31 best things to do for Halloween in Montreal

There’s a club party for everyone at Halloween. Canal de Lachine is the place to go for  Malibu-themed fright night on October 26. Muzique is hosting a mega party with costume prizes and fearful fun, all themed around the Seven Deadly Sins, on the night of October 31. Jet Night Club invites one and all to SCREAM on October 26 and experience a haunting Halloween Thriller night on Halloween itself. La Cave promises the BIGGEST EVER Persian Halloween party on October 26, and we don’t doubt they’ll deliver. Get your freak on with a Missy Elliott Halloween Costume Party at La Poubelle Magnifique, and at La Voûte, celebrate one of the city’s biggest Halloween parties in its always-haunting space, a 1920s bank vault. Plus so much more, so check out Eventbrite for the full listings.

It's a cabaret night of devilish dances, pervy performances, fiery fetish and more evil-themed delights than you can imagine in your darkest dreams! Happening at Théâtre Paradoxe, Cirque de Boudoir’s Monstrosity Halloween 2024 will give you an eyeful on October 26.

For this highly anticipated 8th edition of the Maleyficia experience, expect a unique immersive event that challenges taboos and takes you on a journey through a variety of interactive installations that highlight life’s horrors. With between 700 and 1,000 animators whose sole aim it is to produce cold sweats, you might get a little PTSD from this one.

Get ready for a dip in the Black Lagoon, an award-winning, international Halloween pop-up bar experience taking root in Montreal at Le 132 Bar Vintage throughout October. This creepy-as-hell, immersive event pays homage to the macabre and throws in a splash of goth and metal for good measure. The spooky cocktails have names like the Screaming Banshee and Hellraiser and are served in out-there custom glassware. Expect a dark, dungeon-like environment bedecked with skulls, life-size coffins and other elements that pay homage to the occult and bizarre.

Come enjoy an hour of haunted music by candlelight on evenings throughout October starting at either 7 pm or 9:15 pm at Christ’s Church Cathedral. Enjoy a “soundtrack of fear" played by a string quartet in the light of hundreds of candles, playing timeless classics like Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' and Danny Elfman's 'This Is Halloween' from The Nightmare Before Christmas alongside some thematically appropriate classical pieces as well. Tickets are getting gobbled up, though; grab them while you can! (Not open to kids under 8 years old.)

This festival hosted by New City Gas is inspired by both Halloween and the Day of the Dead. Dance to beats dropped by Nico De Andrea, Apache, Mont Rouge, Paskal Daze and Laura Scavo, and make sure to wear your best costume—we hear there are big bucks to make in door prizes.

For three nights, Montreal's Rocky Horror Picture Show Halloween Ball will light up both stage and screen for fans of the cult film (and the experience of throwing around objects and singing along as loudly as possible) at the Rialto Theatre. The event is deemed the largest of its kind in North America, so get ready to mourn Meatloaf en masse.

You've got your pumpkin... right?

If you haven't already gone beyond the city limits to take in the autumn scenery and eat fresh menus from farms' kitchens at pumpkin patches for picking near Montreal, now is the perfect time to do so. We found a whopping 23 different places for you to travel to both near and far, and it's a great time to make it part of a Halloween-themed weekend by going for a quick road trip.

Take your Halloween spirit to the waves with Navark Boat Tours’ Halloween Havoc Boat Party, setting sail from 101 Chemin de la Rive in Longueuil on November 1 at 7:30 pm for three hours of eerie fun. Expect stunning views ato the sound of hip hop, top 40, throwback, Afrobeats, Dancehall and more, not to mention a parade of costumes—because costumes are mandatory.

Explore the city’s darkest history with a walking tour courtesy of Haunted Montreal, which on October 31 is offering both its Haunted Mount Royal tour at 8:30 pm and its Paranormal Investigation tour of Old Sainte Antoine Cemetery, for those with nads of steel.

Running until October 29, there are five haunted houses, 'scare zones', shows, and rides to check out at La Ronde every weekend that are great for both brave adults and curious kids looking for a scare. Fridays are 18+, with exclusive horror evenings in the park where everything becomes a scary playground to ride in the dark and visit all the haunted houses.

Pointe-à-Callière history museum in the Old Port will be celebrating the Witches Night Out on October 31, starting at 7 pm and going all the way to 1 am. Themed around their current show, Witches: Out of the Shadows, the festive night includes an immersive journey through the heart of the museum’s archaeological remains, as well as music, tarot readings, astrology, rituals of enchantment (!) and a themed cocktail bar.

Get your dose of Halloween Shivers throughout October at the Montreal Botanical Garden with a family-friendly event full of play areas, illuminated sights and horror stories—plus fun activities like wand handling and potion-making classes.

Get a chill down your spine at the Spasm Film Montreal Halloween Festival, a short film festival dedicated to the eeky creepy and weird side of cinema at Théâtre Plaza. The films can be horror, drama, or even comedies, but they’re all guaranteed to eek you out.

In the Old Port, SOS Labyrinthe will leave you lost and frightened with its Halloween programming including the pumpkin treasure hunt. Get a real adrenaline rush next door with a go on the MTL Zipline.

Go beyond skeletons and ghosts to celebrate the full cycle of life and death at the Mexican Festival Día de Muertos. This annual edition runs from mid-October to early November and is packed with activities for the whole family, including workshops, film screenings, live music and a bake sale (tres leches cake, here we come).

