What to do for Halloween in Montreal on Saturday the 31st: free daytime plans with kids, ghost walks, haunted houses, parties and the traps that repeat every year.
Straight to the point: yes, it is worth it. And the best Halloween plan in Montreal this Saturday costs nothing.
Just know that Halloween in Montreal is not one single party. It is four different things happening on the same weekend, and they do not mix: a free family afternoon, real scares in haunted houses, quiet walks in cemeteries and, after the kids go to bed, adult parties.
This is our last-minute plan for tomorrow, Saturday, October 31, 2026, with times, the prices we were able to confirm and the traps we see repeating every year. Where a price was not published, we say so. No invented numbers.
1. Free and with the kids: the best plan for Saturday
If you only have one day and you are with children, start here. Everything below is free to enter, and that is exactly why it fills up. Arrive early.
The Halloween party at Centre Eaton: the plan that solves the day
The big highlight of the weekend is the free party at Time Out Market, the gourmet food hall inside Centre Eaton, downtown.
- 🕒 Saturday the 31st, from 12 pm to 3 pm
- 📍 Centre Eaton, 705 rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, Montreal (McGill metro)
- 💲 Free, no booking needed
Children decorate their own candy bag, paint sugar skulls inspired by Día de los Muertos and get face painting. The clever part: because the place brings food and drink under the same roof, the plan flows naturally into lunch. Three free hours turn into half a day out without paying for admission.
💡 Arrive around noon. It is the most widely promoted free event in the city for Saturday and the window is short.
🔗 Official website: centreeatondemontreal.com
Montréal-Nord Halloween Village: the afternoon village
- 🕒 Saturday, from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm
- 💲 Free entry
A corn maze, a collaborative mural, a photo corner and entertainers. Food is separate (hot chocolate, donuts and sweets are not included in the free entry), so keep that in the budget.
⚠️ With small children, pick one: Centre Eaton or Montréal-Nord. Trying both on the same day turns into a rush, not an outing.
Lune Noire at Parc Jean-Drapeau: the park that became Halloween
Until October 31, the Floralies gardens at Parc Jean-Drapeau (Jean-Drapeau metro) are decorated for Halloween, with free entry and installations you can enjoy at your own pace during the day.
At night, the story changes. The boat ride through the canals, La Noce des Canaux, is paid and runs from October 29 to 31: pontoons sailing in search of relics and supernatural clues. It is the plan that best matches late afternoon (park by day, boat by night), if tickets are still available.
🔗 Official website: parcjeandrapeau.com
Read also: Montreal’s six best parks: an honest guide from someone who lives here
Château Ramezay and the Old Port: the historic centre for free
In Old Montreal, the pumpkin garden at Château Ramezay is free and outdoors this week, with different booklets for younger and older children. Careful: the museum is a separate ticket. Do not confuse the two.
At the Old Port, the free treasure hunt Ma belle-mère est une sorcière has six stops, is in French, is aimed at children aged 7 and up and runs until November 1.
And on Saturday the Grande Roue de Montréal closes the afternoon in style:
- 🕒 4 pm to 7 pm: candy giveaway
- 🕒 5 pm: children’s costume contest
- 🕒 7 pm: light show
🔗 Official websites: chateauramezay.qc.ca · lagranderouedemontreal.com
Halloween Shivers at the Botanical Garden: the classic, but hurry
Halloween Shivers is the classic family programme in October in Montreal and it ends exactly on Saturday the 31st. Greenhouses and an outdoor maze become a world of pumpkins and enchanted plants, with activities from the wizard Kalbacius and the show Même pas peur! (in French, for children aged 4 to 8).
⚠️ The ticket is paid and several evening slots, when the Gardens of Light switch on, were already sold out at our last check. If this is your choice, book before leaving home. Do not count on the box office.
🔗 Official website: espacepourlavie.ca
2. Real scares: ghost walks, haunted houses and mazes
Here the audience changes. What comes next is not decoration: it is scares, darkness and, in some cases, age restrictions. Our advice is to pick one (not all) and book.
Ghost walks: the Montreal that never makes the postcard
The guided ghost tours (Montréal Ghosts and Haunted Montréal are the best-known names) leave from Old Montreal, Griffintown and Mont Royal after dark. Executions, centuries-old legends and paranormal investigations are part of the route.
A curious fact: the Old Montreal route passes the old Saint-Antoine cemetery, which is literally buried under Place du Canada and Dorchester Square. Plenty of people cross it every day without any idea.
⚠️ Places are by time slot and the 31st is the most contested day of the year. Without a booking, the plan turns into a queue or a frustration.
🔗 Official websites: montrealghosts.com · hauntedmontreal.com
Malefycia: adults only, and the scare is serious
Malefycia is Montreal’s adult haunted house: 18 and over, no exceptions, in an immersive psychological horror experience. The 2026 edition, the tenth, is called C10WN and revolves around clowns. Participants choose their level of interaction with the actors.
Honestly, it is the opposite of the decorated house down the street: realistic, intense and built to test limits. If you go, go knowing exactly what you are buying.
