Spring may have officially started months ago, but as is usually the case in Montreal, the weather has taken a while to follow suit. The sporadic cold snaps and long slog of slow-to-disappear winter weather can be draining, but on the bright side, the city’s seemingly never-ending winters make the spring season feel all the more earned.
For those of you looking to celebrate the long-awaited warmer weather, here’s our guide to a perfect spring weekend in Montreal. Spread them out over multiple weekends if you wish, but remember: with festival season fast approaching, your weekends are only going to get busier from now until autumn!
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In Montreal, terrasses are more than a place to grab a drink or a bite to eat in the sunshine; they’re a way of life. Terrasse season is the light at the end of the long, cold tunnel that is winter in Montreal. Terrasses usually begin popping up around the start of May, when the days have finally become (mostly) warm and bright. Some occupy roofs or courtyards, while many more makeshift terrasses jut out onto the pavement outside restaurants and bars--a signature feature of summers in Montreal.
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Spring is (finally) in full bloom in Montreal, and while April showers have brought May flowers all around the city, there’s nowhere you’ll see a better display than at the Botanical Garden, which is home to elaborate displays of plants from around the world. The park features a number of themed outdoor gardens, including the Chinese, Japanese, Alpine and First Nations Gardens, as well as a large greenhouse.
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The colourful strings of plastic balls that hang in the city’s Gay Village have been a staple of the warmer months in Montreal for eight years now and will return at the beginning of May, when the vibrant strip of Ste-Catherine St. East they cover is once again closed to auto traffic and transformed into a pedestrian-only zone. The one kilometre stretch of rainbow-coloured balls--all 2019 the last year of the installation before it’s retired, you only have a few months left to appreciate this highly instagrammable sign of summer before it comes down for good.
Now that the snow has cleared and the city’s parks are no longer fraught with slippery surfaces and knee-deep puddles, it’s time to engage in one of Montreal’s favourite time-honoured traditions: public drinking. In Montreal, you’re permitted to drink alcohol beverages in public parks as long as you’re consuming your drink alongside a meal. Montreal’s parks are a thing of beauty, and what better way to appreciate them than with a plate of something tasty and a glass of wine in hand?
