Arts & Culture
VanDusen Festival of Lights
Over a million lights, reflecting ponds, and a Christmas-tree forest that changes colour to music in a botanical garden.
VanDusen Botanical Garden
More infoArts & Culture
Over a million lights, reflecting ponds, and a Christmas-tree forest that changes colour to music in a botanical garden.
VanDusen Botanical Garden
More infoVanDusen drapes its botanical garden in over a million lights and dares you to walk through without stopping every ten steps for a photo. You will fail. The reflecting ponds double the glow, and the Christmas-tree forest changes colour in time with the music, absurd until you're standing there going 'oh.' It is cold, which is a feature: cold makes the warm-drink stops mandatory and is excellent for hand-holding.
Buy a timed-entry ticket online in advance (it's date-stamped and weekends fill). Park in the VanDusen lot off Oak St and W 37th, or skip the hunt and bus it. Do the loop slowly, the dancing Christmas-tree forest set to music and the mirror-still reflecting pond are the two must-stop photo spots, so save battery. Grab a hot apple cider or hot chocolate partway to keep the mittens off. Pressed for time? The front half around the lake hits most of the marquee displays in about 30 minutes. Don't miss the Living Wall and the tunnel of lights near the end.
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