festival.

Museums

Montreal is a true paradise for those who love art, history and culture. It is home to a large number of museums reflecting a long and complex colonial history and world-class architecture. The Musee d Art Contemporain offering an array of exhibits; and the Montreal Museum of Fine Art presenting the best of European and Canadian art and antiquities from around the world are the two most popular museums in the city. There are a lot of other art and history museums in Montreal that make for a must-visit here.

Shopping

Montreal is a true shopper’s haven! From exciting shopping streets spanning around eight city blocks to lively local markets and specialty craft shops, everything in the city is a treat for shoppers. Eaton Centre Mall Downtown is the biggest shopping mall in the city. Also, there are more than 1200 upscale chain stores, boutiques and departmental stores at the west of Rue Sainte-Catherine, and a number of vintage shopping stores along Boulevard Saint-Laurent to explore.

Food

A visit to Canada is incomplete if you do not treat your taste buds to a range of cuisines offered in Montreal. The city is home to more restaurants per capita than any other city in North America. Burger Week, MTL a Table and La Fete des Restos are some prominent food festivals celebrated here, offering you an opportunity to enjoy delectable cuisines by local chefs.  The travelling foodies will love to indulge in a variety of fast and local eats served at the food trucks in the city. Smoked-meat sandwich, poutine and the Montreal-style bagel are some of the favourites here.

Street Art

Just like the city’s fascinating colonial architecture, the street art draws the attention of visitors from around the world. The vibrant street art splashed across the many buildings of the city adds a creative and lively vibe to its entire appearance. Many street artists have gifted the city some incredible murals which display meticulous technique and use of colours and images and the expressions of culture. Places like Rue Saint-Dominique, Rue Clark and Rue Rachel E are the must-visits to witness the city’s fine street art.

The magnificent and vibrant city of Montreal, located in the Canadian province of Quebec is home to some historical yet world-class food markets. These food markets are always thriving with locals who visit the markets to buy local produce.

These food markets are also frequented by travellers who want to observe the cultural aspect of this city from close quarters. Montreal’s markets are not only places to shop but part of the city’s heritage that have been standing for generations now. There are some markets which open seasonally, while there are some that are open round-the-year. Some of the best historical food markets of Montreal are mentioned below.

Atwater Market

The Atwater Market is one of the most popular food markets in Montreal, Canada. The market is located north of the Lachine Canal and close to the downtown area. While exploring the market, travellers cannot help but notice its 1933-established main art deco structure and the white-and-green clock tower, which is a noted landmark of the city. The market hosts plenty of farm stands offering tarts, bright yellow ground cherries, primordial gourds, and even fresh flowers. The shop ‘La Place Aux Petits Fruits’ sells brightly coloured berries, while the shop ‘Les Vergers Alain Dauphinais’ sells fresh apples, nectarines, and pears. There are shops selling fresh and locally-made jars of honey, jams, and chutneys. The market also has plenty of food stalls offering lip-smacking fire-grilled pork or tofu satay skewers among other delicious preparations.

Jean-Talon Market

Next on every travellers list should be a visit to another popular and age-old food market, the Jean-Talon Market. The market is located at Little Italy in Montreal city. The market is popular for offering a wide variety of culturally diverse products, including exotic fruits and vegetables. The market was opened in 1933 and sells fine cheese, specialty meat, aromatic spices, and the best of wines. This market is open year-round and is also known to be a good place to taste authentic local cuisine.

Metro Mont-Royal Market

Visit the Metro Mont-Royal Market, which is a small local market that has been operational since 1983. This quaint little place offers the famed maple syrup of Canada and freshly-picked flowers. The market has become bigger and better over the years and its personality has also changed over time. Travellers visiting Montreal during the holiday season must visit this place at least once to browse through its fresh produce, snacks, and vibrant Christmas trees.

Lufa Farms

Lufa Farms is very unlike a traditional food market. It is more of an agricultural and technology company offering its produce from a huge commercial greenhouse located atop a building in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville neighborhood of Montreal. This urban rooftop market prides itself in selling locally produced items that have been grown using sustainable practices and low volumes of pesticides. Visitors can pick their items fresh on-site or just visit one of its many delivery points.

Marché Fermier

Explore the vibrant Marché Fermier, which is a seasonal pop-up farmer’s market that opens between June and November every year. The market, which was started in the year 2009, is located outside Laurier Metro in the Plateau. The market was established with the aim of selling locally-produced food directly by the producers and removing the middle man. It’s a great place to shop for fresh lettuce or cheese.

Introduction

If you are planning to visit Montréal this winter, and are in love with the upbeat Electro music, you should definitely book tickets for Igloofest at Old Port.

With a gigantic playground and the unique competition of winter apparels known as Iglooswag, the festival has become one of the most happening events in the city and the most loved and attended event of its kind in Canada. Because of the fun-filled events and festivals along with the beautiful snowy winter, Montréal is the place to celebrate your holidays this January and February.

