Stanley Park

Frommer's Review

The green jewel of Vancouver, Stanley Park is a 400-hectare (1,000-acre) rainforest jutting out into the ocean from the edge of the busy West End. Exploring the second-largest urban forest in Canada is one of Vancouver's quintessential experiences.

The park, created in 1888, is filled with towering western red cedar and Douglas fir, manicured lawns, flower gardens, placid lagoons, and countless shaded walking trails that meander through it all. The famed seawall runs along the waterside edge of the park, allowing cyclists and pedestrians to experience the magical interface of forest, sea, and sky. One of the most popular free attractions in the park is the collection of totem poles at Brockton Point, most of them carved in the 1980s to replace the original ones that were placed in the park in the 1920s and 1930s. The area around the totem poles features open-air displays on the Coast Salish First Nations and a small gift shop/visitor information center.

The park is home to lots of wildlife, including beavers, coyotes, bald eagles, blue herons, cormorants, trumpeter swans, brant geese, ducks, raccoons, skunks, and gray squirrels imported from New York's Central Park decades ago and now quite at home in the Pacific Northwest. (No, there are no bears.) For directions and maps, brochures, and exhibits on the nature and ecology of Stanley Park, visit the Lost Lagoon Nature House (tel. 604/257-8544; open 10am-7pm July 1 to Labour Day, weekends only outside this period; free admission). On Sundays they offer Discovery Walks of the park. Equally nature-focused but with way more wow is the Vancouver Aquarium. The Stanley Park's Children's Farm (tel. 604/257-8530) is a petting zoo with peacocks, rabbits, calves, donkeys, and Shetland ponies. Next to the petting zoo is Stanley Park's Miniature Railway (tel. 604/257-8531), a diminutive steam locomotive that pulls passenger cars on a circuit through the woods.

Swimmers head to Third Beach and Second Beach, the latter with an outdoor pool beside English Bay. For kids there's a free Spray Park near Lumberman's Arch, where they can run and splash through various water-spewing fountains. Perhaps the best way to explore the park is to rent a bike or in-line skates, and set off along the seawall. If you decide to walk, remember the free shuttle bus that circles the park every 15 minutes, allowing passengers to alight and descend at most of the park's many attractions. The wonderful horse-drawn carriage ride operated by AAA Horse & Carriage Ltd. (tel. 604/681-5115; www.stanleypark.com) is one of the most enjoyable ways to tour the park. Carriage tours depart every 20 minutes mid-March through October from the lower aquarium parking lot on Park Drive near the Georgia Street park entrance. The ride lasts an hour and covers portions of the park that many locals have never seen. Rates are C$27 (£13) for adults, C$25 (£12) for seniors and students, C$15 (£7.50) for children 3 to 12.

Of the three restaurants located in the park, the best is the Fish House in Stanley Park, where you can have lunch, afternoon tea, or dinner.

Stanley (Fun) Park -- Stanley Park is the scene of several yearly events that have become part of the collective consciousness of Vancouverites. Every December, the Miniature Railway becomes the Bright Nights Christmas Train and runs through a forest illuminated with thousands of festive lights. In October, the train is transformed into the Halloween Ghost Train, with actors portraying vampires and ghouls scaring delighted passengers as the train puffs through the forest. From June to August, Dance at Dusk takes place Monday through Wednesday (on good-weather evenings) at 7 to 9:30pm, near Ceperley Playground's red fire engine. No partner is required, all ages are welcome, instruction is provided, and it's free. Summer is also the time to enjoy Theatre Under the Stars, a Stanley Park tradition at the Malkin Bowl since 1934. In mid-July thousands of Vancouverites participate in the Walk With the Dragon festival, following a giant Chinese dragon along the entire length of the seawall. See the Stanley Park website (www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/parks) for dates and details.

A Mighty Wind -- In the early morning hours of December 15, 2006, a major windstorm struck Stanley Park and left, after 2 short hours of gale-force winds, a level of devastation that had not been seen since Hurricane Frieda in 1962. The gusting winds blew down an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 trees, mostly on the west side, leveling more than 41 hectares (100 acres) of the park's 243 hectares (600 acres) of forest. Large waves and falling trees also damaged sections of the seawall. Restoration costs have been put at C$12 million (£6 million). It will be decades before Stanley Park's forest regenerates to anything like what it was.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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