03 About Richmond
An island city shaped by the river
Almost all of Richmond sits on islands in the Fraser River delta. Lulu Island holds most homes, shops and farms, while Sea Island to the north is home to Vancouver International Airport. The land is flat and low, protected by dykes that double as some of the best walking and cycling routes in Metro Vancouver.
The Musqueam and other Coast Salish peoples fished and harvested here long before settlers arrived. Farming and salmon canning drove growth in the late 1800s, and Steveston became one of the busiest cannery towns on the coast. After the bridges and tunnel connected Richmond to the rest of the region, farmland gave way to suburbs, and from the 1980s onward many newcomers from Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan helped turn the city centre into a regional destination for Asian food and shopping.
How the city fits together
Richmond’s neighbourhoods are easy to read on a map:
- City Centre and Golden Village line No. 3 Road and the Canada Line, with malls, towers, the Richmond Olympic Oval and some of the best Chinese restaurants in North America.
- Steveston is the historic fishing village in the southwest corner, with a working harbour and two national historic sites.
- Terra Nova in the northwest is quiet and residential, with a large rural park on the river.
- Sea Island holds YVR, a designer outlet mall, the wartime village of Burkeville and Iona Beach.
- East Richmond is farm country, with blueberry fields, cranberry bogs and the row of places of worship on No. 5 Road.
Tips for visiting
Come hungry and plan your day around a meal. Weekend lunch is the classic time for dim sum, and the malls around Aberdeen station are busiest in the early evening. For something slower, take a bus to Steveston and walk the waterfront to Garry Point Park, or rent a bike and follow the West Dyke Trail between Steveston and Terra Nova. Because the airport is so close, Richmond is also a practical base for a first or last night in the region, with many hotels near the Canada Line.
