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Every evening of Carnaval two parades mark the end of the day’s festivities. The “Little (But Loud) Parade” is for adults, while “La petite fanfare du Bonhomme” gathers momentum throughout the Place de la Famille creating a ceremonial end to the day for children.

The world’s largest jazz festival takes over the concourse at Place des Arts in downtown Montréal, as well as neighborhood clubs, restaurants and parks. Each year several million visitors party for 11 days of free outdoor concerts and a wide variety of musical events involving inter-nationally renowned musicians.

From the third week of June to the end of July the skies over Old Montréal light up twice a week with these explosive theatrics. Held at La Ronde amusement park (see La Ronde Six Flags Amusement Park, Montréal), countries from around the world display their pyrotechnic talents.

A wildly eclectic music festival celebrating all French music. Over 500,000 people attend concerts by groups far from the mainstream of North American culture, with styles ranging from hip-hop to creole, rap, swing and, of course, traditional French songs.

The panoramic splendor of this slope beside Château Frontenac (see Les Glissades de la Terrasse-Dufferin) is the customary location for the world’s most scenic winter slide. If visitors refrain from participating in other Québec Winter Carnaval activities, happy to be just a spectator of all the fun, they should make an exception with this ride. Each year the organizers seem to build a better slide and with the St Lawrence River spread out before you, it is a beautiful and exhilarating experience.

The anticipation grows throughout Québec City each February as the winter carnival organization builds its captivating Ice Palace. Over 6,000 frozen blocks of ice are sculpted by an army of artisans into a dreamy castle, complete with turrets, drawbridge, and a stage for a sound and light show. Québec’s magnificent temporary monument to winter sits appropriately across from the most serious edifice in the area – the Parliament Buildings.

Set on the expansive Plains of Abraham, Québec’s Winter Carnival team of 1,500 volunteers builds a fantasyland of ice and snow. Designers assemble a range of energy-filled games and contests across the city’s landscape that keep body temperatures high, no matter what the thermometer outside is reading.

Outside the city limits, the fun continues with more serious winter sports. Downhill and cross-country skiing competitions are held in the Jacques-Cartier area of Lac Beauport, 20 minutes from Québec City.

Goosebumps abound at this zany Plains of Abraham demonstration. Teams of snow bathers dressed only in bathing suits compete to see which team can conquer the freezing exposure by lying in the snow. Onlookers of every age are guaranteed laughs, as 75 courageous men and women brave the cold.

Each February, the largest youth hockey tournament in the world brings over 100 teams from more than a dozen countries to face off against each other in Québec’s Colisée arena. More than 644 players have had professional hockey careers after playing in this tournament, including Wayne Gretzky. The building itself is called “the house Jean Béliveau built” by locals, referring to the ice hockey legend who once played junior hockey here.