Metro Vancouver city guides

One region, 21 very different places

Metro Vancouver is a federation of 21 municipalities, one electoral area and one treaty First Nation, spread between the Coast Mountains, the Fraser River delta and the US border. Each runs its own city hall, parks and festivals, and each has a distinct personality: the downtown towers and beaches of Vancouver, the SkyTrain town centres of Burnaby, the night markets and dikes of Richmond, the mountain trails of the North Shore, the farmland and wineries of Langley, and quiet seaside villages such as Lions Bay, Belcarra and Bowen Island.

The region sits on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of many Coast Salish peoples, including the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations in the Vancouver area, and the Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Tsawwassen and other First Nations further east and south.

How to use these guides

Every city guide starts with quick facts and an overview, then covers the top things to do, food and drink, where to stay, getting around and what it is like to live there. Where we have neighbourhood guides, you will find them linked from each city, along with places to eat, hotels and upcoming events from our listings. Facts such as population and the mayor are checked against official sources and dated on each page.