FanVancouver · Local guide
Vancouver's 2026 Christmas lights: Canyon Lights, VanDusen, Glow, Bright Nights, and free displays like Lights of Hope and Lafarge Lake, with dates and costs.
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Vancouver rarely gets snow at Christmas, so the season is carried by lights: a lit suspension bridge over a rainforest canyon, a botanical garden strung with lights, a hospital facade that has glowed on Burrard Street for almost 30 years, and a lake in Coquitlam ringed with a free display. The sun sets at about 4:15pm in December, which gives you long evenings to see several in one trip. Below are the twelve worth your time in 2026, six free and six ticketed, with the dates that have been announced so far. For the rest of the season, see things to do in December and our Vancouver winter guide.
| Display | Where | 2026 dates | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lights of Hope | St. Paul's Hospital, downtown | Lit from 12 November | Free |
| Lights at Lafarge | Lafarge Lake, Coquitlam | Opens 27 November | Free |
| Carol Ships Parade of Lights | Harbour, English Bay, False Creek | December weekends, schedule to come | Free from shore |
| Festive Village | Burnaby Village Museum | December, dates to come | Free gate in recent years |
| Shipyards Skate Plaza | Lonsdale Quay, North Vancouver | Winter season, dates to come | Free skating last season |
| Downtown lights walk | Burrard Street to the waterfront | Mid-November onwards | Free |
| Canyon Lights | Capilano Suspension Bridge Park | 20 Nov – 10 Jan | Park admission |
| VanDusen Festival of Lights | VanDusen Botanical Garden | Listed 27 Nov – 3 Jan | Timed ticket |
| Glow Langley | 6690 216 Street, Langley | 19 Nov – 2 Jan | Ticket, varies by date |
| Bright Nights at the Noel festival | Cloverdale Fairgrounds, Surrey | 27 Nov – 29 Dec | Ticket; 6 and under free |
| Peak of Christmas | Grouse Mountain | 2025 ran 21 Nov – 24 Dec | Mountain admission |
| Vancouver Christmas Market | Jack Poole Plaza, waterfront | 16 Nov – 24 Dec | From $7.99 pre-sale |
Every holiday season since the late 1990s, St. Paul's Foundation has covered the front of St. Paul's Hospital in lights and stars to raise money for the hospital. The 2026 launch night on 12 November comes with fireworks, and it is a milestone: this is the last Lights of Hope on Burrard Street, because St. Paul's moves to its new hospital in early 2027. The display is on the street-facing facade, so you see it from the sidewalk at any hour after dark. Donations are optional, and a sponsored star starts at $1,000.
Getting there: a short walk from Burrard SkyTrain station or from most downtown hotels.
The City of Coquitlam calls this Metro Vancouver's largest free outdoor winter lights display: light installations around the walking loop of Lafarge Lake. The 27 November opening night adds food trucks and live entertainment. It is the best free option for families, and it runs long: last season the lights stayed up until mid-February.
Getting there: Lafarge Lake–Douglas station, the end of the Millennium Line, is next to the park, about 45 minutes from downtown by SkyTrain.
A long-running Vancouver tradition: a flotilla of private boats decorated with lights, some carrying choirs, sails past the shoreline on December evenings. Last year the sailings ran on Friday and Saturday nights from 29 November to 20 December, mostly between 7 and 9pm. The 2026 route schedule is published closer to the season. Good viewing spots include the English Bay seawall, Kitsilano and Ambleside in West Vancouver.
The museum's recreated 1920s village, formerly the Heritage Christmas event, is lit up for the holidays, with period shops and its restored antique carousel (rides have cost extra in past seasons). The City of Burnaby publishes the 2026 dates and hours in the autumn; check before you go.
The Shipyards Skate Plaza, the region's largest outdoor rink, sits on North Vancouver's waterfront facing the lit downtown skyline across the harbour. Last season skating was free, with rentals at $8 for adults and $5.50 for children, and the rink ran from noon to 8pm into late March. The 2026–27 opening date has not been announced. The ride over is part of the evening: the SeaBus from Waterfront Station lands you at Lonsdale Quay, steps from the rink. See our ice skating guide and North Vancouver guide.
Start at Lights of Hope on Burrard Street after dark, walk north down Burrard past the shop windows of Robson Street, and finish on the waterfront at Jack Poole Plaza, where the Christmas Market runs from 16 November and the Olympic Cauldron sits next to the harbour. That is roughly 1.6 km. Add the Christmas Market if you want mulled wine; the market itself is ticketed.
The suspension bridge, the Treetops Adventure walkways and the Cliffwalk are lit over the rainforest canyon, with the WILDLIGHT forest projection and a North Pole photo spot. There is no separate event ticket: timed park admission covers the lights, priced by date and arrival window on capbridge.com, and BC residents can use the Annual Pass. Arrive about an hour before sunset to see the canyon by day and lit, on one ticket. The park's free shuttle leaves from Canada Place. Full details in our Canyon Lights 2026 guide.
