Our top picks for can't-miss events during Montreal's Nuit Blanche 2025

Nuit Blanche in Montreal is the city’s late-winter adrenaline shot, where the sheer energy of a one-night-only takeover hits a swath of the city's streets, museums, galleries, and underground venues. As a major highlight of MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE, this all-night celebration transforms the city into its own sprawling festival-within-a-festival of art, music, performance, and unfiltered revelry—and hundreds of free events unfolding in every direction.

Whether you want to dance till sunrise, explore pop-up exhibitions, or kick back as you watch the city come alive with neon, there’s no wrong way to do it—and thanks to 24-hour metro service, getting around is as effortless as giving in to the night.

With so much happening, navigating the chaos can be overwhelming. That’s where we come in: We’ve scoured the lineup and pulled together the events you don’t want to miss.

Hyperpop Nuit Blanche at the SAT

Get ready to immerse yourself in a night of pixelated sound and futuristic beats at the Hyperpop Nuit Blanche at the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT). This immersive evening will see the dome dancefloor lit up by DJ sets from Gwinestefani, Awwful, and D.Blavatsky, while VJs Melesul3 and HEX8 bring 360-degree visuals to life. It’s a celebration of hyperpop, pixel art, and an electric atmosphere where friends and family can dance the night away.

Location: Society for Arts and Technology [SAT], 1201 St. Laurent Blvd.

Date: March 1, 7:00 pm – March 2, 1:00 am

Admission: Free entry, no reservations required (subject to availability)

La Nuit POP

For Nuit Blanche’s 22nd edition, PHI and POP Montreal team up once again for La Nuit POP, an 18+ high-energy celebration of the city’s vibrant indie and underground scene. Expect a night of groovy beats, avant-garde artistic performances, and surprise pop-up moments that capture the eclectic spirit of Montréal’s creative community. Whether you’re here for the music, the art, or just the atmosphere, this after-hours party promises to keep things unpredictable and electric.

Location: PHI Centre, 315 St-Paul St. West

Date: March 1, 9:00 pm – March 2, 3:00 am

Admission: Free

Nuit Blanche at the CCA

For Nuit Blanche, the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) teams up with MUTEK to explore the intersection of architecture and protest. Inspired by the exhibition To Build Law, the evening features workshops, guided tours, and a curated reading corner in the bookstore. At 10 p.m., multidisciplinary artist Adam Basanta takes over with a live musical performance, while Bar WILLS keeps the drinks flowing.

Location: Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), 1920 Baile St.

Date: March 1, 7:00 pm – March 2, 1:00 am

Admission: Free entry

Pop! Ball at the Museum

Step into the grandeur of a historical costume ball with a modern twist at the McCord Stewart Museum’s Pop! Ball. This Nuit Blanche soirée blends the elegance of 19th-century masquerades with the energy of contemporary pop music, performed by a classical trio from the Schulich School of Music. Between dances, explore the museum’s four exhibitions, test your music knowledge in a live pop quiz with prizes, and revel in a night where history and pop culture collide in spectacular fashion.

Location: McCord Stewart Museum, 690 Sherbrooke St. West

Date: March 1, 7:00 pm – March 2, 1:00 am

Admission: Free entry

Sacred Garden

Enter Sacred Garden, a reimagined cabaret that transforms Le Gesù into an ethereal dreamscape of light, sound, and immersive art. Avant-garde artists rework the sacred space into a surreal garden with glowing trees, multimedia installations, and a continuous-loop projection that invites introspection. Guests can leave handwritten wishes on paper tokens, adding their own imprint to the experience, before an explosion of alternative pop and post-neo-classical music fills the space. Straddling the line between tradition and modernity, the sacred and the profane, this Nuit Blanche spectacle is both a moment of serenity and a night of sensory awakening.

Location: Le Gesù, 1202 De Bleury St.

Date: March 1, 7:00 pm – March 2, 2:00 am

Admission: Free entry

La Grande Nuit 2025

A sonic odyssey awaits at La Grande Nuit 2025, where cutting-edge sound art takes over L’Agora Hydro-Québec in an immersive 32-loudspeaker dome. Closing out the Montréal/New Musics Festival, this all-night musical marathon brings avant-garde composers and sound artists from around the world together to push the boundaries of auditory experience. Expect bold, experimental works that transform sound into an all-encompassing journey—whether you stay for an hour or let the music carry you through the night.

Location: L’Agora Hydro-Québec, 175 du Président-Kennedy Ave.

Date: March 1, 7:30 pm – March 2, 1:00 am

Admission: Free entry

Silent Disco Pop!

