Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park

When googling “What to do in Vancouver” one of the first things to pop up is Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, located in North Vancouver. This attraction is easily accessible from downtown of Vancouver thanks to the free shuttle service between the locations.

Few quick facts about Capilano Suspension Bridge Park before diving into my own personal experience. All of the details are from Capilano Suspension Bridge Park’s official website (click here to read more).

• Name Capilano comes from the Squamish Nation’s Kia’palano, which means “beautiful river.”

• The story of the park started all the way back in 1889, when George Grant Mackay, a Scottish civil engineer and land developer, arrived in Vancouver. He purchased thousands of acres of dense forest on either side of Capilano River and built a cabin on the very edge of the canyon wall. Mackay was also the one with August Jack Khahtsahlano who built the bridge.

• Nancy Stibbard purchased the park 1983, and her goal was to elevate the Park from stop-off to a world class destination attraction which happened within 10 year period. Since then more and more activities have been added to the park, such as Treetops Adventure (2004) and Cliffwalk (2011).

• Tickets can be purchased in advance, which is highly recommended. An adult ticket costs little bit over CAD 70 per person, but if you live in Vancouver you can also buy an annual pass for the same price.

After living almost 4 months in Vancouver me and Mr. Husband finally decided it’s time to give this famous spot a shot right before Christmas. Since 2005 park has hosted seasonal event “Canyon Lights” which this year took place from late November and will continue until 19th of January 2025. And if you ask me, there’s no better way to celebrate upcoming Christmas than wondering around beautifully sceneries, admiring twinkling lights all around you. What would be more Christmassy?

… okay maybe having a cup of hot chocolate while admiring the lights, but that wish also comes true while visiting this place.

Our trip begun with little bit of misfortune as our bus was cancelled due to heavy traffic. Anyhow, luckily Uber saved the day - you have to purchase your arrival slot in advance, especially during seasonal events such as Canyon Lights. It would’ve been quite sad first try if we had missed our spot straight away, but luckily we made it thanks to the Uber.

Like expected, park was extremely crowded, but all of the queues moved on super fast which was a big plus. The most stressful part for me was actually crossing the suspension bridge and afterwards I named it Capilano SUSpension Bridge - it was so wobbly, as there were so many people and it was super windy! I had this amazing picture in my head how I’d be able to take a cool video with my phone while crossing, but no way I could’ve done that. All of my efforts went to walking as directly as possible. :D Mr. Husband managed to take a video though, and I looked like a goblin, no offense to goblins, but that’s not how I usually walk! I can not do confident goblin walk, only an extremely tense version of that haha.

The Capilano Suspension Park - Treetop Adventures

But how would I rate this activity after all? I would say 8/10.

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is a must see when visiting Vancouver for the first time and I really admire how many seasonal events they run per year - Canyon Frights for Halloween, Love Lights for Valentines day and so on. All of the creativity and effort that goes into that place is amazing and I’m really glad to have experienced it. I would also say that for families with younger kids place is a wonderful visit as there are coffee shops and activities planned for the kids only.

Anyhow, if you are doing a trip with a lower budget I might go for Lynn Canyon Park, which is also located in North Vancouver. Lynn Canyon Park doesn’t run seasonal events, but it’s completely free, there’s also a suspension bridge and there are plenty of hiking paths you can explore.

As I’m living in North Vancouver and we actually purchased annual passes for Capilano, we most likely will visit Capilano Suspension Bridge Park multiple time within a year. But without the annual pass I might have skipped Capilano completely due to how expensive it is for a 2.5-3 hours visit.

Overall good and fun visit, would recommend if you have the budget/time for it. If not, go for Lynn Canyon Park and you’ll be equally happy if you ask me - less people, more hiking paths.

But for now, until next time.

x Krista