Cycling the Stanley Park Seawall

Stanley Park sits on a 1,000-acre peninsula that Vancouver's early settlers chose to preserve rather than develop – a decision that shaped the city's character ever since. On this cycling tour, you'll follow the Seawall around the park's entire coastline, tracing the harbour's industrial past, Indigenous history, and the wildlife that thrives alongside one of the world's busiest ports.

The tour starts near the Stanley Park Information Booth, where you'll join the Seawall path and immediately pick up views of Coal Harbour. You'll hear how Bill Boeing built a seaplane factory here in 1929, and why the lone Chevron Fuel Barge – the last of its kind in British Columbia – still sits in the middle of the harbour. As you round Brockton Peninsula and turn north toward the mountains, the stories shift from commerce to tragedy, engineering, and the surprising origins of a few Vancouver landmarks.

The route passes under Lions Gate Bridge, built in the 1930s by the Guinness family with toll booths that many Vancouverites believe they've paid for twice. You'll cycle past Siwash Rock, where the Seawall's master stonemason James Cunningham – sometimes found building at night in his pyjamas – had his ashes interred into the path. The tour ends back near the Vancouver Rowing Club, close to the monument of Lord Stanley, whose name graces both the park and hockey's most famous trophy.

On this 75-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

• Stop at the bronze statue of Harry Jerome, Canada's World's Fastest Man and holder of seven world records
• Learn how the 1,500-pound Nine O'Clock Gun was stolen in 1969 – and returned for a ransom paid to a children's hospital
• Hear about the 1958 Ironworkers Memorial Bridge collapse, the largest industrial accident in Vancouver's history
• Spot the Girl in a Wetsuit sculpture, Vancouver's answer to Copenhagen's Little Mermaid
• Listen for the story of the $56,000 buried near the cricket pitch – treasure many believe is still hidden in the park
• Discover how grey squirrels, introduced to attract tourists in 1911, became one of British Columbia's most invasive species

Strap on your helmet, charge your phone, and get ready for a ride that covers 1,000 years of history in one unbroken loop.

Please note: There is no place to rent bicycles inside the Park. There are a number of rental shops on Denman Street prior to entering the park.