Cypress Provincial Park

Around 8km north of West Van via Hwy 99, Cypress offers some great summertime hikes, including the Baden-Powell, Yew Lake and Howe Sound Crest trails, which plunge through forests of cedar, yellow cypress and Douglas fir and wind past little lakes and alpine meadows. In winter, the park’s Cypress Mountain resort area – site of the snowboard and freestyle skiing events at the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games – makes this one of the city’s favorite snowbound playgrounds. From downtown Vancouver, drivers should cross the Lions Gate Bridge to the Upper Levels Hwy via Taylor Way in West Vancouver. Follow the signs to the park entrance.