British Columbia Travel Guide

Stanley Park occupies a peninsula northwest of downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, covering roughly 405 hectares with water on three sides — Vancouver's largest urban park and its "green lung." It preserves one of the few remaining tracts of old-growth temperate rainforest in western Canada, with several-hundred-year-old western hemlock and Douglas fir, plus Beaver Lake, Lost Lagoon and a web of forest trails. The best-known feature is the Seawall, about 8.8 km around the peninsula with walking and cycling lanes kept separate, passing English Bay, Second Beach, Third Beach, the Lions Gate Bridge tunnel and Prospect Point, with views over the bridge, Burrard Inlet and the North Shore mountains. At Brockton Point on the east shore stand nine totem poles, among the most visited attractions in British Columbia. The poles are not Coast Salish work — they were collected from Kwakwaka'wakw, Haida and Nuxalk villages on Vancouver Island and the central coast from the 1920s; several originals have been repatriated and replaced with authorized replicas or newly commissioned works. The three cedar gateways beside them, People Among the People, were carved by Coast Salish artist Susan Point and installed in 2008. Also on site: the Vancouver Aquarium (opened 1956), the 1911 heritage pavilion, the Hollow Tree, and the Nine O'Clock Gun.

Butchart Gardens sits at Brentwood Bay on the southern tip of the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island, beside Tod Inlet, about 23 km and thirty minutes from downtown Victoria. In 1904 Jennie Butchart planted her first sweet peas in the spent limestone quarry of her husband Benjamin's cement works; a century on, the gardens cover 55 acres (22 hectares) with more than 900 plant varieties and were designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2004. The Sunken Garden is the centrepiece — the quarry pit terraced into flowerbeds with the Ross Fountain at its foot. The Italian, Rose and Japanese gardens and the Mediterranean garden opened in 2021 each have their own character, and 26 on-site greenhouses raise all the planting. The calendar drives the visit: tulips and cherries from March to May, close to 300 rose varieties from June to September, maples and chrysanthemums from late September, and Christmas lights through December and early January. Saturday-night fireworks and Wednesday-to-Sunday evening concerts make summer nights the island's best-known outdoor events.

Canada Place juts into Burrard Inlet from Vancouver's downtown waterfront, its five white sail-shaped roofs the most recognizable element of the skyline. Built as the Canada Pavilion for Expo 86, designed by Eberhard Zeidler's team with Teflon-coated fibreglass sails, it served as the international media centre during the 2010 Winter Olympics and had its sails replaced in kind in 2011. Today it houses the Vancouver Convention Centre, the Pan Pacific Hotel and the Canada Place cruise terminal — Alaska's homeport since 1986, with 40 years of operations and more than 10,000 sailings. The 2026 season set records: Disney Wonder opened on 26 February and Norwegian Encore closed on 13 October, with 358 ship calls and about 1.4 million passengers, up 19% and 18% on 2025. Port surveys found 76% of cruise passengers stay in Vancouver an extra 1.4 nights on average, spending about CAD 1,144 each. The Canadian Trail walkway along the east side links viewing platforms over the North Shore mountains, Stanley Park and the arriving ships, while inside you'll find FlyOver Canada and the Heritage Story installations.

Operated by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Capilano River Hatchery in North Vancouver lets visitors observe Pacific salmon migration, spawning and fry hatching up close through glass fish ladders and viewing windows. It is a free fish-viewing and science-learning site close to the city, near the Capilano River and Cleveland Dam.

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is one of Vancouver's classic nature spots, centred on a 137 m bridge swaying ~70 m above the Capilano River Canyon through old-growth rainforest. Newer 'Treetops Adventure' walkways and the thrilling glass 'Cliffwalk' arm let visitors experience the temperate rainforest at different heights. Indigenous totem poles and cultural displays add human depth. Just ~30 minutes from downtown, it is the easiest pristine-forest escape by the city.

Granville Island sits on the shore of False Creek south of downtown Vancouver. A former industrial area, it has transformed into a cultural peninsula full of art and food, one of Vancouver's most vibrant leisure spots. The heart of the island is the lively Public Market, brimming with fresh produce, cooked food, bakery, cheese and artisan foods. There are also many artist studios, craft shops, theaters, breweries and a children's playground, with gulls circling and street performers ongoing. You can arrive by mini-ferry across False Creek from downtown, enjoying the water view. Browsing the market, tasting food and watching crafts, Granville Island condenses Vancouver's creativity and living spirit.