🔗 Official website: malefycia.com
Hotel Dracula: the middle ground for pre-teens
- 📍 Rue Saint-Denis, Quartier Latin, Montreal
- 👦 From 10 years old
An immersive haunted mansion with plenty of technology, including virtual reality, and the classic cast: Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and zombies. It is the option for a child who is past face painting but still far from Malefycia’s 18.
🔗 Official website: hoteldracula.com
La Ronde Fright Fest: the park that becomes a haunted house
Fright Fest runs until November 1 and transforms La Ronde: three haunted houses, nine scare zones, more than 100 creatures roaming the park, rides in the dark and an opening show at 5:30 pm.
⚠️ The heaviest night attractions are not recommended for under 12s. Once it gets dark, it is another park.
💡 It is the busiest plan of the weekend. Arrive for the 5:30 pm show and get the mood before the queues grow.
🔗 Official website: laronde.com
SOS Halloween: the Old Port maze
Until November 1, the SOS Labyrinthe in the Old Port becomes SOS Halloween: two kilometres of covered maze, with surprises, hidden treasures and the Blackout adventure, in total darkness.
💡 Anyone in costume gets 15% off.
For a group of friends or teenagers, this is our bet: it scares without being extreme and it is downtown, so it fits easily into an Old Port itinerary.
🔗 Official website: soslabyrinthe.com
To go further (only if you have a car and time)
The Village Hanté de Drummondville, about an hour and a half from Montreal, is an entire haunted village: more than three kilometres of streets, more than 100 actors and 20 horror zones, with a lighter daytime area for children. The 2026 season runs until October 31, on selected Friday and Saturday nights.
In Saint-Amable, on the South Shore, Maxime Duval’s Halloween house has become an attraction of its own. The artist and set designer builds everything in his front garden, every year. Check his social media for this year’s theme before hitting the road.
3. Cemeteries in autumn: the quiet walk almost nobody takes
Montreal has more than 1.5 million burials spread across 55 cemeteries on the island. In autumn, two of them, side by side on Mont Royal, become the most photogenic (and least obvious) outing of the weekend.
⚠️ First of all: these are working cemeteries, not amusement parks. Go during the day, speak quietly and respect the people visiting their own.
Notre-Dame-des-Neiges: the largest cemetery in Canada
It covers about 340 acres, with around 1 million burials and more than 13,500 trees, some of them rare. The first burial was in 1855 and the site is a National Historic Site of Canada.
- 📍 Main entrance: 4601 chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal
- 💡 The lesser-known entrance, on the Outremont side, climbs to a viewpoint. The climb is long, so wear comfortable shoes.
🔗 Official website: cimetierenotredamedesneiges.ca
Mount Royal Cemetery: smaller, older and quieter
Next to Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, it has around 200,000 burials since 1852. In spring it is even prettier, with cherry and lilac trees. In autumn the charm is different: foliage and silence.
🔗 Official website: mountroyalcem.com
To extend the theme
- Baron de Hirsch (1863): one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Canada, with 65,000 burials (among them a Titanic victim, the poet A.M. Klein and Dora Wasserman, founder of the Montreal Yiddish Theatre) and 16 Holocaust memorials. A walk through the city’s Jewish history.
- Belvedere, in the West Island: 96 acres with trails, lakes and wildlife. You can spend the whole day.
We found no admission fee at either of them, but confirm the opening hours on the official website before you go. A cemetery does not keep tourist-attraction hours.
4. At night, for adults: the party starts when the children go to bed
When the children go to bed, Montreal changes party.
- SAT (Société des arts technologiques): an all-night Halloween marathon, across several floors, on Saturday the 31st. Costume strongly recommended.
- KARNAVALE, at New City Gas (Griffintown): on the 30th and 31st, 18+, with a Halloween and Día de los Muertos theme.
- Cirque de Boudoir, Black Mass: the group celebrates 20 years with a cabaret on the 30th at Lion d’Or and a party on the 31st at Théâtre Paradoxe.
- Candlelight Halloween: for anyone who wants something calmer. A string quartet among hundreds of candles playing Thriller, the theme from The Exorcist and a medley from The Nightmare Before Christmas. On the 30th, at Église Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs, from age 8 (under 16 accompanied).
- Festival Dia de Muertos MTL: eight altars from Montreal’s Mexican community at the Saul-Bellow library, from October 31 to November 2, plus an outdoor installation at the Saint-Pierre library on the 1st. For us, it is the most beautiful and respectful counterpoint to commercial Halloween.
Read also: Montreal Pride 2026: our festival review
5. The alternative that does not fill up: host your own Halloween party at home
If the idea of facing a queue, a sold-out ticket and freezing wind in the Old Port does not appeal, there is a plan that does not fill up, does not sell out and does not need a booking: open your home. It is what we do here. And, without filters, it is often the best Halloween of the season.
Why it is worth it
- No queue, no booking. The 31st is the most contested day of the year in the city. At home, the only limit is the size of the living room.
- Cost under control. With the “everyone brings a dish or a drink” format, the party costs less than a single haunted-house ticket.
