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The best NHL ambience in 2026-2027 is found in Montreal, New York, Edmonton, Winnipeg, the Twin Cities and Salt Lake City, plus Helsinki and Dusseldorf for the league’s four European games. Winnipeg hosts the Heritage Classic on October 25, 2026, and Salt Lake City the Winter Classic on December 31.
Every NHL season, the league’s 32 teams play 82 games each, split between their home arena and the 31 others across Canada and the United States. That spread gives hockey fans plenty of cities to visit if they want to soak up some NHL ambience.
You don’t need a ticket to the game, either. A Canadian-themed pub in Manhattan, a packed sports bar in St. Paul, or a watch party outside the arena can deliver just as much atmosphere for a fraction of the price.
Below are 8 destinations where you can enjoy the hockey atmosphere with fellow fans during the 2026-2027 season, along with how to get there on points. If you’re still shopping for a card to fund the trip, start with our roundup of the best credit cards in Canada.
Our first pick works for more reasons than hockey. New York City is home to the New York Rangers, and the in-arena experience at Madison Square Garden ranks among the loudest in the league.
However, Rangers tickets also sit among the priciest in the NHL. New York Islanders tickets at UBS Arena in Elmont generally cost less, although Elmont sits outside the city and offers far less to do around the rink. For a full breakdown of what a seat actually costs, see our guide on how to get NHL tickets at a good price.
If you’re not heading to the game, head to The Canuck instead. This Canadian-themed sports bar at 202 Ninth Avenue in Chelsea puts NHL games on every screen, poutine on the menu, and Caesars and Canadian beer at the bar.
Under the current NHL format, the Rangers meet the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs three times each per season. Check the schedule before you book, since only some of those meetings land at Madison Square Garden.
For fans coming from Montreal or Toronto, several Canadian airlines fly to New York, including Air Canada, Porter, and WestJet.
Next on our list is Montreal, Quebec, home of the Montreal Canadiens. Founded in December 1909, the Canadiens are the oldest continuously operating professional hockey club in the world. They also play in the largest arena in the league: the Bell Centre seats 21,105 for hockey.
Finding somewhere to watch the game is easy here. Every sports bar in the city tunes in when the Canadiens play, especially on a rivalry night against Toronto or Boston.
Whether you get inside the Bell Centre or take in the atmosphere elsewhere in town, Montreal belongs on any hockey fan’s list. Furthermore, it’s a winter city with plenty to do between games: the Old Port, shopping on rue Sainte-Catherine, Montreal bagels, poutine, Schwartz’s deli, and a deep local beer scene.
Back in the United States, Minnesota’s Twin Cities area (St. Paul and Minneapolis) is home to the Minnesota Wild and one of the rowdiest fan bases in the league. The Wild play out of Grand Casino Arena in downtown St. Paul, renamed in September 2025 after 25 years as the Xcel Energy Center.
Minnesota has produced more NHL players than any other American state. In total, 311 players born in Minnesota have reached the league, well ahead of second-place Massachusetts at 229. As a result, hockey here is less a pastime than a default setting.
To get started, head to Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub at 258 West 7th Street, around the corner from the arena. Named after the former Minnesota North Stars defenceman, it’s covered in hockey memorabilia and has screens pointing in every direction.
Back in Canada, the Edmonton Oilers draw one of the loudest home crowds in the league.
In Edmonton, Alberta, the Oilers arena sits inside the ICE District, a downtown block lined with hotels, restaurants, and bars. Because everything is within walking distance, you can join the party when you want it and grab a bite or head back to your room when you don’t.
While you’re in Alberta, you can also head south to catch the Calgary Flames. With a few extra days, the Rocky Mountains are within reach: Banff, Jasper National Park, and the scenery in between.
Bring your skates, too. Edmonton has more than 100 outdoor community rinks, most of them built and maintained by neighbourhood community league volunteers.
Winnipeg, Manitoba is home to the Winnipeg Jets, and it hosts the biggest outdoor date on the Canadian calendar this season. The Jets face the Montreal Canadiens in the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic on Sunday, October 25, 2026, at Princess Auto Stadium.
This provincial capital is known for its music scene and its cold winters, so pack a real jacket. The Jets play their regular season games at Canada Life Centre downtown, which puts plenty of bars and restaurants within walking distance of the rink.
For something further off the map, you can extend a Manitoba trip north to Churchill for the northern lights and, in season, polar bears.
Salt Lake City hosts the other marquee outdoor game of the season. The 2027 Discover NHL Winter Classic takes place on December 31, 2026, at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah campus, with the Utah Mammoth facing the Colorado Avalanche. It’s the first outdoor NHL game ever played in Utah.
