VanRamblings’ updated 2020 Holiday Lights Tour covers the entirety of the Metro Vancouver region, starting in Vancouver & the North Shore, but now including Burnaby, the Tri-Cities / Coquitlam, Surrey / North Delta, and Richmond. No one says that the Holiday Season Lights Tour must be a single-night event — if you wanted to, you could do a two, three or four night holiday lights tour, at a pace comfortable for you and your family.
You could also do a walking tour. The area around Gravely & Commercial Drive and out to 12th and Semlin would make for a good walking tour of holiday lights. According to Environment Canada, the weather on the three days before Christmas Day will be nippy, but clear, and perfect for a walking tour if you bundle up. In addition, the area around Main and Broadway has great holiday light displays within walking distance of one another.
The Holiday Lights Tour Guide will be updated over the holidays.
We’re going to begin our Holiday Lights Tour on Vancouver’s east side.
First stop …
Holiday Lights, 100 block Victoria Drive, Vancouver. Videographer: Ken Jason Dundas.
2702 Kitchener Street, at Slocan; from the 2400 block of Kitchener to the 2700 block there are a number of wonderful holiday light displays, such as this one …
2621 Kitchener Street
3163 East 16th Avenue
Next it’s up to the Killarney area …
3168 East 46th Avenue
Now, you’re going to have to decide whether you want to travel over to 6080 Ross Street, which is near 41st and Knight, a ways out of the way, 6080 Ross Street
And then it’s over to the Renfrew Collingwood neighourhood …
3540 / 3542 Price Street, near Rupert Street
3191 East 22nd Avenue , at Windermere
East 18th Avenue and Renfrew Street
East 16th and Kaslo Street
Kaslo Court and Kaslo Terrace, 2765 Co-operative Way, just off the Grandview Highway, nearby the Italian Cultural Centre
Lakewood and East 5th Avenue
2500 block Kitchener Street | a gentrified block, almost all new, maxed out to 2400 sq. ft. homes — a well-kept street, though.
1800 block Grant & Kitchener, surrounding Grandview Park, including on Salsbury Drive, just off Victoria Drive
Grant Street and Semlin Drive
2008 Victoria Drive, at 4th Avenue
Victoria Drive and East 7th Avenue
Victoria Street and East 8th Avenue
Commercial Drive and 6th Avenue
2002 East 12th Avenue, at Semlin Drive
3542 Ontario, at 17th and Ontario
2930 Ontario Street
Group of homes between 14th & 15th on Ontario, 2800 to 3000 block
And further afield, close to the Fraser River, in the southeastern part of the city, in the Marpole neighbourhood, there’s 2597 East Kent Avenue North.
351 W 22nd Avenue (near Cambie and 18th)
Now, we have some good news: the Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, celebrating its 25th anniversary, is open to the public, so that’s definitely on the 2020 Holiday Lights Tour.
Canuck Place is located at 1690 Matthews, which is about three blocks south of 16th Avenue and Granville — just turn right onto Matthews, drive a couple of blocks, and voilà, the spectacular, not-to-be-missed Canuck Place Children’s Hospice Christmas Lights Display!
Canuck Place Children’s Hospice Christmas Lights Display, 1690 Matthews Avenue.
After walking around Canuck Place we’ll stay on Vancouver’s west side, driving into the Arbutus Ridge area …
351 West 22nd Avenue (near Cambie and 18th)
King Edward and Valley Drive, near Arbutus Village
3708 West 27th Avenue
4690 Blenheim Street
The lights of Vancouver and the North Shore, as seen from Puget Drive, in Vancouver
2195 West 15th Avenue
Next, it’s to VanRamblings’ home neighbourhood …
2915 Waterloo Street, at 13th Avenue, on the southwest corner
West 12th Avenue and Blenheim Street, NE corner
West 12th Avenue and Blenheim Street, NW corner
2760 Waterloo Street, east side of the street, near West 12th Avenue
Near West 11th Avenue, on Waterloo Street, in Kitsilano.
Next, it’s a drive down to Jericho Beach, to see the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club (above) all lit up. And then for a walk down Point Grey Road.
Hastings Mill Park, east of both the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and Jericho Beach, next to Hastings Mill, and down from Alma Street
The photo below, Lululemon founder Chip Wilson’s home, along Point Grey Road between Alma and Macdonald streets where there are many holiday light homes to be discovered. Great for a walking tour.
</ br>The The photo directly above was taken by photographer Elvira Lount, who tells us there are great many more holiday lit homes along Point Grey Road, as may be seen in on her Facebook timeline.
And now doubling back a bit to return to Waterloo Street, at 5th Avenue …
West 5th Avenue & Waterloo Street, across the street from McBride Park
West 5th Avenue and Balaclava
In fact, the whole stretch of Stephens Street, from West 5th Avenue to Broadway — including the avenues along Stephens, on both sides — offers wondrous light displays.
West 5th Avenue and Stephens Street
Next, on the second leg of the 2020 Holiday Lights Tour (it breaks down into four parts), we drive down the hill to enjoy Granville Island’s Festive Lights Display, with a drive around the Island.
