Liam Maloney is a photographer who specializes in editorial and long-term documentary work. Though he travels the world for work, Montreal will always be home for him and we were thrilled to hear that he was interested in spending a day shooting some outdoor hockey games for us.

For these photos, Maloney visited rinks in Verdun, the Plateau and Little Italy. If you’re looking for a complete list of Montreal’s outdoor and indoor ice, make sure you check out the great Patiner Montreal website, which not only maps out all of the city’s rinks, but offers interactive information on ice conditions, hours of availability and more. Game on.

The post PHOTO GALLERY: OUTDOOR HOCKEY RINKS IN MONTREAL appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

Sure, Montreal in the summer is hot, sunny and jam-packed with festival fun. But the winter is when the city really takes on its unique flavour. Where else can people revel in the streets – nay, in a whole Snow Village! – in a minus 20 degree winter wonderland?

After the great success of last year’s inaugural edition, North America’s first and only Snow Village is doing things even bigger and better this year with a special homage to the Big Apple. In perfect accordance with the year’s other New York/Montreal project, Montreal-Brooklyn, the Snow Village architects and sculptors are using the Big Apple as inspiration for the setting, sculptures, décor and more.

From family outings to outdoor activities to romantic getaways and even adventure tourism, the Snow Village has something for everyone, including a giant ice and snow slide, heated outdoor spas and a supersize heated igloo that doubles as a one-of-a-kind site for private parties. Imagine a wedding in this kind of setting… hey, there’s even a chapel on site!

Apart from the hotel stay, where you sleep among furs and the warmth of a wood fire, the most popular draw to the village is the food. The Snow Village’s beloved Pommery Ice Restaurant is doubling its capacity to 100 seats this year, plus there’ll be a brand-new second outdoor Ice Restaurant in Laval! Thanks to a partnership with the Auberge Saint-Gabriel, the Amarula Ice Restaurant will be a 56-seat outdoor restaurant located at the Centropolis on Boulevard St. Martin Ouest. Make sure you explore this borough North of Montreal on a weekend morning, to take advantage of the most unforgettable weekend brunches north of the St. Lawrence.

“The Centropolis was the perfect choice for our first Ice Restaurant outside the Montreal Snow Village,” says Village co-manager Carl Fugère. “Now North Shore residents can easily enjoy this unique Nordic dining experience, prepared to perfection with the Auberge Saint-Gabriel’s internationally renowned chef Éric Gonzalez.”

The official opening date for the Snow Village in January 18, but there’s an ice breaker (pun fully intended) at Amarula Ice Restaurant that’s open to all on January 3, and a pre-opening of the Village as a whole on January 4. So dig out your mitts, your toques and your Sorels, and let’s get this party started!

THE DETAILS
Montreal Snow Village at Parc Jean-Drapeau, January 4 to March 24th, 2013, Reservations: (514) 788-2181

Photo credit: Village des Neiges/Snow Village Canada

The post MONTREAL’S SNOW VILLAGE RETURNS WITH NEW YORK THEME appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

As you can see in the video above, Montreal has large, busy spots like Parc LaFontaine, as well as tons of smaller-but-super-cool rinks, like the one (located near Ontario and Papineau) hosting the nighttime hockey game. I’ve already written, if I do say so myself, a pretty good post on Where To Skate in Montreal. I’d also like to point you towards a new interactive website called Patiner Montréal, which not only displays what you can do at each one of Montreal’s outdoor rinks, but the condition and quality of the ice in each spot. All that’s left is to go get out there!

The post SKATING IN MONTREAL appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.