Things to do in Montréal with friends

R3ACH is a free iPhone and Android app that shows you what's happening in Montréal and turns it into plans with your friends. Swipe right on an event. When a friend swipes right on the same one, R3ACH opens a group chat with the time, the place and the ticket link.

What is there to do in Montréal with friends?

Most weeks bring live music, comedy, markets, food pop-ups, games, sports and art, plus a long list of recurring meetups that are posted in places you would never think to look. R3ACH puts them in one feed, sorted by what you told it you like in a two-minute quiz, so you start from a list of real options.

Finding something is rarely the hard part with friends. The group chat is: someone posts a link, three people react, nobody picks a night, and the weekend goes by. On R3ACH each of you swipes on your own time; when two of you land on the same event, that's a match, and the chat opens with the plan already in it. All that's left is to show up.

How do you make friends in Montreal?

Mostly through people you already know. When you swipe right on something, your friends see it, and when they swipe right, their friends see it too. The people you end up meeting at a show or a run are a friend's roommate or a coworker's sister, which is easier than walking into a room of strangers (and, for a lot of women, safer).

If you're new here and your contact list is short, start anyway. You can go to things alone, or send an invite to someone who isn't on the app yet. One friend who says yes is enough; their circle shows up from there.

Is it hard to make friends in Montreal?

It can be, and you're not imagining it. Friend groups here often form at cégep or university and then close up, and moving between French and English adds a step for newcomers on either side. Across Canada, about 13% of people say they feel lonely often or always, and almost 1 in 5 people aged 16 to 24 do (Canadian Mental Health Association, May 2026, citing Statistics Canada).

What tends to work is going back to the same kind of thing. The second time you see someone, saying hello takes no effort at all, which is why recurring formats get their own section below.

Is there an app to make friends in Montreal?

There are several, and they work in different ways. Some seat you at a dinner with strangers chosen by a personality test; others match you one-on-one, the way a dating app does. R3ACH starts from the friends you have and the events you'd go to anyway, then lets the circle grow through them.

It's also free: finding something to do and going with your friends costs nothing.

Low-pressure ways to meet people in Montréal

These formats repeat every week or every month, so you can try one, skip a few and come back. When they're listed, they show up in the R3ACH feed with the time, the place and a ticket link if one is needed.

Run clubs

Free group runs at a conversational pace, often with a coffee or a drink after. Clubs meet in different neighbourhoods on different weekdays, and the beginner-friendly ones say so in the listing.

Board-game cafés and bars

You pay for a table or a drink, the staff help you pick a game, and a box of cards gives a table of half-strangers something to do with their hands.

Chess and mahjong nights

Both are easy to join as a beginner. Someone usually teaches the rules at the start, and the game carries the conversation while you warm up.

Phone-free and sober nights

Phones often go into a pouch at the door, or the bar pours only alcohol-free drinks. With fewer distractions, talking to whoever is next to you feels normal.

Speed friending

Short, timed one-on-one chats that rotate around the room, like speed dating without the dating. It suits people who would rather meet ten people in an hour than one in an evening.