Follow the Salmon Up Hoy Creek

Free Tuesday-night movies on a forty-foot screen in Stanley Park's Ceperley Meadows: picnic at sunset, film under the stars.

Two free kilometres of Coal Harbour glamour: the Olympic Cauldron, a LEGO-look orca, floatplanes, and zero spent.

A free oceanside amphitheatre at Kits Beach, been running since the 1930s, still better than most paid dates.

One of the world's only steam clocks, cobblestones, gas lamps, and Vancouver's full origin story for the cost of absolutely nothing.

Fourteen three-metre bronze men frozen in full hysterical laughter, open 24/7, and required by inscription to bring you joy.

300-plus murals mapped free on the VMF app around Main Street. A treasure hunt with very large prizes.

A free Thursday movie on a 33-foot screen on the downtown Art Gallery plaza, with activations from 5pm and the film at dusk.

Two five-metre house sparrows stand in Olympic Village square, free to visit, and exactly as uncanny as that sounds.

Free colour-coded trails through 5,000 hectares of Douglas firs and old growth that predates Canada. UBC's lab, your date.

Mount Pleasant's successor to the Mural Fest street party: car-free Main Street, four free music stages, local vendors and food trucks for one August Saturday.

'Beer Island' is a one-acre tidal wildlife refuge off the False Creek seawall that you reach via stepping stones and costs nothing.

The ticketed garden's free sibling: koi, lily ponds, a pagoda, and a full afternoon in Chinatown for $0.

North Vancouver's Friday ritual: food trucks, live bands and a beer garden on Burrard Inlet, with the downtown skyline across the water.

A gentle 8 km out-and-back along the Fraser River from Fort Langley village to the original 1827 fort site.