Thinking of visiting Vancouver with kids? Our advice is definitely do it! We found Vancouver to be a super friendly city with lots of diverse family activities for everyone to enjoy. You’ll have so much fun exploring Vancouver with the family, and there’s a huge focus on the outdoors – so even when you’re not climbing mountains you can stroll around the harbourside, play in the many parks and enjoy the big open skies.

We flew to Vancouver with Air Canada from Sydney and it was an awesome trip where we had our first taste of Canadian friendliness, and the crew even gave Emmie a signed route map from the Captain. We stayed at the Opus Hotel in lovely rooms and a fabulous location on Davie Street (but be warned that the bathroom floor to ceiling windows are see-through, and yes that nice family eating dinner in the apartment across from you can see you naked on the loo!). If you’re thinking of exploring further, there are lot of things to do on Vancouver Island, just south of the city.

BEFORE YOU GO:
– make sure to get a VPN to protect your data and enable you to watch shows and sites from home
– Get your travel insurance – we love Cover-More

We had only few days to explore, and we definitely want to return and spend longer in Vancouver – but here are our favourite things to do in Vancouver with kids:

Our favourite things to do in Vancouver with kids:

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park

This beautiful park is only 20 minutes or so from the city on the free shuttle bus. There are some great little hikes around the forest and a cliff top walk along the side of the gorge and of course the suspension bridge itself. What we loved the most were the little hanging walkways throughout the park, with treehouses, suspended fairy lights and best of all, the guided walks where we learnt about the edible trees and the local nature. Emmie learnt about the First Nation inhabitants of this area, did a scavenger hunt and spotted birds and slugs, and loved the educational displays and interactive tools. You definitely need to schedule at least a few hours here so grab your tickets here and avoid the queues.

Walk along the harbour to Sunset Beach

We love roaming around and we took ourselves on a great little walk along the Harbour to Sunset Beach where Emmie playing on the shore and we explored the shoreline artwork. On the way we passed some awesome murals, played in a couple of parks, were amazed at the size of the seagulls here in Vancouver and just enjoyed the sunshine. Vancouver is so easy to navigate we found our way home easily through the city streets, stopping to buy some fresh strawberries and cherries at a farmers market. It was an awesome afternoon. You can find 14 easy walks and hiking trails around Vancouver here.

We also wandered around Gas Town and its cobblestone streets and Victorian buildings. There’s so much atmosphere here! There are quite a few walking tours in Vancouver to try, like this Secrets of Vancouver walking tour which tells you all about the city’s history…

FlyOver Canada

If you’ve been to Disneyland you’ll know all about the Soaring experiences and this is similar. You hang, suspended in the air in front of a huge screen so it actually feels like you’re flying over Canadian cities, mountains, lakes and wilderness, almost immersed in it all. There are a few surprises too which I’ll leave for you to discover. It’s a nice walk down to Canada Place and there’s lovey views out over the water. For more info, prices and bookings visit FlyOver Canada or check out this full day sight-seeing trip with a 35 minutes scenic flight fromVancouver to Victoria!

Check out all the activities you can do in Vancouver here:

Grouse Mountain

Grouse Mountain is only 15 minutes from downtown Vancouver and it’s a little slice of winter wonderland. It’s where Emmie first saw snow on the ground and it was a very special afternoon for her! There’s so much to do up on the mountain all year round, but we were there in winter and we went sledding and ice skated and had a huge lunch at the Altitudes Bistro where there’s an open fire and lovely views over the mountains. You can also ski and take a sleighride and hike along the tracks. Vancouver makes great wine too – I tasted some at Altitudes and make sure to try some local varieties while you’re in town. Check out this Grouse Mountain + Capilano Suspension Bridge Tour here and find more information about Grouse Mountain here.

Ice Hockey at Rogers Arena

We went to our first ice hockey game here in Vancouver to watch the mighty Canucks and it was lots of fun. There is a definitely atmosphere in the stadium and lots of music and dancing and entertainment in the breaks. Emmie loved waving her big Canucks hand around and cheering for the Canucks!

Science World

It’s so great that Vancouver is such a walkable city. We walked to and from Science World, and Emmie played in the park after the museum closed, plus we got to see a huge artwork of piled up cars at the intersection. The Museum was great but we’d cut the day too short and we didn’t have enough time to see everything. What we did see we loved – so many interactive exhibits and so much for kids to learn about their bodies, the environment, how to save energy and and water and what kids and adults can do to protect the planet. I’d definitely allocate a half day at least here. Check out prices, opening hours and exhibitions here.

Stanley Park Seawall Bike Ride

We hired bikes from Spokes Vancouver and rode around the seawall passing beautiful parks, the super cute Brockton Point lighthouse, the nine incredible First Nations Totum Poles and the Girl in a Wetsuit statue. It was such a fun ride and we went around icy patches, found huge hanging icicles and rode under the Lions Gate Bridge. There are lots of places to ride in Vancouver and you can download maps from the Spokes website – and you can get everything for family rides here – tandem bikes, child seats and trailers too.

Check out this five hour cycling tour around downtown Vancouver or this Stanley Park rainforest cycling tour, I definitely want to do this next time.

First Nations Totum Poles

These beautiful Totum Poles are in a a grassy area along the seawall route at Stanley Park. Each is accompanied by an explantation of where the totum pole came from and what the figures and carvings mean. It’s an excellent stop on your ride around the seawall.

A few things to know about Vancouver: people will be super friendly and will stop in the middle of the road for you to cross in front of them. They will chat to you and they genuinely seem to really love having you as a visitor. Enjoy the hospitality! The other thing is that since marijuana is legal here you will smell it as you wander, which was surprising to us and took a little getting used to, especially for Emmie.

We loved Vancouver and definitely hope to get back there as soon as we can for a longer stay and more time.