Up by Gibeau Orange Julep (score!), Arena LeRinque is hosting a Halloween Roller Disco on October 26. There's going to be disco lights, decorations, and lots of music. Tickets get you access to the arena for 3 hours, but the price of the ticket doesn't include your skates. Must be 16+.

Cosy up on a heated terrace decorated like a haunted graveyard at 3424 Ontario East, on 28 October from 7 to 10 pm, to enjoy ghost stories animated with mysterious projections on the walls. There’ll also be Mexican hot chocolate.

Every year, the Village Québécois d'Antan in Drummondville looks to outdo the previous year's spooky activities, upping the ante. This year promises to be no different, with more than 130 actors bringing your worst nightmares to life in more than 20 displays of horror spread throughout the houses of the historic Village and 3 kilometres of streets and paths to get lost on. The family area opens at 6 pm to entertain the littlest ones. For the bravest, the area for mature visitors opens at 6:30 pm. It's even got a spooky restaurant and candy run to check out.

November 2 could be a big-money night for you, with door prizes going up to $600 for best costume at Complexe Sky, where the Carni’cule Halloween Party presents music and drag of the top order. Featuring the incredible Lady BoomBoom, the night will be hosted by Muz’Emma and Moh Dafok, plus the winners of Sky’s last two Lipsync Smackdowns.

Ass is frequently sweet at Café Cléopâtre, especially during a Candyass Club night like this. Get a jump on Halloween by celebrating Candyass’s Full Moon Frolic on October 18, starting at 9 pm—Montreal’s longest running underground cabaret show means burlesque acts, tricks, comedy and generally illicit behaviour. On the menu: thrilling performances, spooky surprises and hauntingly good music.

Montreal's own Find the Key escape rooms have 45 minutes to an hour of pure terror to experience, and if you don't believe us, consider why one of their puzzles is 16+: Anywhere from two to six people can experience one of four trials the company has made available at their Village-based business, ranging from the gore of the The Unknown (age restricted) and another based on the upside-down of Stranger Things to a Cabin in the Woods and a haunted pirate ship. You've been warned.

Every weekend in October, the La Belle de Coteau-du-Lac farm an hour outside of Montreal is hosting an event called Festiv’Halloween which features a haunted corn maze and haunted 250 metre-long indoor and outdoor gallery course, in addition to pumpkin picking and picking your own corn for popcorn. The real attraction is that corn maze, however: Separated into a family-friendly version and one that's scarier and not for the faint of heart, it’s set up to scare you good.

If you’re into getting some top-notch Halloween treats this year, don't look any further than the chocolates that the Plateau chocolatier Ernestine is making—eyeball-covered cherry and fudge chocolate bars among them—as well as a the Halloween cupcake selection at Les Glaceurs, so cute you won’t want to eat ‘em.

It was about time someone had the idea of organizing a Halloween party along the theme of LinkedIn After Hours. Our skin is crawling just at the thought of it! Happening at L'Amère à Boire on Rue Saint-Denis on October 30, starting at 6:30, come action your learnings and exceed your KPIs with about 30 of your teammates, pizza and beer included. Dress in your best C suite look—it’s sure to be haunting.

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The invite to this event was nearly as creepy as the film. On November 1 at 9 pm on the second floor of 3616 Boul. Saint-Laurent, The Purge MTL will begin. This is not a test, this is your Emergency Broadcast System announcing the commencement of the annual purge sanctioned by the Quebec Government. Weapons of class four and lower have been authorized for use. All other weapons are restricted. Commencing at the siren, any and all drinking will be legal for 12 continuous hours. Police, fire and emergency services will be unavailable until November 2 at 7 am, when the purge concludes. Good luck to us all!

For a family-friendly spin on the Halloween extravaganza it’s worth a little drive out of town to Chemin de l’Île aux Fantômes in Pierre-De-Saurel, not far from Sorel-Tracy. That’s where the inhabitants of L’Île aux Fantômes—that’s the name of the place year-round, not just at Halloween—will make an extra effort to dress up their homes and pass out candy. The fun happens on Saturday, October 26, from 3 to 8 pm—and you’ll need tickets to get in. 

Want some SLeepy Hollow feels this year? Located an hour and a half from Montreal, Upper Canada Village's Pumpkinferno show is back: It's an outdoor art exhibit made up of over 7,000 handcrafted pumpkins that are all lit at night along a kilometre-long path with the historic village's 19th-century backdrop. New and returning designer/carvers create new designs each season, so no two visits to this place's exhibits are ever the same. 

Located an hour outside Montreal in Rawdon, Ferme Guy Rivest has cut more than 8 kilometres of trails in their six-hectare cornfield for all kinds of family-friendly Halloween fun. The maze will be decorated for the occasion throughout October with additional activities and entertainment on Saturdays.

Sometimes Halloween is an invitation to cosy up and craft. This wholesome activity on October 30 from 8 to 10 pm at the Peel Pub is about making a spooky terrarium: your very own mini ecosystem inside an elegant wine or martini glass, which you can then personalize with a variety of plants and Halloween decor available. Everything you need will be provided by the experts onsite, so all you need is to buy a ticket, show up and be ready to learn.

While it is located out in Saint-Amable, the level of detail in Maxime Duval’s haunted houses are legendary and worth the trip out of Montreal. The artist's designs have regularly made headlines on the South Shore. This year, fans have been watching the progress on Facebook as he builds a Viking ship from scratch on his front lawn—all we can say is it’s sure to be larger than life.