Lift Off Coal Harbour in a Seaplane

A dead-level wetland trail at the foot of Burke Mountain with herons, eagles, kingfishers and Golden Ears framed across the Pitt River.

Fifty-five acres of themed gardens with a hedge maze designed, architecturally and on purpose, for getting pleasantly lost together.

Former basalt quarry turned sunken flower garden, with a stone bridge that has starred in approximately every Vancouver wedding photo.

Ten minutes through never-logged Douglas firs to warm granite bluffs above the Point Atkinson lighthouse and Howe Sound.

English Bay's quieter cousin at the mouth of False Creek, where the ferries, the mountains, and the freighters all line up.

One of the most authentic Japanese gardens outside Japan, and the path narrows to single-file, which is actually the point.

The one Vancouver sunset where the sand goes on forever, the crowds go home, and the sky takes its sweet time.

Canada's longest pier stretches 470 metres over Semiahmoo Bay, Mount Baker glowing across the water like it's showing off.

The highest point in Stanley Park, straight down the Lions Gate Bridge, and an ice-cream stand to stand at while you stare.

Vancouver's best kite-flying lawn sits between Kits Beach and Granville Island, with a postcard skyline view and zero admission.

A flat mirror-still lake loop that grows 700,000 lights every November and calls itself Lights at Lafarge.

A pocket botanical garden south of downtown Langley with a little tropical greenhouse, a gazebo, and benches made for lingering.

A warm glass dome full of 500-plus plants, koi, and free-flying parrots atop the city's highest point, for a few dollars.

Burnaby Mountain's Ainu totems face a golden Burrard Inlet at sunset while 900 rose bushes perfume the whole situation in summer.