Date Night Ideas in Vancouver

Setup.A Thursday evening and a bus to UBC Exchange (the 99 B Line is one of several routes), then a 15 minute walk northwest to the museum, or paid parking in front of it. Check hours and Thursday evening admission before you go.

1. Start in the Great Hall, where the glass walls rise about 15 meters behind the carved poles and house posts. Stay long enough to watch the light change outside.
2. Find the Bill Reid Rotunda and The Raven and the First Men, the yellow cedar carving that used to be on the Canadian twenty dollar bill. Walk all the way around it once without talking.
3. Split up in the Multiversity Galleries for twenty minutes. Each of you picks one object out of the thousands on display and brings the other to it.
4. On the way out, if there is still light, walk past the Haida houses and memorial poles beside the reflecting pond.

Talk about:If a museum kept one object from our life together a hundred years from now, what should it be?

Setup.Look up the tide predictions for Point Atkinson, the Canadian Hydrographic Service station across the water in West Vancouver, on tides.gc.ca, and pick a day with a properly low tide at an hour that suits you both. Shoes you do not mind getting wet, a towel, a warm layer.

1. Head for Spanish Bank West, the stretch set aside as a quiet beach, where the flats are at their most dramatic.
2. Arrive a little before low tide and walk out together as the water drops, stopping at whatever shallow pool one of you wants to crouch over.
3. Turn around at the far edge and take in English Bay, downtown and the North Shore in one frame.
4. Walk back in as the tide turns, then sit on the sand and watch the water cover the flats you just crossed.

Talk about:What is something that felt enormous a year ago and looks small from out here?

Setup.Evening tickets booked ahead through the festival, which runs June to September. A warm layer each, since the temperature drops after sunset. Vanier Park is at the south end of the Burrard Street Bridge.

1. Arrive when the site opens, about an hour before curtain, and wander the festival village.
2. Get a hot drink or a snack from the concession and people watch until it is time to go in.
3. Take your seats early and look at what is behind the stage before the lights go down.
4. After the show, walk along the water in Vanier Park and trade your favorite line.

Talk about:Which character tonight were you most like when we first met?

Setup.A clear morning between late spring and fall; Metro Vancouver closes the trail over winter, usually from November until April or May, so check the trail status and hours first. Water, a snack, a layer for the top, proper shoes, and download tickets for the Red Skyride or Blue Grouse Gondola ride down.

1. Start early from the trailhead at the base of Grouse Mountain.
2. Agree on one rule before the first step: the slower of you sets the pace, and nobody apologizes for stopping.
3. Expect somewhere between an hour and a half and two and a half hours to the top. Stop and breathe as often as you need.
4. At the top, take your time around the Peak Chalet and the view before riding down together.

Talk about:What is the hardest thing we have done together so far, and did it feel like this in the middle?

Setup.A drizzly afternoon, an umbrella for the walk over, and admission for the inner garden; the public park next door is free. Check hours before you go.

1. Start in the free park, which shares the pond with the garden, and walk slowly around the water while the city noise drops away.
2. Head into the inner garden and join one of the free guided tours if one is starting.
3. Afterward, go around again on your own. Each of you picks one rock, plant or view and brings the other to it.
4. Find a spot under a pavilion roof, look out over the jade green pond and the koi, and listen to the rain for ten minutes before either of you talks.

Talk about:What is one thing in our life that is better slow that we keep trying to rush?

Setup.A winter evening, warm gloves, and your own skates or a rental on site. Season dates and skating times are posted each year, so check before you go.

1. Meet up on Robson Street and head down to the rink level.
2. Skate a few slow laps together; whoever is steadier gets to skate backward and show off.
3. Take a break at the boards and watch downtown go by above you.
4. Afterward, walk the length of the square, which runs from the Law Courts at one end to the art gallery at the other.

Talk about:What is a winter tradition from your childhood you would like us to borrow?

Setup.A working sugar shack in season (Feb–April). Layers, they are cold.

1. Tour the boiling room with the producer.
2. Eat tire-d'érable (maple taffy on snow).
3. Buy a small tin to take home.

Setup.A pumpkin patch (October only). Boots, it gets muddy.

1. Walk the whole patch before picking.
2. Hayride if available.
3. Carve at home that evening.

Setup.A national/state park with cabin or camping. Booking essential, many fill months out.

1. Drive Saturday morning, set up by lunch.
2. One real hike. One real meal at camp.
3. Coffee at sunrise Sunday before driving.

Setup.A loud cart-style yum cha or dim sum place. Cash for the bill.

1. Stop the first three carts that pass. Take one of each.
2. Order tea, jasmine, oolong, or pu-erh.
3. Stop ordering ten minutes before you think you should.

Setup.A wine region within driving distance. Designated driver or a tour shuttle. Light lunch booked at one cellar door.

1. Visit three vineyards. Buy one bottle from each.
2. Long lunch at the middle cellar door.
3. Walk between the buildings of the vineyard, slowly.
4. Drive home before sunset.

Setup.A real diner, booths, vinyl seats, a paper menu. Cash or card.

1. Sit in a booth, not at the counter.
2. Order one savoury and one sweet to share.
3. Stay through three coffee refills.
4. Tip 20%.

Setup.A pub with a weekly quiz night. Most pubs run them, usually free entry.

1. Order food before the quiz starts. Eating mid-quiz is hard.
2. Pick a team name. Submit it confidently.
3. Argue every contested answer.
4. Stay for the prize round even if you cannot win.

Setup.A pick-your-own orchard within an hour's drive. Autumn weekends.

1. Go early to skip the queue.
2. Pick more than you think, they keep.
3. Cider doughnut and hot apple cider before driving home.

Setup.A metro/subway/bus pass. A free afternoon. Comfortable shoes.

1. Take a line you rarely take. Get off at a random stop you have never visited.
2. Walk in a direction picked by a coin flip.
3. Eat at the first place that pulls you in.
4. Take a different line back home.

Setup.A bike-share app (Yulu, Lime, Citi Bike, Bicing, etc.) or two borrowed bikes. Helmets if available.

1. Pick a part of the city neither of you frequents.
2. Ride for an hour without checking the route.
3. Stop at the first place that smells of food.
4. Loop back via a different street.

Setup.A list of three highly-rated cafés within a 30-minute walk of each other.

1. Order something different at each, drip, espresso, single-origin.
2. Walk between, no taxis.
3. Each rates the cafés on three axes invented at the first stop.
4. The winner gets a "we will come back" promise.

Setup.A recipe each from your childhoods. Calls to your respective parents allowed.

1. Trade recipes the day before.
2. Each cooks the other's in parallel.
3. Eat both at the table. Rate authenticity gently.