- The extra hour plays in your favour. With the clocks going back in the early hours of Sunday, the party gains 60 bonus minutes.
- A perfect excuse to gather your friends. For anyone who came from Brazil, where Halloween never had this weight, it is also a way to get into the city’s mood without leaving the sofa (or almost).
The decoration: lighting does 80% of the work
Honestly, the secret is not spending on props. It is changing the lighting. Red and orange bulbs instead of white ones, a projector on the ceiling and that is it: the living room no longer looks like your living room.
After that, the details make the party:
- Skeleton candlesticks with LED candles (with so much fabric and costume moving around, a real candle is asking for trouble)
- A tablecloth printed with bones and skulls, and an animal skeleton as a centrepiece
- Fake cobwebs and plastic spiders on the mirror and in the corners
- Pumpkin lanterns with fairy lights on the shelves
- A lit pumpkin on top of the candy tray, which becomes the meeting point of the night
💡 Almost all of this is available at a dollar store and at the supermarket in the week of Halloween. A curious fact: on November 1, whatever is left goes on sale. Anyone already thinking about next year’s party buys it there.
Costume required (and anything goes)
The house rule is simple: you are in, you are in costume. And it does not have to be expensive. At our party there was everything: a fallen angel with a feather halo and an axe, a king with a crown and an ermine cape, a hooded reaper, witches with pointed hats, villain horns, leopard ears, a 1950s circle skirt with an embroidered poodle, a vampire with a red cape and a zombie with a stitched mouth who, honestly, scared more than plenty of paid haunted houses.
Checklist to build your own
- Invite two weeks ahead. Late October competes with every party in the city.
- Sort the lighting first. Coloured bulbs and a projector are worth more than any prop.
- Food on a collaborative basis. You guarantee the main dish, the guests complete it.
- Have the themed playlist ready before you open the door.
- Tell the neighbours. In a Montreal building, a friendly note in the lift avoids headaches.
- Think about the way back. Check the STM’s last metro time and arrange a lift or taxi with anyone who lives far away.
- Leave sweets at the door. On the 31st, the neighbourhood children knock door to door early in the evening.
Read also: Morar em Montreal: 12 pontos para considerar antes de viver nesta cidade (in Portuguese)
6. A ready-made itinerary for Saturday, October 31
- 12 pm to 3 pm: free party at Centre Eaton with the kids.
- 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm (instead of item 1, not both): Montréal-Nord Halloween Village, if you prefer the outdoors.
- 4 pm to 7 pm: Old Port, with sweets at the Grande Roue, the costume contest at 5 pm and the light show at 7 pm.
- Late afternoon: Botanical Garden or Lune Noire, if tickets are still available.
- Night: ghost walk in Old Montreal or a party (SAT, Karnavale, Cirque de Boudoir or your own at home). Not both. The night is long, but it is not infinite (even with the extra hour).
- Sunday, if you still have energy: the Mont Royal cemeteries, during the day and slowly.
💡 To move between Centre Eaton, the Old Port and Parc Jean-Drapeau, the metro solves everything and saves you the headache of parking on an event day.
Read also: Getting around Montreal: a guide to the metro and buses
7. The traps that ruin Halloween in Montreal
Arriving without a booking. Ghost walk, Botanical Garden and 18+ houses on the 31st? “We will see when we get there” is the plan that fails most.
Confusing “free entry” with “everything free”. Food at Montréal-Nord Village, the Lune Noire night boat and paid attractions are separate. It is a big mistake to think it all comes free.
Thinking La Ronde by day is the same as at night. Once it gets dark, the audience changes and so does the intensity. Under 12s should not be in the heaviest night attractions.
Underestimating the cold. Late October in Montreal, at night and close to the water, calls for an extra layer. Costume over the coat, never instead of it. Anyone who came from Brazil learns this quickly.
Treating a cemetery as an attraction. Photos, yes. Shouting and horror costumes among the graves, no.
Frequently asked questions
Is Halloween in Montreal free? Mostly, yes. The best daytime plans for families are free to enter. What costs money is the night: parties, the night boat and haunted houses.
Can I bring children? You can, and by day they are the main audience: Centre Eaton, Montréal-Nord Village, the Botanical Garden and SOS Halloween. At night, respect the age limits: Malefycia is 18+, Hotel Dracula is 10+ and La Ronde’s night attractions are not for under 12s.
Where is the real scare? On the ghost walks in Old Montreal, at Malefycia and at La Ronde once it gets dark. The rest is decoration. Very good decoration, but decoration.
Do I need to book? For ghost walks, the Botanical Garden and haunted houses, yes, and the sooner the better. Free daytime events do not require booking, but arriving early is your booking.
Transparency note
The times and free admission in this guide were checked on October 30, 2026, on the organisers’ official websites, on Tourisme Montréal and in the programme for the week of October 26 to November 1. Where a price was not published, we did not invent one: confirm on the official website before you leave, because capacity and times change at the last minute, especially on the 31st.
Well, that is what we had to say today. We hope it helps you put together your haunted Saturday. And you, are you going for the family programme or will you face Malefycia? Tell us in the comments! 😉
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