Step into a dance party like no other at Silent Disco Pop!, where three curated music stations take you on a journey through the greatest pop anthems of the last 50 years. Hosted at Ballet Hop! Mile-End, this immersive silent disco lets you switch between iconic hits from the ’70s and ’80s, ’90s and 2000s, and the 2010s to today—all while moving between two specially decorated studios honouring legendary records. A mini bar will be on-site, with all proceeds supporting the Bas de Laine Foundation, which aids women affected by domestic violence.

Location: Ballet Hop! Mile-End, 5380 St-Laurent Blvd.

Date: March 1, 7:30 pm – March 2, 12:30 am

Admission: Free for the first 30 attendees; pre-sale tickets available for $20 (limited quantity)

Lumière Noire

For its 14th edition, Lumière Noire returns with an even more surreal and immersive 18+ experience, transforming Ste-Catherine Hall into a fluorescent dreamscape. Expect digital art projections that blur the lines between reality and fantasy, circus performances that defy gravity, and a soundtrack of hypnotic beats that keeps the energy pulsing all night long. Interactive kiosks will offer creative workshops, artist meet-and-greets, and unexpected treats, making this an unmissable fusion of light, movement, and sensory overload.

Location: Ste-Catherine Hall, 917 Ste-Catherine St. E.

Date: March 1, 5:00 pm – March 2, 8:00 am

Admission: Free from 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm; $20–$50 for the second session (9:00 pm – 8:00 am)

Cinema at the Palace

An intimate night of film and food, Cinema at the Palace transforms Nouveau Palais into an open-air screening venue with a lineup of short films by Productions Spectrum. Projected onto the restaurant’s back wall and front window, the films will play in three one-hour sessions throughout the night. Guests can settle in with a drink or a bite while taking in works that celebrate creativity and inclusion, all produced by an organization dedicated to supporting artists on the autism spectrum.

Location: Nouveau Palais, 281 Bernard St. West

Date: March 1, 6:00 pm – March 2, 1:00 am

Screening Times: 6:00 pm, 8:00 pm, 9:45 pm

Admission: Free entry

The Big Nuit Blanche of Unusual Cinema

Dive headfirst into the bizarre with The Big Nuit Blanche of Unusual Cinema at Cinéma du Parc. Hosted by the Nights of the 4th Dimension series, this 18+ cinematic fever dream resurrects cult oddities from the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), the vault of forgotten, heretical cinema. Expect a double bill of rare and deranged trailer compilations: The AGFA Horror Trailer Show—a delirious descent into low-budget horror, mondo witchcraft, and knockoff Friday the 13th clones—followed by The Cult of AGFA Trailer Show, a psychosensory assault featuring cryptozoology docs, anti-drug PSAs starring Clint Eastwood, and Jerry Lewis at his most unhinged.

Location: Cinéma du Parc, 3575 Parc Ave.

Date: March 1, 10:00 pm – March 2, 2:00 am

Nuit Blanche at the MMFA: Animated Visions & New Acquisitions

For Nuit Blanche, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) offers a double feature of artistic discovery. Outside, Inuit and Métis artist Glenn Gear presents Ulitsuak | Marée montante | Rising Tide, a large-scale animated projection that explores Indigenous storytelling through water, movement, and transformation. Indoors, the museum unveils Two by Two, Together, an exhibition showcasing major acquisitions from the past five years. Featuring works by Rembrandt, Wanda Koop, Louise Bourgeois, Claude Tousignant, and more, the exhibition invites visitors to uncover the unexpected connections between Canadian and international artists.

Location: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1380 Sherbrooke St. West

Date: March 1, 5:00 pm – 11:59 pm

Admission: Free entry

Nuit Blanche at the NFB: A Pop-Fuelled Film Night

The National Film Board opens its doors for a night of animation, interactive experiences, and behind-the-scenes creativity. Watch a non-stop screening of the NFB’s most POPular animated shorts for all ages, take part in a quiz challenge to hunt for hidden characters in a film, and co-create an animated scene with filmmaker Janet Perlman as she draws live for The Girl with the Red Beret. Celebrating 85 years of innovation, this event promises a festive, family-friendly atmosphere filled with film magic.

Location: Alanis Obomsawin Theatre, 1500 Balmoral St.

Date: March 1, 6:00 pm – March 2, 1:00 am

Admission: Free entry

Nuit Blanche at Système

Le Système throws down for Nuit Blanche with an all-night electronic odyssey split into two high-intensity showcases. Kicking off at 10 p.m., DJs Cachou, Destiny, and Kozz deliver a relentless, high-tempo set channeling the underground rave spirit of the mid-’90s. As the night deepens, Temple Records takes over with Richard and M Salaciak spinning left-field electronic sounds that drift from glitch and IDM to minimal synth and Polish hip-hop. With Montreal’s electronic underground in full force, this is a night built for the dance floor.

