Montreal is the city of festivals and summertime is when it really comes alive. But it’s not for everyone as being out in nature in one form or another can be just as rewarding, if not moreso. Some of the best weekends happen when you leave the city, pitch a tent, and spend a few days surrounded by music, art, nature, and late-night dance floors.
For the following events, I’ll focus on festivals within road-trip distance of Montreal, where you can go camping and enjoy the festival just a few steps away from your tent. The list is especially oriented toward electronic music, EDM, arts, wellness, and community-driven events. I’ve been to some of these and they’re phenomenal!
A quick note: Sometimes the exact details change, get updated, or simply weren’t available as of this writing. It’s best to check with each individual festival to get the latest, accurate details.
Atmos Fest
Dates: July 3-5, 2026
Location: Notre-Dame-de-Montauban, Quebec
Drive from Montreal: Approximately 3 hours
Expected attendance: Around 1,000
Years in operation: 5th year
About: Atmos Fest is one of the better Quebec options if you want electronic music, camping, and nature without driving all the way to Ontario or New Brunswick. It has three music stages, immersive scenography, a wellness area, on-site camping, forests, a lake, and a stage set directly on the sand. Atmos is close enough to Montreal for a manageable long weekend while still feeling like a proper getaway.
Best for: Techno, Afro tech, wellness, camping, and outdoor activities.
Instagram: @atmos_mtl
Camp Summerdaze
Dates: July 30-August 3, 2026
Location: Algonquin South, Ontario
Drive from Montreal: Approximately 4 hours (2 hours from Ottawa)
Expected attendance: Around 500
Years in operation: 11th year
About: Camp Summerdaze is built around camping, electronic music, wellness, art, and community. The festival takes place on 100 acres of private land. The owner of the land offers it for a weekend of music that’s mostly underground house, Afro house, deep house, minimal, tech, and bass. RVs, vanlifers, and people who want to sleep in their car are also welcome, but there’s limited availability. The event’s size gives it the potential to feel more intimate in a way that you don’t always get at large festivals.
Best for: With intimate summer-camp energy, the beach party is a place where you may undergo a peak experience.
Instagram: @campsummerdaze
Future Forest
Dates: August 6-10, 2026
Location: Fredericton area, New Brunswick
Drive from Montreal: Approximately 9 hours
Expected attendance: Around 2,000
Years in operation: This is the 12th edition
About: Future Forest is farther from Montreal, but it belongs on this list because it’s one of Eastern Canada’s strongest camping centric electronic music and arts festivals. The Future Forest setting, art installations, limited attendance, and off-grid energy make it feel intimate, creative, and deeply connected to the land.
Best for: Forest-based electronic music, immersive art, camping, workshops, yoga, and visual art.
Instagram: @futureforestfestival
AnathaFest
Dates: August 7-9, 2026
Location: Sainte-Catherine, Quebec
Drive from Montreal: Approximately 40 minutes
Expected attendance: Around 2,000
Years in operation: Since 2019
About: AnathaFest is a nature-focused experience with music, workshops, performances, wellness spaces, food trucks, accessibility, and a local market. They promote all ages so expect more children and families. There’s also a vanlife and RV add-on.
Best for: Music, wellness, art, movement, talks, and performances.
Instagram: @anathafest
Sonic Springs Music, Arts & Wellness Festival
Dates: August 13-17, 2026
Location: Fisher’s Paradise, Field, Ontario (along the Sturgeon River)
Drive from Montreal: Approximately 7 hours (5 hours from Ottawa)
Expected attendance: Around 900
Years in operation: 5-year anniversary edition in 2026
About: Sonic Springs Music, Arts & Wellness Festival is a gathering of music, immersive art, wellness, and nature. Weekend passes include music, workshops, activities, art, and camping. The setting gives it a nature-retreat feeling, especially with camping options that include forest camping.
Best for: Electronic music, camping, workshops, art, wellness, and riverside nature energy.
Instagram: @sonicspringsfestival
Black Rabbit Campout
Dates: September 4-7, 2026
Location: South Algonquin, Ontario
Drive from Montreal: Approximately 4 hours (2 hours from Ottawa)
Expected attendance: A few hundred
Years in operation: Started in 2019
About: Black Rabbit Campout is a smaller, grassroots camping festival connected to Ottawa’s underground dance scene. It’s a no-frills weekend of music, art, and camping. The sound leans heavily into electronic genres, including house, Afro house, Chicago house, deep house, melodic, progressive, minimal, bass house, tech-house, indie dance, techno, jungle, drum and bass, garage, and dub.
Best for: Ideal if you’re looking for a smaller event and if you’re into the Ottawa music scene along the lines of City at Night.
Instagram: @blackrabbitcampout
Harvest Festival
Dates: September 11-14, 2026
Location: Midlothian Castle / Screaming Heads, 981 Midlothian Road, near Burk’s Falls, Ontario
Drive from Montreal: Approximately 7 hours (5 hours from Ottawa)
Expected attendance: Around 2,000
Years in operation: Since 1998
About: Harvest Festival is one of Ontario’s legendary electronic music and arts gatherings. It has an almost cult-like following and after going there once, you’ll see why it’s so compelling. The festival blends electronic music, art, performance, community, and one of the most unusual festival settings in Canada. You can expect house, techno, bass music, ambient DJs, circus performance, multimedia artists, and a strong sense of community. The location is a standout feature. Dancing around giant surreal sculptures in the woods gives Harvest a truly unique and unforgettable atmosphere that most festivals can’t copy. Cool off in the “pond” and stay warm by the large bonfires. Also, by this point in the summer, don’t expect too many bugs.
