On Patine! The Best Outdoor Skating In And Around Montreal

In Montreal, there are two ways to deal with winter: hide from it or embrace it. Considering there is snow on the ground for four to five months of the year, I decided soon after my arrival to learn how to enjoy the season. Near the end of my first winter here, I bought an inexpensive pair of recreational skates to enjoy the abundance of outdoor skating.

Every neighbourhood has at least one skating rink within easy walking distance. Some are specifically set up for playing hockey while others are free-skate rinks or decorative paths. Enjoying the winter scenery while I skate is important to me, so all of my favourite skating places are the decorative paths in the larger parks.

My reviews below are only a few of the many places to skate in Montreal. For an interactive map of all the rinks and their current condition, check out patinermontreal.ca.

Full Service Skating

If you are new to outdoor skating and not sure you want to invest in a pair of skates, I recommend trying out one of the full-service skating rinks. You can rent skates at all of these locations, usually around $6-$8. If you already own skates, they also have sharpening services.

Bonsecours Basin (Bassin Bonsecours)

If you are uncertain about outdoor skating, Bassin Bonsecours will convert you. Open from 10am to 9pm (weekdays)/10pm (weekends), you can enjoy skating surrounded by the beauty of the Old Port day or evening. For $6, you can skate on the ultra-smooth refrigerated rink or skate with more freedom on the natural ice in the basin. Each evening is a different musical theme, adding to the festive air. Bring your own lock to store your boots and other personal items in the bench lockers in the chalet.

Beaver Lake (Lac des castors)

The refrigerated rink at Beaver Lake

On top of Mont Royal, Beaver Lake also offers the choice of a smaller refrigerated rink or the freedom of natural ice on the lake itself. There is no charge to skate, but there is a full service equipment counter inside the chalet if you need to rent. A popular spot on the weekends, it is best to go early or, since it is open until 9pm, try the evenings during the week. Bring your own lock for the bench lockers in the chalet.

Parc Lafontaine

A neighbourhood favourite in the Plateau, Parc Lafontaine is one of the most scenic of the outdoor skating paths. The long natural ice path winds around the chalet and toward the south west corner of the park, giving you the feeling of skating along a meandering river. Also a popular spot on weekends, it is best to go early, when the ice is the smoothest and less crowded. Skating is free and you can store your boots in the bench lockers inside the chalet.

Parc Jean Drapeau during Fête des Neiges

The skating path during Fête des Neiges 2013

Fête des Neiges is the annual winter festival usually held at Parc Jean Drapeau on the weekends from mid-January through early February. For the past two years, you can skate for free along a scenic path near the St. Lawrence river. Because it is during the festival you can also take in one of the other winter activities or enjoy hot chocolate and Beaver Tails while you're there.

Favorite Neighbourhood Skating

You will need to bring your own skates to these fantastic free neighbourhood spots.

Parc Maisonneuve

With a beautiful view of the Olympic Stadium on one end, the huge oval at Parc Maisonneuve will inspire your inner speed skater. The ice is well-groomed and not too busy on a Saturday morning, so it is very easy to pick up some speed and get a good workout. On the other side of the oval, the park is a beautiful winter wonderland with trails for cross-country skiing and walking. If you want to lock up your boots and belongings, there are lockers in the heated chalet if you bring your own lock.

Parc St. Viateur

This scenic path has been a favourite in Outremont for generations. The well-groomed, natural ice path circles the park, taking you under a small bridge and by the charming heated chalet, where you can safely keep your boots warm. Since it gets busy on the weekend, it is best to go early and then warm up with hot chocolate at one of the nearby cafés.

Road Trip!

If you are inspired to do a winter skating road trip, these two are worth the drive!

Domain de la foret perdue (Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel)

Outside Trois Rivière at Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel, Domaine de la Forêt Perdue has a 10km labyrinth of groomed skating paths winding through forested farmland. In addition to great skating, there is a small zoo of goats, sheep, llamas and more, your can try your hand at ice fishing for trout, and sample some maple syrup taffy cooled on snow. If you're hungry, you can buy a pretty decent hot lunch on site or heat up your own in a microwave in the food chalet. For $12, you enjoy a full day at the Domaine and leave with your choice of a small bottle of honey or maple syrup or a small package of buckwheat flour. 

Rideau Canal (Ottawa) 

Winterlude 2013

Famous for being the world's largest outdoor skating rink, the Rideau Canal is worth the drive to Ottawa. Because it is natural ice, its condition is very weather dependent, so the best time to go is usually during Winterlude in February. For the full experience, start at Dow's Lake and skate toward downtown, which is 7.8km one-way. If you get tired, you can rest and refuel at one of the many rest and snack stations every 1-2km along the way. The canal can get very crowded during Winterlude, especially downtown, so its best to start early.

Montreal Adventures - A Look Back At 2013

With the year winding down, it's a good time to reflect on adventures I wanted to have in Montreal in 2013. Most of the year was consumed with finishing and shipping Batman: Arkham Origins, but I still managed to get out and enjoy myself from time-to-time.

