The shit blog of Paul Chris Jones

I worked in Montreal for three years as a professional skinflint, so I'm somewhat of an expert about free things to do in Montreal. In the post, I'll describe five fun, free activities: libraries, swimming pools, museums, art galleries, and festivals.

Libraries

The largest library in Montreal is the Grande Bibliotheque. Built in 2005, the library has over 1 million books, 350 computer stations and 1,300 armchairs (though most of the chairs are taken by sleeping homeless people.)

The library is run by the Bibliotheque et Archives Nationales du Quebec (BAnQ). The nearest station is Berri-Uqam; in fact, there's a station entrance inside the library building itself.

You can sign up for a free library card if you have 2 pieces of ID, one of which must have your address.

Opening hours are:

• Mon: Closed
• Tues - Fri: 10am to 10pm
• Weekend: 10am to 6pm

Seemingly seperate is 43 other, much smaller libraries, run by Bibliotheques Montreal. I've never used them since I've always lived near the Grande Bibliotheque.

Swimming pools

Montreal's swimming pools are free at certain times. Use this site to find the pool nearest to you.

For example, the pool nearest to me is the Piscine du cégep du Vieux Montréal, of which the timetable is:

• Sun & Mon: Closed
• Tues - Fri: 5.30pm - 9.15pm
• Sat: 1.15pm - 4.30pm

There are even outdoor pools which are free (in the summer).

Museums & Art Galleries

There are several free museums in Montreal.

The largest by far is the Museum of Fine Arts (a.k.a. Musée des Beaux-Arts). The permanent exhibitions (of which there are many - too many to see in one day) are free. Timetable is:

• Mon: Closed
• Tues-Fri: 11am - 5pm
• Weekend: 10am - 5pm

There is the Redpath museum, which is completely free. Apparently they have a t-rex! Timetable is:

• Weekdays: 9pm - 5pm
• Sat: Closed
• Sun: 1pm-5pm

There's%20also%20the Musée%20D'Art%20Contemporain.%20As%20the%20name%20suggests,%20it%20has%20only%20modern%20art,%20which%20may%20not%20be%20to%20everyone's%20taste.%20It's%20only%20free%20on%20Wednessday%20from%205pm%20to%209pm.%20Rather%20fittingly,%20it's%20located%20at%20Place-des-Arts. 

Then there's the McCord Museum. It's a bit small, and their 3 temporary exhibits change every 4 months, so it's not really worth going frequently.

It's free from:

• Wed: 5-9pm
• First Saturday of every month: 10am-5pm

Festivals

Montreal is sometimes jokingly refered to as 'The City of Festivals', because in the Summer there's almost always 1 or 2 major festivals going on. A lot of these offer free content, too (lots and lots of concerts). Most of the festivals take place Place-des-Arts, the largest public space in Montreal.

Here's a list of the main ones in chronological order (the dates were correct for 2013). For a complete list, see the official website.

• Festival Nuits d'Afrique - seems to be year round judging from their program.
• Montreal En Lumiere (Montreal in Lights). Essentially a 2 week-long music festival. - Feb 21 - Mar 3.
• Blue Metropolis book festival - april 22 - 28
• Les Tam-tams - unofficial drumming sessions in Mont Royal Park. Every Sunday from Spring to Fall (most popular in the Summer)
• Les Francofolies music festival - June 14-22
• International Jazz Festival - June 28 - July 7
• Just for Laughs comedy festival - July 10-28
• Shakespeare in the Park - July 11 - Aug 4
• Festiblues blues festival - Aug 8-11
• Festival des Films du Monde - a film festival. Part of it is Cinema Under the Stars, where films are projected onto a huge outdoor screen in Place-des-Arts, and you can watch for free. Aug 22 - Sep 2