The City of Vancouver's long-running festival lights up the botanical garden, with a light show on the lake among its highlights. Tickets are sold online for timed entry. Event listings give 27 November to 3 January, 4 to 10pm, closed Christmas Day, but confirm on vancouver.ca before you plan around it; we could not verify the 2026 dates with the City directly. The #17 Oak bus runs from downtown to the garden. More in our VanDusen Festival of Lights guide.
A large outdoor light festival with heated and covered areas. The 2026 theme is Christmas Treasures, an underwater adventure with zones like the Shipwreck Graveyard, Jellyfish Cavern and Atlantis Maze. Ticket prices vary by date, children under 3 are free, parking is free, and 31 December is a special New Year's Eve celebration. It is in the Fraser Valley, so plan on driving.
Closed 30 November and 7, 24 and 25 December. This is the Christmas lights event that ran in Stanley Park for more than 25 years; it moved to the Cloverdale Fairgrounds in Surrey from the 2025 season, as part of the Noel Holiday Light Festival. Children 6 and under are free and parking is included. If you are staying downtown, it is a long trip by transit, so drive if you can.
If it is Stanley Park after dark you miss, the old railway site has a different light show this season: Astra Lumina, a ticketed night walk by Moment Factory that opens on 22 October. It is not a Christmas display, and its closing date had not been announced when we checked on 28 September 2026.
At the top of the Skyride, the Light Walk circles Blue Grouse Lake through a glowing light tunnel, next to the only mountaintop outdoor skating pond in the Lower Mainland, plus Santa's Workshop and sleigh rides. It is included with a Mountain Admission ticket or pass; last season skate rentals were $10 for adults and $6 for children. Snow is not guaranteed. See whether Grouse Mountain is worth it and our downtown to Capilano and Grouse route guide.
Less a light show than a German-style market in lights, on the waterfront next to the Canada Place shuttle stop for Canyon Lights. Single tickets start at $7.99 in pre-sale until 15 November and cost $11.99 to $13.99 after, and children 6 and under are free. Hours, season passes and the best times to go are in our Christmas Market 2026 guide.
Dates and details checked 27 September 2026 against capbridge.com, St. Paul's Foundation (helpstpauls.com), the City of Coquitlam, Glow Langley, Grouse Mountain, the Noel Holiday Light Festival, the Vancouver Christmas Market, VanDusen Botanical Garden and North Vancouver Recreation & Culture. The City of Vancouver and City of Burnaby sites were not reachable when we checked, so VanDusen and Festive Village details come from event listings and past seasons. Carol Ships dates are from last season. Check each organizer before you go.
The first to switch on is Lights of Hope at St. Paul's Hospital, on 12 November. Glow Langley opens on 19 November, Canyon Lights at Capilano on 20 November, and Lights at Lafarge and Bright Nights in Surrey on 27 November. VanDusen Festival of Lights is listed from 27 November. Most run into early January.
Lights of Hope on the front of St. Paul's Hospital on Burrard Street, Lights at Lafarge in Coquitlam (Metro Vancouver's largest free outdoor lights display), the Carol Ships Parade of Lights watched from the shore, and the lit waterfront at the Shipyards in North Vancouver.
Canyon Lights is included in regular admission to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park; there is no separate event ticket. The park prices admission by date and arrival window on capbridge.com, GST is extra, and children aged 5 and under are free.
No. After more than 25 years in Stanley Park, Bright Nights moved to the Cloverdale Fairgrounds in Surrey from the 2025 season, as part of the Noel Holiday Light Festival. In 2026 it runs from 27 November to 29 December, 3 to 9:30pm.
Event listings give 27 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, 4 to 10pm, closed on Christmas Day. Tickets are sold by the City of Vancouver for timed entry, so confirm the dates and book on vancouver.ca.
It is the last one on Burrard Street. St. Paul's Foundation says the 12 November 2026 launch will be its final Lights of Hope celebration at the Burrard Street hospital, before St. Paul's opens its new hospital in early 2027.
Lights of Hope and the Christmas Market are downtown. Canyon Lights has a free shuttle from Canada Place, VanDusen is on the #17 Oak bus, Lights at Lafarge is next to Lafarge Lake–Douglas SkyTrain station, and the Shipyards are a SeaBus ride away. Glow Langley and Bright Nights in Surrey are much easier by car.
Free displays in public spaces, such as Lights of Hope and Lights at Lafarge, can still be seen. Canyon Lights, Glow Langley, Bright Nights and VanDusen (per listings) are closed on 25 December, and the Christmas Market ends on 24 December.
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