All activities / Music & Culture Festivals / Montreal
Music & Culture Festivals in MontrealCA
Quebec's bilingual metropolis, home each summer to the Guinness-certified largest jazz festival on earth.
Run by Equipe Spectra (evenko), with published dates and a real program.
Dates & details verified against: Official event site ↗
Why here
The Festival International de Jazz de Montreal is certified by Guinness World Records as the largest jazz festival in the world: roughly 350 shows and 3,000 artists across ten days, with around two million attendees and the majority of concerts free and outdoors. Founded in 1980, it takes over the pedestrianized Quartier des Spectacles around Place des Arts, and its history reads like the music's: Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, and nearly every jazz great have played it. The free outdoor stages are the festival's real character, and the ticketed indoor rooms run from clubs to concert halls within a few blocks.
Best months
Roughly ten days from late June into the first week of July, annually; the 2027 edition is confirmed for June 25 to July 4. Outdoor stages are free with no tickets; indoor headliners sell out months ahead. Montreal summers are warm and the site is entirely walkable.
Getting there & around
Fly to Montreal-Trudeau; the Quartier des Spectacles sits over the Place-des-Arts metro. Book accommodation early for the festival window; the free program needs no planning at all.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (1)
Festival International de Jazz de Montreal
OrganizerThe festival organization, founded in 1980 and produced by Equipe Spectra under evenko, staging ten days of shows across the Quartier des Spectacles each summer.