The Mammoth are only in their third season. The franchise moved from Arizona in 2024, played a first year as Utah Hockey Club, then took the Mammoth name in 2025. Despite being the new team in the league, it has sold out 85 consecutive home games at the Delta Center.
Whether you go for the Winter Classic or for a regular season game, expect a crowd that still treats every night as an occasion. Utah also makes a convenient base: Colorado and Nevada sit close enough to add the Colorado Avalanche or the Vegas Golden Knights to the same trip.
Our last two picks take you across the Atlantic. During the 2026-2027 season, the NHL plays four regular season games in Europe: two in Finland and two in Germany.
The Finnish leg comes first. The Carolina Hurricanes and the Seattle Kraken meet at Veikkaus Arena in Helsinki on November 12 and November 14, 2026.
Helsinki rewards a few extra days. For example, you can visit the Temppeliaukio Church, carved directly into solid rock, book a proper Finnish sauna, and follow it with a cold sea plunge if you’re brave.
The German games follow in December. The Chicago Blackhawks and the Ottawa Senators play in Dusseldorf on December 18 and December 20, 2026, right in the middle of Christmas market season.
Dusseldorf’s Old Town (Altstadt) calls itself the longest bar in the world, with roughly 260 pubs, bars, and restaurants packed into half a square kilometre. Finding somewhere to watch a game, or to celebrate after one, will not be your problem.
Getting to any of these cities costs less with the right travel credit card and rewards program. If you want a line-by-line look at what a Canadian game night actually costs, we broke it down for a night at a Toronto game.
Read on to learn how to cover the flights and the hotel with points.
One way to cut the cost of the flight is with airline loyalty programs.
For Canadians heading to the destinations above, we recommend looking at programs like:
Earning enough points for an award flight in any of these programs is fairly easy, thanks to co-branded credit cards like the American Express® Aeroplan®* Card, the WestJet RBC® World Elite Mastercard, BMO VIPorter Mastercard®*, United® MileagePlus® Neo World Elite® Mastercard, and more.
Plus, many of these airline loyalty programs are transfer partners with accessible rewards programs in Canada like American Express Membership Rewards and RBC Avion Rewards.
With these programs, you can earn with a whole range of Membership Rewards credit cards or RBC Avion Rewards credit cards and then transfer your MR points or RBC Avion Rewards points to some of the airline loyalty programs mentioned.
Additionally, depending on where you’d like to connect and how ambitious your travel plans are, you can build a trip that stops in one city on the way to another by using Aeroplan’s stopover feature, which adds an extra destination on your way to just about any NHL city.
Another way to cut the cost of an NHL trip is with a flexible travel points program like TD Rewards, BMO Rewards, or Scotiabank’s Scene+.
For example, you can cover part of the trip with Scene+ points, earned with credit cards like the Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite +* Card. Because it charges no foreign transaction fees, it works particularly well for the American and European destinations on this list.
If you’d rather apply for a travel card with better odds of approval at the same income level, the CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card and the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card are the two we’d compare it against first.
With your accumulated points, you can book travel through Scene+ Travel, powered by Expedia and cover the cost at a rate of 1 Scene+ point = 1 cent.
You can also make eligible travel purchases directly on your Scene+ credit card and apply your points against those travel expenses later, at the same rate. This option is particularly useful on a hockey road trip, since it also offsets train tickets, bus fares, and car rentals.
Plus, it’s easy to earn Scene+ points, and the card carries travel perks that make the trip cheaper and more comfortable. That includes travel insurance coverage, car rental insurance, and free airport lounge access.
Flexible travel points like Scene+ points also work well on accommodations, especially since they cover Airbnb stays and small boutique hotels that hotel loyalty points can’t touch.
Now, if you hold Marriott Bonvoy points, Hilton Honors points, or any other hotel loyalty currency, those can cover a night or two during your hockey trip as well.
Also, don’t forget that American Express Membership Rewards transfers to both Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors. In other words, you can earn Membership Rewards points with an eligible credit card, then move them to your hotel account to cover a few nights in one of the cities above.
This NHL season will produce plenty of memorable nights, and the best seat is still inside the building. However, if a ticket isn’t in the budget, the atmosphere outside the arena, in a hockey bar, or in a city you’ve never visited holds up well as an alternative.
We hope this list gives you somewhere to start, whether that’s an outdoor game in Winnipeg in October, the Winter Classic in Salt Lake City on New Year’s Eve, or a Christmas market in Germany between two games. If you’re heading abroad, it’s also worth getting an eSIM from a reputable vendor like Holafly, Saily, or Airalo so you can stay connected from just about anywhere.
Finally, bring a travel card that earns on the trip and protects you during it. The four below are the ones we’d shortlist for a hockey road trip. To keep up with the current welcome offers on all of them, subscribe to our newsletter.
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