Richmond date ideas

Eighteen indoor holes in Richmond, nine glowing under blacklight neon, plus Super Chexx bubble hockey when the scorecard gets personal.

Eighteen thousand square feet of real sand in Richmond, year-round, for when you'd rather spike than think about what's happening outside.

The 2010 Olympics left Richmond a world-class climbing wall and badminton courts, which is a small cheat code very few people are using.

Big-sky dyke-top walking where the Fraser meets the sea, with a 10-metre treehouse that grown adults are absolutely allowed to climb.

Four dead-flat kilometres pointing into the Salish Sea, Mount Baker on the horizon, and herons at eye level the whole way.

A cavernous 1894 salmon cannery on the Steveston waterfront, with modest admission, clattering machinery, and fish and chips on the dock after.

Richmond's surprise art date: free contemporary shows inside the Cultural Centre, with the Golden Village waiting nearby for soup dumplings.

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

Arguably Steveston's best patio, with a rotating tap list and a flight-friendly board for finding out whose beer takes are a dealbreaker.

Dim light, a sake flight, and small plates you have to negotiate over, which is how a low-key izakaya date runs three hours.

Seventy-five free oceanfront acres at Steveston's tip, aimed directly at the best sunset in Richmond.

A historic fishing village where you can buy salmon off the actual boat, then eat it on the boardwalk ten steps later.

Richmond's best Cantonese dim sum means har gow, siu mai and a 90-minute deadline that focuses the mind wonderfully.

Family-run since 2017, with South Indian dosas AND Hakka noodles AND momos, because choosing was always someone else's problem.

A Steveston gelato shop with flavours like Hong Kong milk tea and miso caramel, steps from the boardwalk.

All-you-can-eat yakiniku where you grill prime beef together on a two-hour clock, and 13,000 reviewers agree it was worth the lineup.

The Steveston heritage room that played Granny's Diner on Once Upon a Time, open at 9am for bennies, omelettes and chowder a block off the boardwalk.

Chilli paneer, gobi Manchurian and Hakka noodles in Richmond's warm Indo-Chinese room, plus handcrafted pizza if you need it.

A Richmond Korean izakaya running to 2am on weekends, because someone had to do it, and spicy chicken-cheese demanded a late-night home.

Richmond's modern Indian spot that quietly specializes in lamb and goat off the tandoor, instead of just butter chicken again.

A layered Uji-matcha parfait engineered for two spoons and one 'that bite was mine'.

A thirty-year-old Richmond warehouse hung with classic records and old instruments, serving crab cake bennies and waffles from 8am, seven days.

A bright Alexandra Road patisserie where a Mont Blanc and a chiffon cake photograph better than either of you.

A heritage-building institution on Moncton Street, plating Chef Sushila Narain's West Coast seafood in Richmond's prettiest fishing village.

Steveston's quietly famous little spa, voted best in Richmond seventeen years running, doing organic facials and Thai aromatherapy massage a block off the boardwalk.

Six flat kilometres of Richmond dyke where the sun actually falls into the sea, not behind a mountain.