Location: Le Système, 7119 Saint-Hubert St.

Date: March 1, 10:00 pm – March 2, 6:00 am

Admission: Free entry

Drag, Eurovision, and Karaoke: An Unforgettable Nuit Blanche

If Eurovision is your guilty pleasure, this is your night. The Goethe-Institut, alongside the Alliance Française, the Consulate General of France in Quebec City, and the Italian Cultural Institute, hosts a flamboyant tribute to past Eurovision highlights. Hosted by the one and only Misty Waterfalls, this night of multilingual spectacle blends live drag performances with classic Eurovision anthems in German, English, Spanish, French, and Italian. And when the spotlight’s calling, step up to the mic yourself—karaoke is open to anyone daring enough to belt out the hits.

Location: Goethe-Institut, 1626 St-Laurent Blvd.

Date: March 1, 6:00 pm – March 2, 1:00 am

Admission: Free entry

Nuit Blanche at the Redpath Museum

Venture into the shadows of the Redpath Museum for a nocturnal exploration like no other. Armed with a flashlight (bring your own!), visitors can navigate through ancient civilizations, towering dinosaur skeletons, and vibrant mineral displays that come to life under the glow of artificial light. This after-dark experience transforms the museum into an interactive playground where history and science take on an eerie new dimension. Note: Reservations are required, limited free tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Location: Redpath Museum, 859 Sherbrooke St. West

Date: March 1, 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm

Admission: $12 for adults, $6 for children under 12 (tax included)

Nuit Blanche at the Palais

The Palais des congrès and OASIS immersion return with a vibrant Nuit Blanche program packed with interactive fun for all ages. Dance to your own beat at a silent disco, get nostalgic with retro games, and contribute to a massive collaborative mural. A pop-up market will showcase local merchants, while a popcorn stand fuels the festivities. The evening also features Sweet Folie, a larger-than-life edition of OASIS immersion’s dazzling, high-energy exhibition—reservations required for entry.

Location: Palais des congrès de Montréal, 1001 Place Jean-Paul Riopelle

Date: March 1, 5:00 pm – March 2, 1:00 am

Admission: Free entry (reservation required for Sweet Folie)

Midnight Symphony: Concert & Cinematic Immersion

Step into a cinematic dreamscape at Midnight Symphony, where music and visual art collide in a playful, interactive installation. Hosted at Aux Angles Ronds, the space transforms into a glowing “wishing tree” crafted from recycled materials, inviting guests to contribute throughout the night. Sip on cocktails or hot drinks as the ambiance shifts toward the main event: a midnight performance by Ensemble Urbain, delivering live renditions of legendary film scores from Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Toy Story, and more.

Location: Aux Angles Ronds, 5333 St-Laurent Blvd.

Date: March 1, 8:00 pm – March 2, 2:00 am

Admission: PWYC

POP (T)ART

At the stroke of midnight, Cabaret Mado transforms into Nuit Blanche’s ultimate drag dance party. Hosted by the dazzling Jessie Précieuse, POP (T)ART brings together five of Montreal’s fiercest drag performers—Crystal Starz, Kiara, Johnny Jones, and Aizysse Baga—for a high-energy spectacle packed with pop anthems, electrifying choreography, and themes like POP Masterclass, Pop Art, and Popcorn. Whether you’re here to dance, cheer, or simply take in the glitter-soaked chaos, this is where the night goes full throttle.

Location: Cabaret Mado, 1115 Ste-Catherine St. East

Date: March 1, 11:59 pm – March 2, 2:15 am

Admission: $10 until 12:45 am; free entry afterward

A Massive Nuit Blanche Concert at St. James United Church

For a third year, St. James United Church becomes a musical sanctuary for Nuit Blanche, hosting an epic concert marathon that draws over 3,000 attendees. This genre-spanning night of music features everything from 16th-century drinking songs to jazz, electronica, world music, and cinematic organ scores. The lineup is stacked with standout acts, including Union musicale d’Iberville, the Chœur Suédois de Montréal, and Ensemble Kô, filling the towering acoustics of St. James with powerful harmonies and bold instrumental performances. Whether you’re here for choral grandeur, orchestral brilliance, or an unexpected electronic twist, this is a night where music transcends time, space, and tradition.

Location: St. James United Church, 463 Ste-Catherine St. West

Date: March 1, 4:40 pm – 10:00 pm

Admission: Free entry