When to Visit - Arts and Events

Montreal has a wealth of festivals throughout the year, particularly during the warm summer months. June sees top racing drivers compete in the Molson Grand Prix; there is the Competition Concours d'Art International Pyrotechnique (International Fireworks Festival) and the start of the Montreal Jazz Festival. This festival brings together over 2000 musicians for eleven days of the best in Jazz, Blues, Latin, Gospel and Cajun music. July has the Festival Juste pour Rire (Just for Laughs Comedy Festival), a 12-day festival attracting over 600 performers and around 350,000 spectators with the Festival International Des Films Du Monde (World Film Festival) running from late August to early September.

Montréal Dining

With more than 4,000 restaurants serving international cuisine from 80 countries, Montreal is one of the world's foremost epicurean centres. Gourmets and gastronomes, as well as visitors and Montreal residents can savour an amazing variety of tastes in an incredible selection of venues. From an intimate candlelit dinner for two to a conference-size business lunch, top chefs prepare food to tempt even the most jaded palette. A speciality of Montreal is the creative mix of nouvelle and traditional French cuisine, producing an abundance of deliciously distinctive dishes.

Montréal Tipping Advice

As in the rest of Canada, a service charge is not automatically added to a restaurant bill in Montreal as service personnel often rely on tips to supplement their wages. For waiters, bartenders, taxi drivers and the like, 15 percent is standard. Baggage handlers at hotels and airports should be given one Canadian dollar per bag, a hotel doorman, 50 cents to one Canadian dollar for loading or unloading luggage (or other similar service) and the maid should be left one to two Canadian dollars per day.