Feel the holiday spirit in Vancouver! Discover all the exciting events and activities with our guide. Whether you're intimately familiar with Vancouver or just getting acquainted, our guide maximizes your seasonal enjoyment.
One of the highlights this season is the enchanting Vancouver Christmas Market, where festive stalls and delicious treats set the perfect holiday mood. Experience the wonder of millions of dazzling lights and themed displays at VanDusen Festival of Lights. And The Peak of Christmas is something you definitely don’t want to miss, offering a magical winter wonderland on Grouse Mountain. See more details on these and other fun events and activities below!
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The Top Christmas Events in Vancouver
- Vancouver Christmas Market
- VanDusen Festival of Lights
- Bright Nights in Stanley Park
- Aurora Winter Festival
- Christmas at Canada Place
- Chor Leoni’s Christmas with Chor Leoni
- The Nutcracker by Goh Ballet
- Pacific Theatre’s Christmas Presence
- CandyTown
- St. Paul's Lights of Hope
Vancouver Holiday Light Displays
VanDusen Festival of Lights
What to Expect:
Botanical garden transformed with over one million lights
Description:
VanDusen Botanical Garden dazzles with over one million lights adorning its diverse plant collections. This illuminated spectacle weaves through themed areas, creating a luminous journey through the 55-acre garden. Visitors can embark on a scavenger hunt to spot hidden gnomes among the glowing displays. The garden, opened in 1975, repurposed a former golf course into a horticultural haven, now hosting this annual light festival that harmoniously blends nature and artistry.
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Bright Nights in Stanley Park
What to Expect:
Train ride through illuminated forest displays
Description:
Stanley Park's miniature train chugs through a twinkling forest during Bright Nights. The 14-minute journey winds past elaborate light displays and whimsical scenes nestled among towering trees. Visitors can warm up with hot cocoa while exploring the firetrucks decked out in holiday lights. This event, running since the late 1990s, supports the BC Professional Fire Fighters' Burn Fund, intertwining holiday cheer with community giving in Vancouver's beloved urban park.
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Aurora Winter Festival
What to Expect:
Immersive light sculptures and interactive installations
Description:
Aurora Winter Festival transforms Vancouver's Hastings Park into a luminous playground of light sculptures and interactive art installations. Towering light tunnels and glowing ice palaces create an otherworldly atmosphere for visitors to explore. You can glide through a frozen river adorned with twinkling lights on ice skates. This relatively new addition to Vancouver's holiday scene, launched in 2018, brings cutting-edge light technology and artistic innovation to traditional winter festivities.
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Christmas at Canada Place
What to Expect:
Iconic sails of Canada Place illuminated with holiday projections
Description:
Canada Place's distinctive white sails become a canvas for dazzling holiday projections during Christmas at Canada Place. The Sails of Light show transforms the Vancouver landmark with animated scenes celebrating Canadian winter. Visitors can stroll along the festively decorated Avenue of Christmas Trees, each uniquely adorned by local businesses and organizations. This event, held at one of Vancouver's most recognizable structures, has been illuminating the waterfront since 1987.
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PNE WinterLights
What to Expect:
Drive-through light experience at historic fairgrounds
Description:
PNE WinterLights transforms the historic Pacific National Exhibition fairgrounds into a drive-through light extravaganza. Visitors journey through themed light tunnels and past animated displays from the comfort of their own vehicles. You can tune your car radio to a special station syncing holiday music to the light show. This event, launched in 2020, reimagines the PNE's 110-year tradition of community entertainment for the modern era, offering a safe and innovative holiday experience.
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Stanley Park Christmas Train
What to Expect:
Themed train ride through Stanley Park's illuminated forest
Description:
Stanley Park's miniature train takes on a holiday theme, whisking passengers through a twinkling forest wonderland. Each year features a different storyline, with animated displays and live performers bringing the tale to life along the tracks. Visitors can warm up with hot cocoa in the festively decorated train plaza. This beloved tradition, running since the 1990s, offers a family-friendly way to experience Stanley Park's natural beauty enhanced by holiday lights and storytelling.
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Vancouver Holiday Markets and Shopping
Vancouver Christmas Market
What to Expect:
European-inspired outdoor market with over 80 artisan huts
Description:
Vancouver's Jack Poole Plaza transforms into a bustling European-style Christmas market. Over 80 wooden huts showcase local artisans and their handcrafted wares. The aroma of mulled wine and roasted chestnuts fills the air as visitors explore the diverse offerings. You can participate in traditional German ornament-making workshops, connecting with age-old holiday customs. This market, inspired by Nuremberg's Christkindlesmarkt, has been a Vancouver tradition since 2010, blending Old World charm with West Coast flair.