History and features

For the past 9 years, Igloofest has been drawing tens of thousands of music lovers together to cheer and dance to the rise and fall of groovy and soulful beats. With the beautiful ambiance of star-lit skies above and the impressive architectural projections by way of steel structures and the icy decor of the stage, you are bound to get into the euphoric energy of the crowd at the Old port.

Attractions

Like every winter, the people attending the Igloofest will witness the extreme ecstasy of music this year too. The programs include performances by the best of international as well as local DJs and artists such as Bonobo, Lunice, Paul Kalkbrenner, Lexis & Dr Love, Mistress Barbara, Dave Clarke, WYLN, Rue De Bois and B2b Mlb. Furthermore, attractions like the “One piece” contest and the Igloo Village is enough to pull people from everywhere.

Schedules and Tickets

Igloofest, in its ninth edition, plans a huge extravaganza spread across four long weekends, including Fridays, Saturdays and of course, Sundays. So, in effect, you there will be as many as 12 charged up frosty night-enders. The weekends fall on the 16th-17th-18th, and then on the 23rd-24th-25th and 30th-31st and 1st February, followed by 6th-7th-8th February.  You can buy your tickets from Iglooboutique, which will remain open from Monday, 21st December to Thursday, 24th December, 2015 and then from Wednesday 6th January to Saturday 6th February, 2016, from Wednesday to Saturday only. You must be at least 18 years old to attend the event.

November is the month to board flights to Montreal and experience the quintessential impression of the French cinema in Canada!! In the penultimate month of 2014, the city of Montreal is hosting Cinemania, one of the most popular film festivals in Canada. If you are in the city from 6th to 16th November, consider being a part of this 20 year old film fiesta that features French language movies. Let’s check a few more details about this prominent French film festival!

Opening

The festival will open with the gala screening of Anne Fontaine’s movie ‘Gemma Bovery’ at Imperial Cinema located on the Bleury Street. This movie is based on the novel of same name written by British graphic-novelist Posy Simmonds.

Tickets

Tickets for the majority of movie screenings are available online. Film fanatics, disembarking flights in Montreal between 06th and 16th November, can save big by buying Passport for All Films. Festival Pass for six films is also up for sale. Log on to the official portal to buy tickets and to check more details and upcoming deals. You can buy tickets for these movies 24 hours prior to their screening.

Special Events

Besides, this fest also entices several film students, critics etc. to participate in special events such as tributes to notable celebrities and intriguing discussions. This edition of Cinemania features two events in tribute to notable French actress Anouk Aimée. On November 16th, reach Cinema Imperial to be a part of Roundtable discussion with talented actress Emmanuelle Devos and popular French film director Martin Provost who directed movie ‘Violette’ starring Devos. After this discussion, screening of Violette will start.

Closing

Bid adieu to this year’s Cinemania with ‘Party Girl’ which has already been featured at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and has won two coveted prizes Camera d’Or award and the Un Certain Regard Ensemble Prize.

Since all movies are subtitled in English, UK travellers reserving seats on Montreal bound flights can buy tickets for the screenings, with no worry about the language barrier.

For those who write, those who read and those who have a passion for both, Blue Metropolis Montreal International Festival is one of the top literary festivals in the world and a big push to spend on flights tickets to the Canadian city. It is a great confluence for all the writers and is world’s first multilingual literary festival that is celebrated annually in Montreal. Founded by Montreal writer Linda Leith in 1997, the idea of forming this non-profit organization was to bring together writers from all over the world of different cultures, languages and ideas.

The inspiration of this organization was “Write pour écrire”, literary event that was organized by Linda Leith, Ann Charney and Mary Soderstrom (members of the Writer’s Union of Canada). This event brought together writers of various languages and has been admired greatly. The urge grew and that is how Blue Metropolis Montreal International literary Festival came into existence. First ever event of this organization was from April 19 to 23 in 1999. And since then the popularity has grown in the writers’ fraternity and the rest of the world. When it was organized in 2010, people from around the world took part in it. Musicians, actors, journalists, publishers, literary translators, illustrators and of course, writers joined this event and made it a great success.

The organization also focuses on kid; the Blue Metropolis Children’s Festival has been added in 2008 and been a great hit among children ever since, encouraging them to push their parents to board flights to the city. It brings the children authors in contact with kids all around the Montréal town. Blue Met has been expanding its wings and has been featuring events in Shanghai and New York.

Great authors like Colm Tóibín, Joyce Carol Oates, Amitav Ghosh, Dany Laferrière, A. S. Byatt and many others have been awarded here for their work in literature here. If you are lucky, you might meet your favourite author at this event as this confluence of great minds in the world of literature brings a lot of celebrity authors. When the crowd gathers here, the view is one of a kind. Whether you have a taste for a particular genre or are a lover of all kinds of literature works, Blue Metropolis Montreal International literary Festival should be in your ‘must visit’ list after you have invested on flight tickets to the city.