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What's a "must do" for Easter in Montreal?

B.C.
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13 posts
12 reviews
2 helpful votes
What's a "must do" for Easter in Montreal?
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We are planning a trip for this Easter to Montreal, and I'd love to see a ballet or performance, or take in city cultural events. We are a young couple. What would be best to take in?

Montreal, Canada
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12,845 posts
57 reviews
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1. Re: What's a "must do" for Easter in Montreal?
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In Montreal, due to the catholic roots of the majority of the population and our usual weather at that time, Easter is more of a religious celebration or family gatherings and not so much crowd events. So not egg rolls on lawns or Easter Parade.

The biggest thing will be the special exhibition in the main greenhouse at the Botanical Garden. Some cultural communities, like the Ukranians might organize eggshell decorations workshops or other Easter related activities but these are things that I don't know about at the moment. The best thing will be to get copies of the free entertainment weeklies Hour and Mirror and look at the listings.

Food is another matter. Traditionally for French Canadians Easter meal will be celebrated with a glazed (with maple syrup ?) ham, not lamb roast but, of course, our important Italian Greek and Jewish communities cannot do without that so kid lamb is available in many stores and restaurants will usually offer both lamb and ham. Most hotels nowadays have stopped serving brunch every Sunday but most will offer a special one for Easter.

Chocolate was always popular but in the last 20 years, due to many courses given by the French company Cacao Barry, there is an overabundance of artisan chocolatier around. So everybody will come with their preferred ones. I will just give you the name of four very good pastries that also employ great chocolatiers: Pâtisserie de Gascogne, Pâtisserie Lyonnaise, Pâtisserie de Nancy and Pâtisserie Lorraine. Both of our best boulangeries/bakeries chains Premières Moissons and Au Pain Doré also have very good chocolate suppliers and also special breads and pastries for the season. Hot Cross buns are still sold during Holy Week...

Finally Easter arrives usually at the same time as our maple sugar season and it is a tradition to go to a "Cabane à Sucre" (sugar shack) where maple water (sap for Wine-4-2) is boiled down to make maple syrup. One meal at a cabane is "de rigueur". If you have relatives owning a Cabane or have some contacts to get to one that's the best and most genuine item. Otherwise there are many commercial cabanes that are more like seasonal restaurants that will serve traditional dishes and then maple taffy poured over snow. Some other contributors can come up with a list of Cabanes around Montreal but you can also get one at the main downtown Tourism Office on the north side of Dorchester Square.

Personally I will just refer to Sucrerie de la Montagne which is a whole complex, quite touristy but extremely well laid to show the traditional way this was done. The other is Sucrerie des Gallant, Pavillon de l’Érable which is a larger better designed dining hall. Both are quite close together located on the Rigaud Mountain. De la Montagne in the town of Rigaud proper and Gallant in Très-Saint-Rédempteur. Galland is actually part of a resort so you can get lodging there and there is a spa with special treatments based on natural local products, like exfoliation with maple sugar!

http://www.gallant.qc.ca

http://www.sucreriedelamontagne.com

If you want to attend on Easter day the prices will be, of course, a bit higher and you will get traditional musicians to entertain you. Also on those dates you must make reservations right now. Public transportation to Rigaud is really skimpy so you must have a car to go there.

Of course there will be religious celebrations in churches too so there is the special ceremony of light on Saturday night (usually not at midnight anymore) and the Sunday resurection grand mass. You will get superb decorations, organ and choirs for those but it might be only the "Grand Messe" on Sunday that will have all the peageantry, not the other more regular masses. Unlike Christmas Eve there will certainly be enough seats at all churches and classified by wow factor order I will say:

First: Notre-Dame basilica

Second: Marie Reine du Monde cathedral

Third: Saint Patrick basilica (the only one where offices are in English)

Fourth: Saint-Joseph oratory (the main church and not the crypt chapel)

You want to attend on both days, I will suggest Saint-Joseph oratory main church on Saturday night for the celebration of light during the wvening and Notre-Dame basilica for Sunday "Grand Messe".

B.C.
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13 posts
12 reviews
2 helpful votes
2. Re: What's a "must do" for Easter in Montreal?
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This was so helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this for us. This is precisely the kind of information I was looking for, and I'm so grateful to you for letting us know!

Montreal, Canada
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12,845 posts
57 reviews
94 helpful votes
3. Re: What's a "must do" for Easter in Montreal?
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Hello again JandKlove2travel

I absolutely don't know anything about you, your family or your traveling partners. Neither on your budget, accomodation in Mtl, lenght of stay, etc. Nor if you plan to attend Christian offices.

BUT I cannot resist to refer you to the very good package at historic Fairmont Château Montebello. It includes special activities like dance dinner, egg hunt, chocolate making workshop and mini curling lesson plus the regular amenities and a special Easter Brunch buffet so just check this link: http://www.fairmont.com/montebello/HotelPackages/Celebration/EasterPackage.htm

Another good thing is that one of the road to Montebello pass close to Rigaud. I would never suggest a Cabane à Sucre meal on top of the Easter buffet but you could make a stop to visit the place anyways. Beside all the children activities in the hotel there is also nearby Parc Omega to see nordic animals, including a herd of bisons and a pack of wolves. Of course you will need a car for all of that that BUT the Château can also be accessed by public bus (Montreal / Gatineau circuit) and even if there is only 2 buses per day you could fit everything together with a bit of advance planning.

In Montreal sister property Fairmont Queen Elizabeth is also offering an Easter package but it is a much more low profile thing.

Old Montreal
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5,707 posts
4. Re: What's a "must do" for Easter in Montreal?
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Eat a Laura secord chcolate bunny.

Montreal, Canada
Level Contributor
12,845 posts
57 reviews
94 helpful votes
5. Re: What's a "must do" for Easter in Montreal?
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Yuk! With so many good chocolatiers around I don't understant that there are still Laura Secord stores around, they hark back from another area. May be we can eat some out of nostalgy and the whole eggs with a white and a yolk candy paste inside can have some allure but... It is just sub par chocolate in our chocolate crazy province!

Old Montreal
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5,707 posts
6. Re: What's a "must do" for Easter in Montreal?
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Same concept as advising someone to eat a poutine at Lafleur: it's bad, but it's good.

7. Re: What's a "must do" for Easter in Montreal?

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