Sports Travel

Seeing the Canadiens in Montreal: hockey's cathedral

Twenty-four Stanley Cups, the loudest anthem in sports, and a building that treats hockey like religion. The visitor's guide to a Habs game at the Bell Centre.

By the Dayfari editors · 2026-09-28 · Montreal, Canada

There is hockey, and then there is hockey in Montreal. The Canadiens have won more championships than any other NHL team, the Bell Centre packs in over 21,000 fans a night, and the whole city treats game day like a civic event.

Even if you're not a Habs fan, you should see a game here once. It's the closest thing hockey has to a cathedral, and the building knows it.

The building and the ritual

The Bell Centre sits right downtown, connected to the metro (Lucien-L'Allier station) and the underground city, which means you can do the whole night without going outside in January. The banners hang everywhere: retired numbers, championship years, the ghosts of the Forum era.

Photo: Kristina Servant from Montreal, Canada · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The pre-game ritual is the show. The lights drop, the anthem singer steps out, and 21,000 people sing along in French and English. Visitors always remark on it; locals never get tired of it. Be in your seat early. This is not the game to stroll in late to.

Where to sit

The 'whites' (the lower bowl) put you in the thick of it; the 'reds' and 'blues' upstairs are where the chanting starts. The ends behind the goals are the loudest sections, and the atmosphere in the upper deck during a playoff push is genuinely deafening.

Photo: William Notman & Son · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Any seat works, honestly. This is one of those buildings where the crowd is part of the architecture. But if you can swing the lower bowl once, do it: the speed of the game at ice level is startling.

Make a night of it

Downtown Montreal around the arena is built for this: the sports bars on Crescent Street, the old port a short walk away, Schwartz's Deli for the smoked meat pilgrimage (go at lunch, the line is real).

Photo: Diliff · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Pair the game with the city's legendary food scene and you've got one of the great sports weekends in North America. Check our Canadiens page for the schedule, and our Bell Centre guide for transit, seating sections, and the full visitor rundown.