Entrance to Granville Island
And now a photo of the Burrard Street bridge and Beach Avenue, taken from Granville Island, a site not to be missed when visiting the Island …
After Granville Island’s Festive Lights Display, we’ll drive over the Burrard Street bridge, and head over to …
Bute and Nelson (and you’ll want to see St. Paul’s holiday lights, too)
Hotels: In the EVO car we’ll be renting this year, as we have in past years (we can’t wait until they start adding electric vehicles to their low emission fleet), we’ll park — for free, cuz that’s the deal EVO has cut with the city — somewhere near Sutton Place, kitty corner to the Scotiabank Cinema at Burrard and Smithe, and embark on our tour of the downtown hotels.
The Sutton Place Hotel (formerly Le Meridien), on Burrard Street
In years past, back in the 90s, when we were an arts and entertainment editor for various newspapers and magazines, we discovered that the downtown hotels go out of their way to put up first-class holiday displays in their lobbies … so, as we’ve done for the past quarter century, we’ll start off at the Sutton Place Hotel on Burrard, and then saunter down to the Hyatt Regency, at Burrard and Georgia where there’ll be trees but unfortunately, due to COVID-19 restrictions there’ll be no gingerbread displays made by students at public and private schools, and post secondary institutions, as in years past.
Gingerbread Lane at the Hyatt will return during the holiday season, in 2021
Next, it’s over to the Hotel Vancouver, and then up the street to the Rosewood Hotel Georgia, and then back to our EVO car.
We’ll then drive to the Pan Pacific / Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. As much as we love wandering through both those hotels, the real rationale in parking near those hotels comes with 2 engaging features: the walkway along the west side of Canada Place, and the annual Woodwards windows displays — which, sad to say, is not happening this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.
After we’ve enjoyed the nippy air along the Canada Place walkway, we’ll wander over to the Pan Pacific and Fairmont Waterfront, before heading out again. Ordinarily, we’d drive next to Poole Plaza for the Christmas Market, but it’s been postponed to 2021, so instead we’ll drive next to English Bay to see the lights city staff place on the trees along Pacific Avenue, after which we’ll drive along Denman Street towards Stanley Park, for a drive around the park. Ordinarily, we’d stop off at the Vancouver Fire Department’s Burn Fund Bright Nights Display (with a $10 bill ready to put into the pot) — but that’s not happening in 2020 due to COVID-19.
All and all, Bright Nights is very popular, and just jam-packed, so it seems that it’s fitting that it’s closed in 2020 … so a leisurely drive around Stanley Park (stopping for awhile at Brockton Point) it’ll be, moving onto the roadway just this side of Prospect Point to get onto the exit leading to the Lions Gate Bridge, after which we’ll take the enjoyable drive out to Horseshoe Bay, where we can see the lights of the Metro Vancouver region. In years past, at Megan’s insistence, we’d also enjoy the holiday light displays in the British Properties (little wonder, I sometimes think to myself, that Megan has turned into such a bougie woman, mother & wife at 43 years of age).
On the way back from Horseshoe Bay, we’ll take the lower road, to enjoy the closeness to the water. VanRamblings employs the royal “we”, but in fact for the first time in 50 years, “we” may consist solely of Raymond Neil Tomlin, given the exigencies of the COVID-19 pandemic, and our ever smaller bubble — which, sad to say, does not include my children. Alas.
Next up, it’s the Dundarave Festival of Lights, which as the good folks at The Daily Hive point out “offers BC’s biggest outdoor display of Christmas trees.” By this time, we’ll be famished, so it’ll be time for a bite to eat. Last year, on our Christmas Eve lights tour, a friend and I stopped off at the Park Royal Cactus Club Cafe, where we shared mini burgers, yam fries, with me enjoying a cup of clam chowder, and my friend a small Caesar salad.
By now, it’ll be about 8:30pm (we began our holiday lights tour trek just before 2:30pm, from our west side Kitsilano home), and we’re patting ourselves on the back for having completed legs two and three of our annual, of late, spectacular and revivifying four leg holiday lights tour.
Reporter Elisia Sleeber at the North Shore News has compiled a definitive of the 2020 holiday light displays in North Vancouver.
1279 Keith Road
1382 Wellington Drive, Lynn Valley
Henderson and Burrill Avenues, Lynn Valley
1512 Ross Road
423 East 10th Street
2308 Hoskins Road
3698 Sparrow Lane
2235 Badger Road
You can create your own multi-address route guide by clicking on this video to discover how, which is what we did with the addresses directly above.
The Trinity Street Light Festival and competition in East Vancouver stretches six blocks across the Hastings-Sunrise enclave of Burrardview, the often dazzling light displays strung up by neighbours has been a glowing holiday fixture since 2000. A must-not miss.
Now, it’s over the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge to Trinity Street, on Vancouver’s east side, near the waterfront — depending on how tuckered we are, we may walk the entire length, rather than drive along the street.
There are many, many more light displays throughout Burnaby, the Tri-Cities / Coquitlam, Surrey-North Delta and Richmond, some of which may be found not only in the links below, but covered on VanRamblings, as well.
