A Weekend in Burnaby and New Westminster: Galleries, Deer Lake and the Fraser River

Plan my Burnaby weekend · What's on this weekend

Find a place to stay in Burnaby

---

Two days across two neighbouring cities: Burnaby for galleries, a Japanese Canadian museum and a lakeside lunch, New Westminster for the Fraser River waterfront and a downtown of beer and Italian food. Day 1 runs from Burnaby Mountain to Deer Lake. Day 2 moves to the river. It suits a couple or a small group who want museums by day and a stage or a brewery by night.

Start on Burnaby Mountain at Simon Fraser University, at the Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum at 8888 University Drive West. It shows changing exhibitions drawn with the SFU Art Collection and hosts talks, workshops and music. Tickets for upcoming events are on its page.

Next is the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre on Southoaks Crescent. TAIKEN, the permanent exhibit upstairs, follows Japanese Canadian history and heritage. Downstairs, an exhibit looks at Japanese Canadians displaced, dispersed and dispossessed. The centre has a Japanese Canadian garden, and its archives hold more than 61,500 photographs. Tickets for upcoming events are on its page.

Lunch is at Hart House Restaurant, on the shore of Deer Lake on Deer Lake Avenue. The kitchen cooks seasonal dishes with local and sustainable ingredients and picks herbs from its own garden. The dining room looks over the lake, and it serves lunch, weekend brunch and dinner. Book a table ahead through its site.

A short walk away, the Burnaby Art Gallery, also on Deer Lake Avenue, collects works on paper and rotates its exhibitions. In the same park, the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts runs live theatre and performances. Tickets for upcoming shows are on its page.

End the evening at Dageraad Brewing on Thunderbird Crescent. It brews Belgian-style beer in small batches and takes its name from a square in the east end of Antwerp, and the tasting room adds a covered, heated patio to the room inside. Tickets for upcoming events are on its page.

Find a place to stay in Burnaby

Find a place to stay in New Westminster

Cross into New Westminster and head for the Quayside boardwalk. The Fraser River Discovery Centre at 788 Quayside Drive sits on it, with exhibits about the river, Indigenous ones among them, on the second floor.

Walk uphill to Columbia Street for the Historic CPR Railway Station at 800 Columbia Street. It is a two-storey brick and sandstone building in the railway's chateau style, rebuilt after a fire destroyed the earlier wooden station, and listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.

Lunch is at Piva Modern Italian, also on Columbia Street. It cooks modern Italian dishes alongside meat and seasonal seafood, and the menus change with the seasons. Book a table through its site.

In the afternoon, drive to Steel & Oak Brewing Co. on 3rd Avenue. It brews unfiltered beer in North American and German styles, and the tasting room serves beer and food from Steel & Oak Kitchen, including burgers, fried chicken and snacks.

Finish at Howe Sound Taphouse & Kitchen on Columbia Street. It pours beer from Howe Sound Brewing, and the kitchen makes stone-fired pizzas, burgers and shareable plates.

• Deer Lake Park circles the lake with trails and wooden boardwalk sections, and the Burnaby Art Gallery, the Shadbolt Centre and Hart House all sit on or beside it, so one parking stop covers the afternoon.
• The Fraser River Discovery Centre on the Quay and the old CPR station on Columbia Street are a short walk apart, so leave the car for the morning.

See what's on this weekend.

Start from this plan, set your dates and swap any stop you like.

Make this my trip