Best for: House, techno, bass music, ambient DJs, circus performance, art, and community.
Important note: This is not the same as the Harvest Music Festival in Fredericton, NB. Yes, there are two music festivals in Eastern Canada with similar names but completely different set up.
Instagram: @harvestlovesyou
Festival Timeless
Dates: September 4-7, 2026
Location: Parc de la Chute, Sainte-Agathe-de-Lotbiniere, Quebec
Drive from Montreal: Approximately 3 hours
Expected attendance: At least 1,000
Years in operation: In it’s 8th year
About: Festival Timeless 2026 is a strong one to watch if your taste leans into psychedelic themes. The Festoche Bamboche site lists this as an 18+ festival, with RV options, and a shuttle bus from Parc La Fontaine in Montreal. Festival Timeless is one of the better Quebec options for people chasing psychedelic electronic music, bass music, techno, and camping in the same weekend. There’s also a waterfall to bring you even more excitement.
Best for: Psytrance, bass music, techno, experimental sounds, camping, swimming, workshops, and psychedelic festival culture
Website: festochebamboche.com (Their Instagram needs work LOL)
Festival Motel Calix
Dates: August 22-23, 2026
Location: Calixa-Lavallee, Quebec
Drive from Montreal: Approximately 1 hour
Expected attendance: A few hundred minimum
Years in operation: 2nd edition in 2026
About: Festival Motel Calix fits the music, arts, camping, and near-Montreal angle, especially for those open to independent Quebec music outside the EDM lane. This event gives you the countryside camping festival experience less than an hour from Montreal.
Best for: Local Quebec music, camping, independent music discovery, and a relaxed weekend atmosphere.
Instagram: @motelcalixfestival
L’OsstidBurn
Dates: June 17-22, 2026
Location: Quebec, with exact site details shared through the event community and ticketing process
Drive from Montreal: Usually within a few hours, depending on the year’s site
Expected attendance: Around 300
Years in operation: Since 2016
About: L’OsstidBurn is Quebec’s regional burn, inspired by Burning Man culture. It operates as a participatory art and camping event built around art installations, performances, sculptures, costumes, theme camps, and interactive participation.
There is no traditional main-stage festival structure. The experience is built by the people who attend, through art, sound camps, gifting, creative expression, and community participation. It’s also a Leave No Trace event, so self-reliance and respect for the site matter. L’OsstidBurn is probably the weirdest and most participatory event on this list, in the best possible way. It’s a place for people who want to be part of the experience rather than just watch it happen.
Best for: Burning Man-style art, theme camps, costumes, sound camps, participation, and radical self-expression.
Website (No Instagram): losstidburn.org
SideBurn
Dates: May 14-18, 2026
Location: Near Stone Mills, Ontario
Drive from Montreal: Approximately 4 hours
Expected attendance: Around 1,500
Years in operation: Since 2017
About: SideBurn is Ontario’s regional Burning Man-style event. It’s a vibrant arts, cultural, and camping event.
Like L’OsstidBurn, SideBurn is more about participation than passive entertainment. It brings together camping, art, community, gifting, self-expression, theme camps, and creative offerings. SideBurn is a good option if you are burn-curious and want a participatory arts and camping event within a reasonable drive from Montreal.
Best for: Ontario regional burn culture, camping, art, theme camps, and participatory experiences.
Instagram: sideburnregional
The Grand Convergence by Valhalla Project
Dates: TBD (Getting kinda late… LOL)
Location: Quebec, exact 2026 festival location to confirm
Drive from Montreal: To be confirmed
Expected attendance: Around 1,200
Years in operation: Reimagined from Valhalla Sound Circus (2012)
About: The Grand Convergence is the festival arm of Valhalla Project. It’s a camping experience with electronic music, live art, and community rituals. Valhalla Project grew out of Valhalla Sound Circus and focuses on music, art, sound, immersive design, and human connection. Musically, it leans into deep bass, techno, ambient, downtempo, psy, and experimental sounds. Valhalla has a strong identity. It mixes electronic music with mythology, immersive staging, projection, ritual, wellness, and underground sound-system culture.
Best for: Bass music, techno, psy, ambient, experimental music, immersive art, mythology-inspired staging, and sound-system culture.
Website (No Instagram): valhalla-project.ca
Quick Picks
Here’s a loosely chosen “best-of” list:
- Best close-to-Montreal option: Festival Motel Calix
- Best legendary electronic gathering: Harvest Festival
- Best close-knit wellness and electronic festival: Camp Summerdaze
- Best Ontario underground dance campout: Black Rabbit Campout
- Best arts-and-participation event: L’OsstidBurn or SideBurn
- Best psytrance-leaning option: Festival Timeless
- Best Quebec EDM camping option: Atmos Fest
- Best longer electronic music road trip: Future Forest
For Montrealers, the right festival depends on how far you want to drive and what kind of weekend you want. Atmos Fest, Festival Motel Calix, and Festival Timeless keep things relatively manageable in Quebec. Camp Summerdaze sits in a very manageable Ontario road-trip range. Harvest Festival, Sonic Springs Music, Arts & Wellness Festival, and Future Forest are bigger road-trip commitments. And if you want something stranger, more artistic, and more participatory, L’OsstidBurn and SideBurn are the ones to look at first.
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