Vancouver

Top 10 Places for Family Fun

Here’s the thing about making a family vacation successful: you’ve got to wear the kids out. Channel their infinite amounts of energy into having fun rather than complaining, and you’ll all be in vacation- land bliss. Luckily, Vancouver has an endless number of family-friendly activities that will work your children’s minds and bodies in the fun category. Here are 10 classic examples of great family activities in Vancouver.

  1. Take the Grouse Mountain Skyride to the top of the mountain and enjoy restaurants with majestic views, entertaining shows, snow-based winter activities and outdoor adventures in the summer.

  2. Explore Kitsilano's Vanier Park, complete with the Museum of Vancouver, Vancouver Maritime Museum and H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. It's also a great spot to fly a kite.

  3. Hit Science World for a plethora of hands-on activities, including blowing giant soap bubbles, playing a piano with your feet and freezing your shadow on a wall. There's also an OMNIMAX big-screen cinema.

  4. Kids Market on Granville Island is tailored specifically for family fun. Kiddos can romp around in the ball pit, play in the arcade, express their creativity in interactive craft shops, and shop two floors of toys, candy and other kids’ stuff. Regroup by grabbing a bite to eat or relaxing around the outdoor pond. In summer, a free water park on Granville Island sweetens the deal with a chance to splash around in the spray park and glide down water slides. It's also the home of the Vancouver International Children's Festival every May.

  5. Dare the kids to look down as you cross the river at Capilano Suspension Bridge, a park complete with a towering cable bridge, rainforest nature trails, a collection of totem poles and Treetops Adventure, a network of smaller bridges strung between the trees. If they take you up on the dare, one-up them the Cliffwalk—a cantilevered walkway jutting out from a granite cliff face.

  6. Visit Maplewood Farm, where kids can take a close-up look at 200 farm animals and birds, pet the bunnies and pat the horses. Spring is a favourite time as that's when the baby animals are born.

  7. Have more fun with animals at the Greater Vancouver Zoo. Family excitement includes the daily lion and tiger feedings, the "Meet a Reptile" weekend program, falconry presentations, a Safari Express miniature train and plenty of furry friends.

  8. Infuse some fun into learning about the past at the Burnaby Village Museum, Fort Langley National Historic Site, Vancouver's historic Gastown neighbourhood and the Britannia Mine Museum.

  9. Playland, an amusement park at the Pacific National Exhibition, will keep kids grinning for hours on end with more than 35 thrilling rides, a special Kids Playce for little ones and the new Pacific Adventure Golf.

  10. For winter fun, Vancouver's three local mountains, Grouse Mountain, Cypress Mountain and Mount Seymour, offer skiing and snowboarding as well as other non-ski activities such as sledding, tubing, ice skating and snowshoeing.

 

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