Wine Flight at Township 7 Vineyards

Harbour Air's floatplane throttles up across Coal Harbour, climbs over Lions Gate and Stanley Park, and lands back on the water like it weighs nothing.

Tiny rainbow ferries, five-minute crossing, Granville Island oysters, and a skyline that glows on the way home.

After 6pm all summer, the Grouse gondola costs $34: ride up at golden hour, watch the sun set over the city from 1,100 metres, drinks on the Altitudes patio.

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

The cliche that earned it. Eight free volleyball nets, a driftwood log, and English Bay going full pink.

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

The only patio right on Jericho Beach, upstairs at the sailing centre, with burgers, cold local beer, and a full-frontal view of the downtown skyline at sunset.

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

West Coast seafood and a marina-view patio at the toe of Horseshoe Bay, two minutes from the ferry ramp.

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

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

Grab Denman Street takeout, claim a driftwood log, and watch the sun drop behind the North Shore mountains. Free, always.

Stanley Park's west-facing sandy cove, where everyone on the seawall cycles past while you watch the real show.

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