The best Montreal Christmas markets to enjoy this holiday season

Taking place November 22 to December 30, 2024 (check the schedule for exact opening days), downtown Montreal’s Quartier des spectacles will be overrun with one of the city’s biggest Christmas markets to date. With 60-plus vendors of goodies and foods as well as over 150 free activities to take part in, there’s tons to do, but if you want to simply stroll through and pick up a steaming cup of mulled wine? Well, that’s on the table too.

Starting on November 28 and running every weekend until December 22, 2024, the Montreal Christmas Village takes over the Atwater Market. Aside from the chalets featuring Holiday treats and trinkets, families can enjoy a visit to Santa’s workshop, buy a Christmas tree, sample sugar shack fare, and catch choir performances along with a kid-friendly Elves’ Kingdom to entertain your kiddos. It’s all about snacking, shopping and gifting thanks to 57 sellers plus five food counters.

Montreal’s greatest farmers’ market will be transformed into a sprawling village that’ll be home to all things Christmas for three weekends starting in late November. The big drawcard here is, true to form, food: Fill up on cookies, gingerbread and Christmas cupcakes in between picking up your gifts for the holiday season. Be sure to bring the kids if you think they’ll want to see the elf house that’ll be set up.

This year marks the eighth edition of this supremely popular craft fair, and it’ll be taking place on two weekends, November 16 and 17, and then 23 and 24, 2024. You won’t be disappointed: Its contingent of over 90 vendors from Montreal and the rest of Quebec descend on Locoshop Angus with one of the largest selections of potential gifts you’ll see this season. You’ll find clothes, home accessories, Christmas-themed products and a whole lot more, with part of the proceeds going toward the charity Le Phare, Enfants et familles.

One of the city’s longest running craft fairs, the Salon des métiers d’arts unites over 350 exhibitors at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. In English, it is called the Montreal Craft Show, but you’re more likely to hear it referred to as Salon des métiers, or simply Métiers. Getting a stall at Métiers is very competitive, so you know you’re seeing the best of the best when you visit this annual event running from December 12 to 22, 2024.

Pop Montreal is best known as a music festival, but the organization has extended to present literary, art and fashion festivals, all under the Pop umbrella. It is also the organizing body of Puces Pop, a craft show that features Montreal artisans who make everything from cards to clothes to pottery to hand-carved toys—like real-life elves. Just be warned, it’s a victim of its own popularity: Puces normally gets extremely crowded. The winter edition takes place over two weekends in December and is perfect for Christmas and all gift-giving occasions thereafter.

Explore the outer regions of Montreal with a trip to the Assomption Christmas Market. It’s an hour drive from Downtown Montreal, but worth the journey. Running from November 24 to December 23, 2024, the market presents rows of adorable shacks filled with Christmas-themed products. Cultural activities run throughout the market’s four weeks of operation. Check out their program and try to catch a performance of the traditional gigue Québécoise.

Run out of Laval’s Centre de la nature from December 6 to 8 and 13 to 15, 2024, this Christmas market north of Montreal is a great spot to expand your search even further for great local gifts from a variety of artisans. They’ll also be selling trees, and if you’ve got a pooch, you’re welcome to bring it so long as it’s on a leash!

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Back for its fifth edition, this Christmas market that’s a 45-minute drive out of the city offers a wide range of options across the three weekends it takes place: From December 6 to 22, 2024, with a variety of gourmet and artisan gifts on offer, as well as beguiling Christmas food and drink (plus a poutine or two). Watch folk dances, see choirs perform, and more.

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Over four weekends, from November 29 to December 22, 2024, Longueuil becomes an illuminated Christmas village that’s full of festive winter activities like Holiday song and dance, hot and fresh food, cup after cup of hot chocolate and mulled wine, and—of course—goods like jewellery, cosmetics and other local products made by more than 70 exhibitors. It’s family-focused, but night owls ought to

Celebrate the Holidays with cruelty-free gifts and yummy gourmet vegan goods running the gamut: pantry stuffers, cosmetics, clothing, accessories and more, all ethically produced by local artisans. This year the market runs on December 7 and 8, 2024, in a new location at 200 Sherbrooke Street West.

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Avenue du Mont-Royal is a go-to destination for Holiday spirit seekers, both for this cool Christmas market and for the Noël dans le parc festival full of free traditional music concerts in the street and entertainment for families every weekend throughout the month of December. The market, located at the Pop-Up Lab coworking space on the corner of Cartier and Mont-Royal (4510 rue Cartier, Suite 201) will introduce you to the wacky creations of over 30 exhibitors.

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The Collectif Créatif Etsy Montréal puts on a whole bunch of craft fairs over the Holiday period. First there’s the Holiday market at Locoshop Angus, from November 16 to 17 and 23 to 24. Then there’s the market at Verdun Auditorium, for two weekends from November 30 to December 1 and December 7 to 8, 2024. And finally the market at Théâtre Denise-Pelletier, from December 13 to 15, 2024. Discover hundreds of different artisans peddling giftable goods that range from candles to chocolates to greeting cards to pottery.

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This second edition of the market out in the Oka National Park offers a unique showcase for Indigenous art in all its forms, from traditional crafts to contemporary works to song and dance. It’s a cultural celebration that reflects a new vision for tourism development in Kanehsatà:ke and its desire to continue telling its story in a spirit of welcome and sharing. Don’t miss it from December 6 to 8, 2024.

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