Queen Elizabeth Park

A large public park on Little Mountain, the highest point within Vancouver at around a hundred and fifty metres, about twenty minutes from downtown.

The site was a stone quarry, and the two quarry pits have been planted as sunken gardens — the reason the landscaping here has a shape you do not find in an ordinary park.

On the summit sit the Bloedel Conservatory, a domed tropical greenhouse, a plaza with a fountain and a sculpture, and the viewpoint that draws most visitors.

Around them are lawns, an arboretum, tennis courts, a pitch and putt course and a disc golf course.

The park is free and open at all hours. The conservatory is ticketed and has set opening hours.

The reason most people come. From the plaza on the summit you look north over the whole downtown skyline with the North Shore mountains rising behind it.

It is the classic Vancouver view — better than the tourist lookouts, because you get the towers, the water and the mountains in one frame rather than looking down on the city from within it.

It is free and available at any hour.

Best at sunset and in the hour afterwards, when the towers light up. Also excellent early on a clear morning.

This is where Vancouver wedding photographers bring couples, which tells you what you need to know. Expect several photo shoots in progress at any time on a fine weekend.

The two sunken gardens in the old quarry pits are the horticultural heart of the park and are genuinely impressive.

Steep rock walls, waterfalls, ponds, a stone bridge and dense seasonal planting, all below the level of the surrounding ground, which gives them a sheltered, enclosed quality.

They are at their best from late spring through summer, when the bedding is fully out.

Paths wind down into and through them, with steps in places and a gentler route around.

They are free, and a great many visitors who came for the view end up rating the gardens higher.

A domed greenhouse on the summit holding a tropical rainforest environment: palms, orchids, koi, and several hundred free-flying birds including parrots and macaws.

It is ticketed, modestly priced, and small — allow half an hour to forty-five minutes.

The birds are the draw. They fly loose around the dome, they are used to people, and they are unmistakably the reason children remember this place.

It is warm and humid inside, which makes it a good option on a cold or wet day.

Opinion on value is generally positive, with the caveat that it is a single room and anyone expecting a large botanical institution should go to VanDusen instead.

About twenty minutes by car from downtown, on the city’s south side.

There is paid parking within the park, and it fills on fine weekends and at sunset. Street parking around the edges is residential and restricted in places.

By transit, the Canada Line SkyTrain to King Edward station leaves a walk of ten to fifteen minutes, partly uphill. Buses also serve the park.

It is a hill, and the walk up from the nearest transit is a real climb, which is worth knowing before setting off with small children or in heat.

VanDusen Botanical Garden is a short distance away and the two pair naturally.

Sunset is the headline. The view faces north across the city, so the light on the towers and the mountains in the last hour of the day is the best of it, and the plaza fills accordingly.

Early morning is the quietest and clearest, with the gardens empty and the light good.

Midday on a summer weekend is the busiest, with weddings, photo shoots and families all on the summit at once.

The park is open at all hours, so a night visit for the lit skyline is available and rarely crowded.

The conservatory keeps its own hours and closes well before the park does.

August, July and June are the busiest, with May and September close behind.

January, February and November are the quietest.

The gardens peak from late spring to late summer, which is when the park is at its most spectacular.

Autumn brings good colour in the arboretum. Winter strips the gardens back but leaves the view, which is often at its clearest on a cold bright day.

The conservatory is a year-round proposition and is at its most appealing in the months when being outdoors is least appealing.

An hour covers the summit, the view and a walk through the quarry gardens.

Two hours is comfortable with the conservatory added and time to sit.

Half a day if you are combining with VanDusen Botanical Garden nearby, which is the natural pairing.

It is not a full-day destination on its own, and it works best as a stop on the way to or from somewhere else on the south side of the city, or as a deliberate sunset trip.

There is a restaurant on the summit with a view, which is well regarded and is worth booking at peak times, plus a café.

Public toilets are available near the plaza and the conservatory.

There are benches throughout and plenty of grass, so a picnic is a good option in fine weather.

Water fountains are available seasonally.

The park is large enough that facilities are concentrated on the summit rather than distributed, so plan around that if you are walking the outer sections.

The conservatory birds are the winner — free-flying parrots at close range hold attention in a way plants do not.

Beyond that: space to run, the quarry gardens with their bridges and waterfalls, a playground, and the fountain plaza.

The walk up from transit is steep for small legs, so drive or take a bus that stops close if you can.

Strollers are manageable on the main paths and awkward on the stepped sections into the quarry gardens.

It is a good, low-cost couple of hours with children and pairs well with a picnic.

The summit plaza, the viewpoint, the conservatory and the restaurant are all accessible, with parking close by.

The quarry gardens are the difficulty. The route down into them involves steps in places, though there is a gentler path, and the gradients within are noticeable.

The park as a whole is on a hill, so expect slopes wherever you go.

Accessible parking is available near the summit, which is the practical way to reach the best of the park without tackling the climb.

Accessible toilets are provided at the main facilities.

There is little to criticise here, and the negative accounts are mostly people who expected the conservatory to be larger.

The minimal version: drive up, look at the view for ten minutes, leave.

The better version: come an hour before sunset, walk down through the quarry gardens while the light is good, come back up for the skyline as the towers light, and add the conservatory earlier in the day if the birds appeal.

It is free, it is the best view in Vancouver, and it is where locals go rather than where tour buses stop. Both of those are recommendations.