Top activities in Vancouver in January usually include skiing and other snow sports, winter festivals, dining out and being outdoors when it’s not raining.
Below we list top activities in 2025 and typical years. Highlights of the month include skiing at local Ski Hills, the Dine Out Vancouver Festival and PuSh Performing Arts Festival. Some years there are also Lunar New Year events. Those start towards the end of January this year.
There are lots of other fun things to do too including Polar Bear Swims on January 1st. Continue reading for examples of what’s happening.
Below you’ll find a list of recommended winter activities as well as January’s best festivals, events and live entertainment.
As you’ll see from our list, highlights of the month include seeing live theatre at places like the Arts Club or The Improv Centre. There is also snowshoeing in Grouse Mountain’s Light Walk trails, tubing at Cypress and Mount Seymour, and enjoying the snow at any of the region’s great Ski Hills. (Hopefully we’ll get lots of snow in January. Fingers crossed that we do!)
Top January Activities
January is typically a fairly cold, dark and wet month. Consequently, best things to do include Indoor Activities most days, snow sports in the mountains anytime it’s not raining at higher elevations, and Outdoor Recreational Activities close to town whenever it’s sunny.
Festivals, Events and Shows
Special events in January include the following:
January Christmas Attractions
Christmas might be over, but some of the Lower Mainland’s best Christmas-themed attractions continue for a bit of January. Some of our favourites include the following:
- Bright Nights – the train rides are no longer happening, but the Christmas decorations and illuminations continue at Stanley Park until January 4th in 2024.
- Festival of Lights – the Christmas lights and festivities at VanDusen Botanical Garden. (Until January 5th in 2025.)
- Martini Town Merry & Bright – the Christmas attraction at the Hollywood-style film studio runs until January 5th this year.
- Holiday History & Hot Chocolate Tour – winter holiday-themed guided walking tours in downtown Vancouver run until January 10th.
- Lights on the Lake – Christmas illuminations and light displays line the waterfront at Harrison Hot Springs. (Until January 12th in 2025.)
- Canyon Lights – Christmas light displays are at Capilano Suspension Bridge until January 19th in 2025.
- Lights at Lafarge – the Christmas illuminations at Coquitlam’s Town Centre Park (until the end of February in 2025).
Vancouver Indoor Activities
Best ways to escape the winter weather in Vancouver include the following most years (but in some cases not in 2021):
- Dining Out – eating out is a great indoor activity anytime of the year, but especially in the second half of January during the Dine Out Vancouver Festival when hundreds of restaurants are offering special deals.
- Taking in a Show – in addition to movies, lots of live entertainment takes place in Vancouver. Highlights in January include PuSh Festival performances. See Vancouver Shows and Entertainment for details.
- Watching Live Hockey – Nothing is more stereotypically Canadian in winter than hockey, and the Vancouver Canucks and Vancouver Giants play about ten home games between them most years in January.
- Ice Skating – there are lots of community rec centres where you can go ice skating in January most years. A couple of outdoor (yet covered) places to skate for free though are at Robson Square and North Vancouver’s Shipyards.
- Exercising Indoors – January is usually a great month for being indoors and swimming at area recreation centres, especially at places like Watermania in Richmond and the West Vancouver Aquatic Centre on the North Shore. Fitness classes are also popular this time of year, and especially nice are sessions of hot yoga!
- Visit an Indoor Attraction – Vancouver’s museums, art galleries and other indoor attractions are great places to visit when the weather is miserable. Check out Vancouver’s Best Indoor Activities for ideas.
For more ways to escape the rain, check out Vancouver’s top Rainy Day Activities.
Fun in the Snow Activities
January is one of the best months to go downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, tobogganing and tubing. Here is where you can do all that close by on the North Shore:
- Cypress Mountain – Vancouver’s ski hill with the most terrain, lifts and vertical drop also features a fantastic tubing park and both cross-country and snowshoeing trails.
- Mount Seymour – a great family ski hill with tubing, tobogganing and snowshoe trails, plus free snowshoeing at the provincial park next door.
- Grouse Mountain – the resort offers excellent skiing and snowboarding opportunities with awesome terrain parks, plus outdoor skating, snowshoeing trails, an indoor theatre, restaurants with views and a Light Walk and Sliding Zone.
Great snow activity venues a little further afield include the following:
- Sasquatch Mountain – a ski resort located not far from Harrison Hot Springs.
- Manning Provincial Park – although about three hours from Vancouver, it’s close for residents of the Fraser Valley, offers a change of scenery for city folk and features great snow for alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, snowboarding and tubing.
- Whistler-Blackcomb – Canada’s premier ski resort offers some of the best skiing and snowboarding opportunities in the world, as well as cross-country trails, tubing, snowmobiling, skating, heli-skiing, and even bobsleighing and dog sledding.
Best Outdoor Places on Sunny Days
January is one of Vancouver’s coldest and wettest months of the year, which means any day that’s clear and sunny is a great day to be outdoors. In addition to the above ski hills, top outdoor places to explore in January include the following:
Walking Trails in Nature – parks that still look exceptional in winter include Burnaby’s Deer Lake Park, Fort Langley‘s Fort to Fort Trail, Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver, Lynn Canyon Park and Rice Lake in North Vancouver, anywhere in Stanley Park, Sasamat Lake in Belcarra Regional Park and Alice Lake by Squamish.
Urban Walking Trails and Seawalls – top places for a stroll on a sunny January day in the city include the Stanley Park seawall, from Ambleside to Dundarave in West Vancouver, anywhere along the False Creek Seawall, and along the waterfront in Coal Harbour and by English Bay.
Other Information
For more information on what’s happening this month, check out Vancouver’s Best Places’ January Events Calendar.
Other articles that might be of interest include the following:
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