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Vancouver Holiday Giving Opportunities
St. Paul's Lights of Hope
What to Expect:
Massive light display supporting hospital foundation
Description:
St. Paul's Hospital facade becomes a canvas of hope with over 100,000 lights illuminating its exterior. This brilliant display serves as a beacon of community support for the hospital's foundation. Visitors can contribute by dedicating a bulb in honor of a loved one. Initiated in 1998, Lights of Hope has grown into a cherished Vancouver tradition, raising millions for the hospital while creating a stunning visual reminder of the power of collective giving during the holiday season.
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Santa Claus Parade
What to Expect:
Massive holiday parade supporting the Greater Vancouver Food Bank
Description:
Vancouver's Santa Claus Parade fills downtown streets with a procession of floats, marching bands, and festive characters. This lively event brings together diverse community groups, showcasing the city's multicultural holiday spirit. Spectators can donate non-perishable food items along the parade route. Established in 2004, the parade has become a significant annual fundraiser for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, blending holiday cheer with community support.
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Vancouver Holiday Shows and Entertainment
Chor Leoni’s Christmas with Chor Leoni
What to Expect:
All-male choir performing unique arrangements of holiday classics
Description:
Chor Leoni, Vancouver's renowned all-male choir, presents a holiday concert featuring innovative arrangements of beloved Christmas songs. The rich harmonies of over 60 male voices fill the air with warmth and resonance. Audience members can join in a rousing sing-along of familiar carols. Founded in 1992, Chor Leoni has become a staple of Vancouver's cultural scene, blending classical technique with contemporary flair in their annual Christmas performances.
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Chor Leoni’s Christmas with Chor Leoni
The Nutcracker by Goh Ballet
What to Expect:
Local ballet company's unique interpretation of the classic Nutcracker
Description:
Goh Ballet presents its distinctive production of The Nutcracker, blending classical technique with innovative choreography. Lavish costumes and intricate set designs transport the audience to a world of sugar plum fairies and toy soldiers. You can marvel at the technical prowess of dancers performing gravity-defying leaps and spins. Founded in 1978, Goh Ballet has become a cornerstone of Vancouver's dance community, with their annual Nutcracker production evolving into a beloved holiday tradition since 2009.
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Pacific Theatre’s Christmas Presence
What to Expect:
Intimate, improvisational holiday storytelling and music performance
Description:
Pacific Theatre's Christmas Presence offers an intimate, improvisational evening of holiday storytelling and music. Local artists and musicians gather on stage, creating a unique performance each night through spontaneous collaborations. Audience members can experience the raw energy of live, unrehearsed storytelling in a cozy theatre setting. This annual event, running since the 1980s, embodies Pacific Theatre's commitment to exploring spiritual themes through innovative, intimate performances.
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Pacific Theatre’s Christmas Presence
A Christmas Carol
What to Expect:
Innovative staging of Dickens' classic tale
Description:
Vancouver's Arts Club Theatre presents an innovative staging of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. This fresh interpretation blends traditional elements with contemporary theatrical techniques, bringing new life to the timeless story. Audience members can witness Scrooge's transformation through imaginative set designs and compelling performances. The Arts Club, founded in 1964, has made this production a holiday staple, evolving the show over the years to reflect changing artistic trends while maintaining the story's enduring message.
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An East Van Panto
What to Expect:
Satirical holiday musical with a distinctly East Vancouver flavor
Description:
Theatre Replacement's East Van Panto presents a irreverent, locally-flavored take on classic pantomime traditions. This annual production skewers current events and local culture through the lens of a familiar fairy tale, reimagined with an East Vancouver twist. Audience members can join in the traditional call-and-response elements, becoming part of the show. Launched in 2013, the East Van Panto has quickly become a beloved alternative holiday tradition, celebrating the unique character of Vancouver's east side.
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Vancouver Other Holiday Activities
CandyTown
What to Expect:
Outdoor festival celebrating Yaletown's confectionery history
Description:
CandyTown transforms Vancouver's Yaletown into a sweet-themed street festival, celebrating the neighborhood's history as a confectionery hub. Costumed characters roam the streets, including the Ice Queen and Candy Cane stilt walkers. Visitors can watch live ice sculpting demonstrations, witnessing blocks of ice transform into glistening works of art. This free outdoor event, established in 2012, pays homage to Yaletown's past while creating new holiday traditions for the community.
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Robson Square Ice Rink
What to Expect:
Free outdoor skating in the heart of downtown Vancouver
Description:
Robson Square's sunken plaza transforms into a bustling outdoor ice rink, offering free skating in the heart of downtown Vancouver. The covered rink allows for skating regardless of the weather, with the city's skyscrapers creating a unique urban backdrop. You can glide across the ice to the rhythm of holiday tunes played by live DJs. This seasonal rink, part of Arthur Erickson's iconic Robson Square complex, has been a winter staple since the 1980s, embodying Vancouver's blend of urban life and outdoor recreation.
