Hop Out to 'Beer Island'

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

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

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

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

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

Level 9 of the Central Library has a free rooftop garden with downtown skyline views. Most Vancouverites have no idea it exists.

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

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

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

West Vancouver's front lawn on Burrard Inlet: 24 hectares of beach pointing straight at Lions Gate Bridge, free, and inexplicably better at golden hour.

A fern lined creek trail running straight through Coquitlam's tower district, with a volunteer salmon hatchery halfway along it.

Six flat kilometres along Burrard Inlet to a sandy beach at Old Orchard Park. Most first-timers never make it.

A free Fraser River stroll past the wave-roofed Olympic Oval, with interactive bobsled simulators waiting on the first Thursday.

Port Moody's original main street: false fronts, vintage shops, painted utility boxes and a 1908 railway station at the end of it.