We wouldn’t have made a trip here if it wasn’t for Junior’s absolute love for “mountain biking” these days. He absolutely loves the sport, and kept on asking us if we can bring him to Whistler to mountain bike. We definitely will fulfill his bike dreams, but first he needs to up his skills and slowly transition to an actual pedal bike. A mom friend highly recommended Vanier Park’s Bike Skills Track, and so here we are. Our first time in a bike skills track and it certainly was amazing!

Vanier Park is connected to Kits Beach and Granville Island on either side. The seawall stroll from Kits Beach to Vanier Park is beautiful, as you are right by the waters with downtown, Stanley Park, and the North Shore mountains as the backdrop. You can also see several different boats on the waters. The only downside of this relaxing stroll is that the wind can get pretty strong here, especially on a windy day like today.

There are a few big facilities in this park. There’s the Bike Skills Track, Vancouver Maritime Museum, Museum of Vancouver, HR Macmillan Space Cenre, and the famous outdoor Shakespeare Play company, Bard on the Beach.

Bike Skills Track

This is a well maintained dirt covered bike track that’s divided into three main sections: easy run, moderate run, and the advanced run.

After a bit of practice, Junior was able to run the whole beginner loop smoothly all by himself.

Right beside the beginner loop is the advanced track. We had so much fun admiring the pros doing their bike tricks while going up and down the different hills.

There weren’t many people here when we came on a weekday early evening. Most cyclists were at the advanced track and we had the whole beginner loop to ourselves for a while.

Since this place is all covered by dirt, it can get quite muddy on a rainy day. We came here again the day after an overnight down pour, and there were mud and puddles everywhere. Even the beginner run became muddy and quite slippery. I wouldn’t suggest coming here after rain.

Vancouver Maritime Museum

The museum is right by the seawall connecting Vanier Park to Kits Beach Park. Due to COVID concern, we didn’t visit the indoor portion of the museum. There is however, the Heritage Harbour, which is a part of the museum, free for all and is outdoor by the waters. We had fun reading up on the different boats anchored here. You can find so many different kinds of boats here; from an RCMP patrol vessel to the boat used in one of Stephen Kings movies. I’m sure Junior and Baby will love coming back here and read up on the history of each boat when they are older.

The Maritime Museum is currently open with COVID precautions. Tickets are $13.50 for adults and $10 for youth 6-18 years old.

Museum of Vancouver and Macmillan Space Centre

These two places are combined under the same building and is currently open. Again, due to COVID concern we did not go in. We did take several photos in front of the big water feature at the main entrance.

Museum of Vancouver is a civic history museum. Currently it is $10 per adult and $5 for children age 6-11. Children under 5 is free. Due to COVID precaution, tickets must be prebooked online. Macmillan Space Centre is currently still closed.

Washroom

There is a flush toilet washroom close to the parking lot near the seawall paths.

Breastfeeding

There are a few benches along the seawall and can be used comfortably for feeding. however, beware of the strong wind here.

Parking

Pay parking is available by the bike skills track and also close to the boat launch site. Limited free neighbourhood parking also available.

The view in this park is beautiful and the bike skills track has become one of my toddler’s favourite places to bicycle now. So it’s very likely we will be back soon!

• Pedestrian Traffic: moderate, higher traffic by the seawall
• Pet Traffic: minimal
• View: beautiful
• Overall score: 7/10