City walk Vancouver — Gastown, Canada

Gastown to Chinatown: Vancouver's Oldest Streets

A short, dense walk from the white sails of Canada Place through the cobbled saloon town where Vancouver began, past the steam clock and Maple Tree Square, into Canada's largest Chinatown and a Ming-style garden built by craftsmen from Suzhou.

Duration: 1 day
Distance: 3 km
Difficulty: Easy
Best season: Year-round (daytime); the garden is at its best in spring

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Vancouver is a young city of glass towers, which makes the few blocks where it started feel all the more distinct. Gastown grew around a saloon that a Yorkshire sailor and barkeep, John “Gassy Jack” Deighton, opened on the waterfront in 1867; the nickname for his endless talking became the name of the town. Its brick warehouses and hotels were slated for demolition under a freeway plan in the 1960s, and a campaign by residents, merchants and activists saved them. Gastown was declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 2009.

A few blocks south, Chinatown was built by Chinese immigrants who came in the late nineteenth century, many of them to build the Canadian Pacific Railway, and who stayed despite a punishing head tax and decades of exclusion laws. Today it is Canada’s largest Chinatown, home to a new museum telling that story and to one of the most beautiful gardens in the country.

Both neighbourhoods sit at the edge of the Downtown Eastside, the city’s poorest district, and you will see visible poverty and addiction on some blocks, especially around Hastings and Carrall Streets. Walk it in daylight, be respectful, and you will find it one of the most rewarding few kilometres in Vancouver.

Getting there. Start at Canada Place, a short walk from Waterfront Station, which is served by the Expo Line, the Canada Line and the SeaBus. The walk ends by the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen garden, a few minutes from Stadium–Chinatown Station on the Expo Line.

Permits & tickets. The streets, Canada Place’s promenade and the public park beside the Chinese garden are free. The classical garden itself and the Chinese Canadian Museum charge admission; check their official sites for current hours and prices before you go.

Good to know:

The steam clock whistles the Westminster chimes every quarter hour and puffs steam on the hour; arrive a minute or two early.
In 2024 the city began piloting car-free and car-light sections on Water Street, so the main Gastown street may be partly pedestrianised when you visit.
Chinatown is busiest and liveliest in the morning and early afternoon; many shops close early in the evening.

Tips & Insights for this route Planning this route? Read our practical tips before you go — 8 tips. Read the tips

Download waypoints (GPX) Points of interest in walking order — not a trail trace.

Day by day

DayDistanceAscentDescentWalking time

Day 1 Hardest dayFrom the harbour to the Chinese garden

Distance3 kmAscentNot recordedDescentNot recordedWalking timeNot recorded

Day 1

From the harbour to the Chinese garden

Canada Place → Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden 3 km

Navigate this day Print day

Canada Place and the old railway station, Water Street and the steam clock, Maple Tree Square, Chinatown’s Pender Street, and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen garden.

Segments

Canada Place 0.6 km Map

Canada Place promenade → Canada Place entrance, West Cordova Street

Waterfront promenade

Start on the pier with the white fabric roofs shaped like sails, built for Expo 86 on an old Canadian Pacific pier and now the terminal for Alaska cruises. Walk the outside promenade for the view across Burrard Inlet to the North Shore mountains, the floatplanes landing in Coal Harbour and the SeaBus crossing to North Vancouver. About 20 minutes.

About this place

Canada Place is a building situated on the Burrard Inlet in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is home to the Vancouver Convention Centre East Building, the Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel, the Vancouver World Trade Centre, and the virtual flight experience Flyover in Vancouver. The building's exterior is covered by fabric roofs resembling sails. It is also the main cruise ship passenger terminal for the region, where cruises to Alaska originate. The building was designed by architects Zeidler Roberts Partnership in joint venture with Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership and DA Architects + Planners.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Nicolas Untz · CC BY-SA 2.0
Waterfront Station 0.4 km Map

Canada Place → Waterfront Station

City sidewalk

Walk east along Cordova to the columned front of Waterfront Station, opened by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1914 as the Pacific terminus of its transcontinental trains. Step inside for the grand hall, now a hub for SkyTrain, SeaBus and commuter trains. About 10 minutes.

