Spring Festivals
Go Bike Montréal (May 26-June 2) brings together thousands of road cyclists for a week of two-wheeling fun across the city’s urban landscape. Among the biggest and most spectacular events are the Tour la Nuit and the Tour de l’Île de Montréal.
The Montréal Fringe Festival (May 29-June 18) returns to Plateau-Mont-Royal this spring with hundreds of performers taking to the streets for three weeks of theatre, dance, music, comedy and circus acts.
MURAL Festival (June 6-16) will see some of the world’s top muralists reimagine city walls as blank canvases for eye-popping masterworks. Visitors can watch these talented street artists in action and take part in the festival’s epic block party. For those who miss out on the main event, the festival also hosts guided mural tours year-round in partnership with Spade and Palacio.
Fresh bites
Montréal’s culinary scene is in constant motion, with new restaurants opening every week. Here are a few new and noteworthy spots:
Oncle Lee: This highly anticipated Mile End dining room serves up a chic menu of classic and modern Chinese-inspired dishes in a sexy, late-night environment. Helmed by 25-year-old chef Anderson Lee, Oncle Lee is the only Canadian restaurant to rank on the World’s 50 Best list of the hottest global restaurants openings for 2024.
Juliette Plaza: Montréal Plaza owners Cheryl Johnson and Charles-Antoine Crête have launched their latest culinary project right next door. This buzzing sister spot specializes in creative and colourful small plates and sophisticated main courses at an accessible price point.
Marci: Patrons can expect elevated comfort food classics (think New York-style pizzas, casino clams, Caesar salads) paired with natural wines at this new resto-bar on trendy St. Hubert Plaza. Wood-panelled walls and vintage inspired décor create a cozy atmosphere while in-demand DJs keep things lively.
Must-see museum exhibits
Montréal’s top galleries and museums debut new seasonal shows this spring.
Wanda Koop: Who Owns the Moon
Montréal Museum of Fine Arts
April 11 to August 4, 2024
For her first monographic museum presentation in Québec, Canadian artist Wanda Koop is unveiling an entirely new body of work. With the all-seeing moon as a central motif, these lunar paintings invite visitors to reflect on our relationship to history, memory and the most pressing questions of our time.
femmes volcans forêts torrents
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) at Place Ville Marie
April 11 to August 18, 2024
The natural world takes centre stage for this group exhibition featuring the works of nine Québec-based women artists. Through an exploration of the living world, multimedia works draw attention to the ways we see, consider and understand our different ecologies.
Norman Parkinson: Always in Style (North American premiere)
McCord Stewart Museum
April 19 to September 2, 2024
Known as one of the pillars of 20th-century fashion photography, Norman Parkinson dazzled the world from the 1930s to the 1980s. This remarkable retrospective includes 79 of Parkinson’s iconic images displayed alongside vintage 20th-century fashions from the McCord Stewart Museum collection.
