Things to do in Riley Park and Cambie Village, Vancouver

Someone looked at an old basalt quarry and saw a flower garden, and the Quarry Gardens are the result, free to enter. A winding path drops into the sunken bowl past flower beds, a stream and a stone bridge that our listing reckons has turned up in a lot of Vancouver wedding photos. Step a few paces off the bridge and you'll find angles that aren't already in someone's album. Climb back out and the lookout gives you the skyline and the North Shore mountains. Our take: go in late afternoon, when the light does half the work.

Bloedel Conservatory crowns the hill, a glass dome holding 500-plus plants, koi and free-flying parrots, so it's warm and humid on days when the rest of the city is neither. Check admission and seasonal hours before you go. Over on Oak Street, VanDusen's Festival of Lights runs from November 27, 2026 to January 3, 2027 with timed tickets, $28 for an adult and $18 for seniors and youth on the official ticketing page. Our listing counts over a million lights, reflecting ponds and a Christmas-tree forest that changes colour with the music. Bring gloves, because holding hands is easier when you can feel your fingers.

Les Faux Bourgeois, at East 15th and Fraser, is the French bistro its regulars call FauxBo, and our listing calls its reservation famously tough. The grand plats run from moules frites to roasted halibut, a bistro main and a glass of wine runs $53 to $72, and it's closed Mondays. A few doors along East 15th, the Lion's Den Cafe does jerk chicken, oxtail and curry goat in big portions; our listing has it closed Monday and Tuesday and shutting by 8pm on other days (4pm on Sunday), so go early.

Maria Celeste on Fraser is a 36 seat Portuguese tasca from brothers Justin and Cristian Isidro, both Kissa Tanto alumni, with hand pressed tiles, an all-Portuguese wine list and a menu that moves with the market. A shared petisco and a main each runs $27 to $67 before wine, and it's dinner only, Tuesday to Saturday. Let the server choose the bottle. Neither of you is going to bluff your way through an all-Portuguese list.

Hillcrest Aquatic Centre is Vancouver's biggest pool, per our listing, and a legacy of the 2010 Olympics, with a lazy river, a leisure pool, race lanes, a hot tub, a steam room and a dry sauna. Check drop-in rates and the indoor schedule before you go, and aim for off-peak. Race a length if you must, then settle the result in the hot tub.

In the same complex, the Vancouver Curling Club runs one-hour Try Curling sessions for one to four people at its Hillcrest and Marpole locations, so a double date works; check the price when you book on the club's site. Our listing says the Hillcrest sheets are the ones used at the 2010 Olympic Games, a fact worth keeping ready for when your rock drifts sideways. If you'd rather stay dry and warm, Bloedel Conservatory is up the hill.