Stanley Park

Stanley Park covers about 400 hectares of forest, beaches and gardens on a peninsula beside downtown Vancouver, making it larger than New York's Central Park. The seawall path runs around its edge for about nine kilometres, with the city skyline on one side and the North Shore mountains on the other.

Hire a bicycle and ride the seawall in about an hour, stopping at the totem poles at Brockton Point and the view of the Lions Gate Bridge from Prospect Point. The Vancouver Aquarium is inside the park, and the sandy beaches of English Bay are on its southern edge.

Cyclists ride counter-clockwise on the seawall, so follow the flow. Combine the park with Granville Island's public market or a day trip up the Sea-to-Sky Highway to Whistler.