Embrace winter (if it ever comes)

Go skating, tobogganing, maybe even snowshoeing - at least once a week.  Find and enjoy more tea or hot chocolate.

We had a short, fairly mild winter again, so I only managed to go skating three times in January/February, but two of them were during winter festivals: Fête des Neiges and Winterlude. I hope we get the same ice skating path in Parc Jean-Drapeau this year! As for new tea places, we enjoyed tea at Maison du Macaron and at Birk's Cafe. Highly recommend both places!

Embrace summer (when it comes)

Find and enjoy new terrasses.  Eat outside on my own. Finally attend a show at the Just For Laughs festival.  Spend time at the Jazz Festival.  Have a picnic in a park.  Watch the fireworks from Jacques Cartier bridge.  Find and enjoy more shop-made ice cream.

D and I finally went to two Just For Laughs shows - one gala and one of the smaller shows at Club Soda. I also happened to be walking around Place des Arts at the time and enjoyed a bit of the street festival. A friend got some tickets to the Fantasia Film festival and invited me to a film from Taiwan made in the style of a 1950's American musical (but sung in Mandarin). In September, I spent four crazy days exploring Montreal with tourists from the USA and Europe during the MEETin Invasion. That was about it for this goal. Fortunately, many of the other goals are summer-related :)

Walk or ride my bike just for the fun of it. 

This was by far my most successful goal of the year. In the Spring, a friend at work got me to join him on his daily walks at lunch. We usually walk 30 to 45 minutes through either the Village or Old Montreal. Those walks have really helped maintain my sanity. In August, a friend and I started doing major cycling, with our longest ride being about 60km, taking us to and around Iles-de-Boucherville. 

More solo street photography (outside of my monthly MEETin photo walks)

I didn't do any solo photo walks outside of a brief wander around Queen's University campus after the ice storm this week. However, my lunchtime walking buddy found the Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest, so we spent September seeking out and photographing the monuments around work. It was a lot of fun and we discovered some places we didn't know were monuments.

Go to Jean Talon or Atwater market every week.

It wasn't every week, but I did go to the market regularly. As a result, I cooked and brought my lunch to work more regularly.

Go to the Botanical Gardens (my favorite) or some other park once a month.

With Mosaïcultures at the Botanical Gardens this year, the outdoor gardens did not have free admission for Access Montreal card holders from July through September. However, I did get to see the Mosaïcultures exhibit twice this year and it was spectacular! The bike rides usually went to a park, so there were still plenty of nature moments.

Visit museums.  

I took advantage of a web deal and became a member of the Musée des Beaux-Arts this year. So far, I have seen three of the temporary exhibits, my favourite of which was the glass art by Chihuly. I also thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the new planetarium and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. Both are worth visiting.

Explore more restaurants, especially in my own neighbourhood and around work.

Sadly, I didn't do much in this area. Most of the new restaurant experiences came from travelling, rather than around Montreal. However, I did finally get to try Les Filles du Roy during MTL à Table. The food is delicious and the historic setting is worth experiencing.

Wear fashionable clothes.  

My wardrobe continues to evolve. I have been investing in some items from Katrin Leblond, a local designer who has a boutique in my neighbourhood. I love shopping there and always leave feeling fabulous!

Do more travelling.

Almost all of my travel was work related, none of which I would have predicted at the beginning of the year. I went to Frankfurt in May, Los Angeles (with a day trip to San Diego) in June, and New Orleans for the annual PMI Leadership Institute Meeting in October. The only vacation travel was spending a week at the same cottage where we spent our honeymoon and a Thanksgiving weekend roadtrip to Bois-Franc and Arbraska tree-top adventures in Rigaud.

Update this blog once a month.

This will be the 15th post on this blog this year. It wasn't exactly a monthly schedule, but I'm still happy with the amount of content I posted. I also wanted to make this blog more interesting. I didn't do anything special for that, so I don't think I made much progress on that goal. My weekend at Blissdom got me thinking about what I could potentially do with this blog. I'll do some more thinking this week and include any new goals with my 2014 goals.

As for my 2014 goals... I will be publishing them in the first days of January. If you have any suggestions on adventures in Montreal I should try, please let me know in the comments! I would also love to hear about any of your most memorable adventures this past year.

I hope everyone had a great 2013 and hope you enjoy the rest of the holiday season!

Fête Des Neiges

When I first moved to Montreal, I was looking forward to attending Fête Des Neiges, the annual winter festival encouraging kids and kids-at-heart to get out and enjoy the season.  Unfortunately, it was cancelled that year due to a labour dispute.  When it was finally brought back, I never found the time to go - until this year.  After a freezing cold week, the weather warmed up to a balmy -13C, so I grabbed my skates, my camera and my snow gear and checked out the fun in Parc Jean Drapeau.

Here are some photos from that afternoon:

The previous week was SO cold that even the snow sculptures were shivering!

Snow sculptor in action

Snow creations

Awesome skating path along the St. Lawrence River - 1.5km total length

View of the river and Notre Dame bridge from the skating path

Beaver Tail with cinnamon, sugar and a squeeze of lemon. Best way to wind up the afternoon!