Stanley Park
Adjacent to downtown Vancouver

• Old-growth Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and western redcedar;
• A few minutes from downtown via bicycle, bus, taxi, or car;
• Allow 2 hours on the trails;
• Easy walking on improved trails;
• Wheelchair accessible;
• Accessible year round.

Stanley Park has long offered Vancouver residents the unique experience of old-growth trees right next to a major urban downtown core. Comprised mainly of Douglas-fir, western redcedar, and western hemlock, along with lesser amounts of Sitka spruce, grand fir, bigleaf maple, and red alder, the forest features many giant trees in excess of 1 m in diameter and 60 m in height. Smaller natural vegetation, such as red elderberry, red huckleberry, salal, and many types of ferns, further enhance this amazing environment.

Animals include perching birds such as wrens, chickadees, towhees, sparrows, bushtits, crows, and woodpeckers. Many waterfowl over-winter in Lost Lagoon. Native Douglas squirrels and introduced gray squirrels are common. Although extensive logging has occurred in the past, this urban forest is now intensively managed to maintain its wilderness feel. All facilities for a comfortable outing are available in the park.

Accessed by trails such as Rawlings, Bridle Path, Lees, Tatlow Walk, and Lovers Walk, the interior of the park is where the old-growth trees are best preserved. All these routes provide easy walking on wide, smooth trails that are also great for jogging and, in some cases, cycling. Sign posts on trails throughout the forest give you directions. Beaver Lake, accessible by the Lake Trail, offers a wonderful place to relax on a park bench and enjoy a coastal wetland lake ecosystem. The lake is rapidly filling in with vegetation and is covered with lily pads. Marshy areas, dominated by red alder, salmonberry, skunk cabbage, hardhack, and cattail, circle the perimeter. Ducks are common.

Numerous Central Coast Salish native villages existed in and near Stanley Park. One was located at Lumberman’s Arch in the park, five were located on the north shore of Burrard Inlet, and another was located across English Bay at Kitsilano Beach.

Stanley Park is the main city park in Vancouver, located adjacent to downtown. It is also linked to North and West Vancouver via the Lions Gate Bridge.

You can get to the park from the downtown area by bicycle, bus, taxi, or car in a few minutes (check our transport links). Head for the Second Beach area if you are driving or in a taxi. If travelling by bus (catch the #23, 35, 135, or 136), a bus loop is adjacent to Lost Lagoon, just east of Second Beach. From either Second Beach or Lost Lagoon, walk north into the forest. Visit the Lost Lagoon Nature House adjacent to the bus loop for directions or to find out more about the park and local ecosystems. Call Vancouver Parks and Recreation for more information at 604-257-8400.