Canada’s best nightlife cities were ranked and Montreal did a lot worse than you think

Just about everyone in Montreal has heard the city referred to as the nightlife capital of Canada. But does that claim still hold ground?

A recent report from digital entertainment platform Spin Casino examined nightlife across Canadian cities, measuring the cost of a typical night out, the number of entertainment options available, and how safe people feel walking around after dark. Once results were tallied, each city was given a score out of 100.

The results might surprise you.

Victoria, BC took the top spot, and it’s not especially close.

The city hosts around 11,500 concerts, shows and festivals every year (one of the highest counts on the list) and has up to 20 clubs within walking distance of each other downtown. A typical night out there runs about $59, which is reasonable for everything on offer. The one knock on Victoria is its safety score of 60.6 out of 100, which is actually on the lower end of the top 10.

Quebec City came in second, largely on the strength of its safety score of 77 out of 100 (the highest of any city in the study). A night out there costs just under $54, making it one of the most affordable cities on the list as well.

Guelph, of all places, landed third, matching Victoria’s 11,500 annual events while keeping costs under $60. Ottawa rounded out the top four as one of the cheapest cities to go out in at just $53.70 a night.

So, what about Montreal?

It came in eighth. The city scored 67.2 out of 100 for safety and offers around 5,100 entertainment options annually, which sounds like a lot until you compare it to the cities ahead of it. A typical night out here runs $57.60. It’s not the cheapest on the list, but not the most expensive either.

The CEO of Spin Casino weighed in on the broader findings, noting that while younger Canadians tend to go out less than previous generations, cities with active entertainment scenes still manage to draw crowds. “Victoria pulls people out because there’s always a concert or show happening,” they said. “It’s not surprising that cities with nothing but a few chain restaurants struggle to get anyone under 30 through the door on a Friday night.”

The full results are available on Spin Casino’s website.

And if it’s any consolation for Montrealers, Toronto didn’t even crack the top 10.