News1130 | 2020 Christmas Lights and Virtual Events Spotter.
Vancouver Sun | Vancouver Sun’s annual holiday lights map
To Do Canada | Christmas Lights & Holiday Displays In & Around Vancouver
VanRamblings’ best to all of our readers during this most festive season. May you thrive this holiday season, and over the course of this most unusual pandemic holiday season find much love and solace in your life.
Now: Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey-North Delta, Langley + Richmond.
Burnaby
For a list of some of the holiday light displays in the municipality of Burnaby, the fine folks at Burnaby City Hall have compiled this list of holiday light displays available to the public this pandemic holiday season.
VanRamblings adds a few more light displays in Burnaby worth catching.
Click on graphic above for Google Maps Burnaby Holiday Lights Display direction guide
We’ll start off our tour of Burnaby Holiday Light Displays on Hastings St.
4590 Hastings Street
Eileen Dailly Recreation Centre, 240 Willingdon Avenue
McGill Branch Public Library, 4595 Albert Street
Willingdon Linear Park, 1420 Willingdon Avenue
6159 Curtis Street, Kensington Arena
5235 Kincaid Street (near Burnaby General Hospital)
(a massive display set up with lights synced to music every 15 minutes)
6550 Bonsor Avenue
8076 Gilley Avenue
6844 Walker Avenue
Late addition: 7035 6th Street, at Rosewood, in Burnaby. Says SteveO, who commented on Twitter, “The best way to get there is turn right going north, or down the hill, off Canada Way one block north of Edmonds. It’s tough trying to turn left there at busy times. 6th St is blocked going north at Edmonds so Canada Way is the ONLY route.”
7668 Endersby Street
New Westminster
Click on graphic above | Google Maps | New Westminster Holiday Lights | Direction Guide
1839 Hamilton Street
527 16th Street
1514 Nanaimo Street
712 12th Street
1007 Hamilton Street
1013 Cornwall Street
305 10th Street
226 Ninth Street
123 Seventh Street
609 Robson Avenue
419 St. George Street
Before heading out to the Tri-Cities / Coquitlam, you’re going to want to stop in to see the DuPlessis Family Christmas Display at 8222 Burnlake Drive, in Burnaby, relatively close to the Lougheed Centre.
DuPlessis Family Christmas Display, 8222 Burnlake Drive, in Burnaby | nightly from 4:30pm til midnight, through until January 10th, 2021
Coquitlam / Tri-Cities
Click on graphic above | Google Maps | Coquitlam Holiday Light Display | Direction guide
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Como Lake Avenue and Claremont Street
581 Foster Avenue
653 Robinson Street
700 Fairview Street
1422 Smith Avenue
1376 Cambridge Drive
1440 Cambridge Drive
1300 King Albert Avenue
319 Decaire Street
967 Floyd Avenue
And now over to the area of Coquitlam closest to Port Coquitlam …
1417 Garibaldi Place
1251 Nestor Street
3318 Caliente Place
2771 Mara Drive
Surrey / North Delta
Click on graphic above | Google Maps | Surrey Holiday Light Displays | Direction Guide
If you click here you’ll find a more expansive list of holiday light displays, as published in the Surrey Now-Leader, but we’ll start with these sites …
13675 Grosvenor Road
14763 110a Avenue
11082 Jay Crescent
15466 91a Avenue
15097 90a Avenue
14283 85b Ave, Surrey (near Fraser Highway)
154th Street & 85A Avenue
16468 104 Avenue, Surrey (near Guildford)
And now out to Cloverdale, just off the Fraser Highway …
16951 Jersey Drive
6369 165a Street
17022 62 Avenue
And now to North Delta …
9762 130 Street
9277 132 Street
11804 91 Avenue, Delta
11279 86a Avenue, Delta
7849 Bremridge Drive
11423 Heath Crescent
Langley
Click on graphic above | Google Maps | Langley Holiday Light Displays | Direction Guide
The Ilott Christmas Display, at 9451 216B Street, daily from 6 to 9 p.m.
Dan Warkentin’s light display, at 9211 211B Street
Sherwood Light Display, at 20656 44A Avenue, daily from 4 to 10 p.m.
Candy Cane Lane, at 20388 43 Avenue, daily from 5 to 10 p.m.
Ron Farmer’s lights display, at 23924 68th Avenue
19970 46th Avenue
50th and 203 Street
Christmas in Williams Park, 238th Street & 68th Avenue, 5:30 to 9 p.m.
Richmond
Winter Wonderland at the Gordons
Where: 9471 Kirkmond Crescent, Richmond
A winter wonderland including a light tunnel filled with snowflakes, Santa’s toy shop, reindeer stables and lots of other fun characters.
Winter in the Village
Where: Steveston Village, Richmond
Info: visitrichmondbc.com
Winter in the Village is a collection of events and activities happening around Steveston Village in Richmond. Grab a hot drink or a bite to eat at one of the many coffee shops and restaurants, and take a free Light Up the Village self-guided tour of the light displays. Vote for your favourite decorated shop window, take in the Festival of Trees at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site, or browse the exhibits at Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site.