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Christmas at Hycroft
What to Expect:
Holiday tours of a historic Edwardian mansion
Description:
Hycroft Manor, a grand Edwardian estate, opens its doors for lavish holiday tours. Each room of this 1911 mansion is expertly decorated in period-appropriate Christmas splendor. Visitors can admire the intricate details of early 20th-century holiday decor while learning about Vancouver's social history. This annual event, hosted by the University Women's Club of Vancouver since the 1960s, offers a glimpse into the opulent holiday celebrations of the city's past elite.
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Nearby Events
The Peak of Christmas (North Vancouver)
What to Expect:
Alpine-themed holiday experience atop Grouse Mountain
Description:
Grouse Mountain's summit transforms into a snow-globe-like Alpine village for the holidays. Visitors ascend via the Skyride gondola to a winter wonderland 3,700 feet above sea level. Here, you can glide across a mountaintop skating pond surrounded by snow-dusted evergreens. The Peak of Christmas tradition began in the 1970s, evolving alongside Grouse Mountain's development as a year-round resort, offering a uniquely elevated holiday experience in North Vancouver.
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Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge (North Vancouver)
What to Expect:
Suspension bridge and treetop walks illuminated with thousands of lights
Description:
Capilano Suspension Bridge Park glows with thousands of lights strung across its iconic bridge and treetop walkways. The illuminated 140-meter suspension bridge hovers 70 meters above the Capilano River, offering a thrilling bird's-eye view of the glittering canyon below. Visitors can test their nerve on the Cliffwalk, a cantilevered walkway clinging to the granite cliff face, now adorned with twinkling lights. This holiday tradition began in 2006, adding a festive dimension to the park's 130-year history.
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Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge
Heritage Christmas at Burnaby Village Museum (Burnaby)
What to Expect:
1920s-themed Christmas celebration in a living history museum
Description:
Burnaby Village Museum springs to life with a 1920s-themed Christmas celebration. Costumed interpreters roam the streets of this meticulously recreated heritage town, sharing stories of yuletide past. Visitors can ride the restored 1912 C.W. Parker Carousel, adorned with holiday garlands. This annual event, which began in the 1990s, offers a glimpse into Burnaby's early 20th-century holiday traditions, set against the backdrop of the museum's authentic period buildings and exhibits.
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Heritage Christmas at Burnaby Village Museum
Christmas Glow (Langley)
What to Expect:
Indoor Christmas light garden and market
Description:
Christmas Glow transforms Langley's Milner Gardens into an expansive indoor light garden and market. Illuminated sculptures and interactive light displays create a cozy, weatherproof winter wonderland. Visitors can decorate their own gingerbread house while surrounded by glowing installations. Launched in 2017, Christmas Glow has quickly become a modern holiday tradition, offering a unique indoor alternative to outdoor light festivals in the often rainy Lower Mainland.
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The Polar Express Train Ride (Squamish)
What to Expect:
Immersive train ride experience based on the popular children's book
Description:
The Polar Express comes to life on the rails of the Sea to Sky country in Squamish. Passengers don pajamas for a journey to the "North Pole," complete with hot chocolate and cookies served by dancing chefs. Children can listen to a reading of the classic story as the train winds through stunning mountain scenery. This event, which began in 2014, offers a unique blend of storytelling and rail travel, set against the backdrop of British Columbia's breathtaking landscapes.
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Steveston Festival of Trees (Richmond)
What to Expect:
Community-decorated Christmas trees in a historic fishing village
Description:
Steveston's Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site hosts a forest of uniquely decorated Christmas trees. Local businesses and community groups showcase their creativity, adorning trees with themes reflecting Steveston's rich maritime heritage. Visitors can vote for their favorite tree, participating in a friendly community competition. This event, established in the early 2000s, beautifully merges holiday spirit with the preservation of local history in this charming former fishing village.
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Sea to Sky Gondola Spirit of the Season (Squamish)
What to Expect:
Alpine holiday celebrations with panoramic mountain views
Description:
The Sea to Sky Gondola's Spirit of the Season event combines breathtaking mountain vistas with holiday cheer. Visitors ascend 885 meters above sea level to enjoy festive activities against a backdrop of snow-capped peaks and Howe Sound. You can trek across the illuminated suspension bridge, taking in 360-degree views of the surrounding winter landscape. This event, launched after the gondola's 2014 opening, offers a uniquely elevated holiday experience in the heart of the Coast Mountains.
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Sea to Sky Gondola Spirit of the Season