About this place

Waterfront station is a major intermodal public transportation facility and the main transit terminus in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is on West Cordova Street in Downtown Vancouver, between Granville and Seymour Street. The station is also accessible via two other street-level entrances, one on Howe Street to the west for direct access to the Expo Line and another on Granville Street to the south for direct access to the Canada Line.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0
Water Street and the steam clock 0.6 km Map

Waterfront Station → Water Street and Carrall Street

Brick-paved street

Water Street is Gastown's main drag, lined with brick warehouses, shops and restaurants. At the corner of Cambie stands the steam clock, built in 1977 by horologist Raymond Saunders over a vent of the downtown steam heating system. Despite the Victorian styling it is modern, and since 1986 an electric motor has kept the time, but steam still blows its whistles for the quarter-hour chimes. About 20 minutes.

About this place

A steam clock is a clock which is fully or partially powered by a steam engine. Only a few functioning steam clocks exist, most designed and built by Canadian horologist Raymond Saunders for display in urban public spaces. Steam clocks built by Saunders are located in Otaru, Japan; Indianapolis, Indiana; and the Canadian cities of Vancouver, Whistler and Port Coquitlam, all in British Columbia. Steam clocks by other makers are installed in St Helier, Jersey and at the Chelsea Farmers' Market in London, England.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Leonard G. at en.wikipedia · CC SA 1.0
Maple Tree Square 0.2 km Map

Water Street and Carrall Street → Hotel Europe, Powell Street

Cobbled square

This small square is where Gastown began, close to where Gassy Jack opened his saloon in 1867. His statue stood here until protesters pulled it down in 2022. Across the square rises the Hotel Europe, a narrow flatiron building of 1908–1909 on a triangular lot, the first reinforced-concrete structure in Canada. About 15 minutes.

About this place

Hotel Europe is a six-storey heritage building located at 43 Powell Street in the Gastown area of Vancouver, British Columbia. The building was commissioned by hotelier Angelo Calori and built in 1908-1909 by Parr and Fee Architects. Situated on a triangular lot, the building is designed in the flatiron style. It was the first reinforced concrete structure to be built in Canada and the earliest fireproof hotel in Western Canada. Contractors had to be brought in from Cincinnati, Ohio for the necessary expertise; the Ferro-Concrete Construction Company began this project six years after constructing the first tall concrete building in the world.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: FrankeeD · CC BY 3.0
Into Chinatown 0.8 km Map

Maple Tree Square → Pender Street and Carrall Street

City sidewalk

Walk south on Carrall Street across Hastings into Chinatown, centred on Pender Street, with the ornamental Millennium Gate a block west. On Pender, the Chinese Canadian Museum occupies the Wing Sang Building, built in 1889 by merchant Yip Sang and the oldest brick building in Chinatown; the museum opened in 2023, a century after the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act. On the corner of Carrall is the Sam Kee Building, just 1.5 metres wide at street level. About 45 minutes with the museum.

About this place

Chinatown is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is Canada's largest Chinatown. Centred around Pender Street, it is surrounded by Gastown to the north, the Downtown financial and central business districts to the west, the Georgia Viaduct and the False Creek inlet to the south, the Downtown Eastside and the remnant of old Japantown to the northeast, and the residential neighbourhood of Strathcona to the southeast.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden 0.4 km Map

Pender Street and Carrall Street → Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

Garden paths

End at the first Chinese garden built outside Asia, opened in April 1986 and designed with experts from Suzhou in the style of a Ming-dynasty scholar's garden. Craggy rocks, a jade-green pond, covered walkways and framed windows make a single city block feel far larger than it is. The free public park next door shares the pond and is a quiet place to sit when you are done. About 45 minutes.

About this place

The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is a Chinese garden in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Located in the city's Chinatown, it was the first Chinese garden built outside of Asia. It is located at 578 Carrall Street and consists of a freely accessible public park and a garden with an admission fee. The mandate of the garden is to "maintain and enhance the bridge of understanding between Chinese and western cultures, promote Chinese culture generally and be an integral part of the local community."
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Ɱ · CC BY-SA 4.0