Thanksgiving in Vancouver 2026

Thanksgiving 2026 in Vancouver at a glance

Canadian Thanksgiving falls on Monday, October 12, 2026, the second Monday in October, and it is one of British Columbia’s statutory holidays. That turns Saturday 10 to Monday 12 October into a long weekend. On the Monday banks, Canada Post and government offices close, while most attractions, malls, restaurants and the Granville Island Public Market stay open, many of them on holiday hours. Families usually sit down to turkey dinner on the Sunday or the Monday, so restaurant tables, ferries and the border crossings are all busier than on an ordinary October weekend.

What’s open on Thanksgiving Monday

Holiday hours are set venue by venue, and not every venue has posted its 2026 hours yet. Where a venue lists hours for October 12, the table gives them; where it has not, it gives last year’s holiday-Monday hours and says so.

Closed on the Monday: banks, Canada Post (no mail delivery), federal, provincial and city government offices, and most public library branches. TransLink’s Customer Service Centre and Lost Property Office have closed on past Thanksgivings too.

Transit, ferries and the border

TransLink: 1-Zone fares everywhere

TransLink’s fare rules make every trip on a provincial statutory holiday a 1-Zone fare, however far you go. On Thanksgiving Monday a SkyTrain ride from Waterfront to Surrey Central, or the SeaBus across to Lonsdale Quay, costs the same as one stop downtown. The exception is the $6.50 YVR AddFare, which still applies to journeys that start at YVR–Airport, Sea Island Centre or Templeton stations. Tap a contactless card or a Compass Card as on any other day.

In recent years TransLink has run bus, SkyTrain and SeaBus on a Sunday/holiday schedule on Thanksgiving Monday, with no West Coast Express trains. In 2024 it also added trips on the 620 to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal and the 257 express to Horseshoe Bay for the long-weekend ferry crowds. Check TransLink’s alerts on the day, and see our transit guide for visitors for fares and zones.

BC Ferries

Thanksgiving is one of BC Ferries’ busiest weekends of the year. In its advisories for past Thanksgivings the operator named Thursday and Friday afternoons and Saturday morning as the peak for leaving Tsawwassen and Horseshoe Bay, and Thanksgiving Monday as the peak for the trips back to the mainland. With a car, reserve, especially on the Tsawwassen–Swartz Bay route to Victoria. Foot passengers can usually walk on; take the 620 bus to Tsawwassen or the 257 to Horseshoe Bay rather than driving, because the terminal car parks fill early on long weekends. Planning the crossing: Vancouver to Victoria.

The US border

Monday, October 12 is also Columbus Day, or Indigenous Peoples’ Day, in the United States, so both sides of the border are on a long weekend at once. Expect queues at the Peace Arch and Pacific Highway crossings, typically heaviest northbound at the start of the weekend and southbound on the Monday afternoon. Check live border wait times before you leave; driving up for the weekend, see Seattle to Vancouver.

Long weekend events: October 8–12

For the rest of the month, including the Canucks’ home dates and Halloween, see things to do in Vancouver in October and the events calendar.

Pumpkin patches on the long weekend

Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest three days of the pumpkin-patch season, and weekend prices apply on all three. At Laity the holiday Monday is charged at the weekend rate too. Go at opening time if you want the fields and the parking to yourself.

Cheaper options: Port Kells in Surrey charges $6.99, Hazelmere in South Surrey $12.50 at weekends, and the Westham Island Herb Farm in Delta is free to walk in. Prices are the farms’ own 2026 figures; the Halloween side of the season is in our Halloween 2026 guide.

For hours, drive times, dog rules and what each ticket actually includes, see our guide to eight pumpkin patches near Vancouver — it also flags which farms get busiest over the long weekend.

Salmon: the long weekend’s best free outing

October is when the fall salmon come back up the Lower Mainland’s rivers to spawn, and the long weekend lands as the run is building. The Capilano River Hatchery (4500 Capilano Park Road, North Vancouver), a Fisheries and Oceans Canada hatchery just below Cleveland Dam, is free and a short drive from downtown; coho and chinook climb its fish ladder in October. Hours change with the season, so check the DFO hatchery page first. See getting from downtown to Capilano and Grouse.

The bigger show is the Weaver Creek Spawning Channel near Harrison Mills, roughly two hours east of downtown: open 8am–4pm daily from October 1, with salmon usually in the channel from about October 6 and the peak around October 15–20. The hot pools at Harrison Hot Springs are about half an hour away.

Peak dates for every site, the closer runs in Surrey and Coquitlam, and what to expect from this year’s Salute to the Sockeye on the Adams River are in our salmon run guide.

Thanksgiving dinner: book, cook or eat out

Eating out: the Sunday and Monday evenings fill with family dinners, so book as early as you can. Some restaurants and hotel dining rooms swap to a set Thanksgiving menu for the weekend; ask when you book whether the regular menu is still available.

Cooking in a rental: the Granville Island Public Market is open 9am–6pm on the Monday itself, the Trout Lake Farmers Market runs on the Saturday morning, and most big supermarkets open on the holiday, many on shorter hours. Buy wine or beer before Monday evening if the liquor store near you is private and keeps short holiday hours.

On a budget: our cheap eats guide covers the places that stay good value on a holiday weekend.

Canadian and American Thanksgiving

Canada’s Thanksgiving comes about six weeks before the American one. Parliament fixed it to the second Monday in October by a proclamation of 31 January 1957, as a day of thanks “for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” The dinner itself will look familiar to Americans: turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.

American Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, 2026. In Canada that is an ordinary working day: shops, offices and transit run as normal, and many Canadian retailers now hold Black Friday sales on November 27 too.

Weather and daylight

Environment Canada’s 1991–2020 normals for Vancouver airport give October a daytime high of 13.5 °C (56 °F), an overnight low of 7.0 °C (45 °F) and about 124 mm of rain on 15 days. On October 12 the sun rises at about 7:30am and sets at about 6:30pm. Put outdoor plans such as the pumpkin patch, a fall-colours walk or the Stanley Park seawall in the morning, pack a hooded waterproof layer and keep an indoor fallback: Vancouver on a rainy day.

Where to stay

Hotels price Thanksgiving as a holiday weekend, and in 2026 it also carries VIFF’s closing days and a BC Lions home game on the Friday, so book early and compare. A Sunday-night stay with a Monday check-out often avoids the Saturday-night peak. Neighbourhood by neighbourhood: where to stay in Vancouver.