Photo: Grouse Mountain
This Valentines’s Day celebrate your love with a #VeryVancouver date night. Hold hands as you snowshoe under the stars, gaze into their eyes over a romantic dinner, or bliss out at the spa. Here are our picks for some uniquely Vancouver date night ideas for Valentine’s Day.
Hit the Slopes
What could be more romantic than holding hands in the lift line, snuggling on the chair lift, then swooping down the runs while the city lights sparkle below you? Mount Seymour, Grouse Mountain, and Cypress Mountain all have runs lit up for night skiing.
Photo: Grouse Mountain
Go on a Hot Chocolate Crawl
Valentine’s Day is the last day to indulge in the month-long Greater Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival. You can sip 106 unique hot chocolate concoctions at 44 participating businesses. Use their handy hot chocolate map to plot a walking or biking route between cafes.
Photo: Kobby Mendez/Unsplash
Stroll Through Augmented Reality Art at VMF Winter Arts
From February 11 to 27 the Vancouver Mural Festival Winter Arts Fest will transform downtown Vancouver into an open-air art gallery. Local landmarks will be blanketed with illuminated art and light installations created by local and international artists. Use your smartphone to experience augmented reality elements.
Photo: VMF Winter Arts Fest
Take a Chocolate Fondue Snowshoe Tour
Twinkling stars and bright headlamps light up your path as you snowshoe through a winter wonderland. Your tour finishes with a delicious chocolate fondue feast in a hand-carved snow lounge. Book tours at Mount Seymour.
Photo: Mount Seymour/Facebook
Go for a Romantic Dinner
Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to eat a decadent meal. Many Vancouver restaurants offer special Valentine’s Day menus. Celebrate at Botanist with a special Valentine’s Day six-course tasting menu that includes caviar, sea bass, lamb, and of course dessert. Water Street Cafe has a four-course set menu for Valentine’s Day that you can enjoy while listening to live music.
Photo: Botanist
Walk Through a Snowy Forest of Twinkling Lights
Take a romantic snowshoe stroll through a snowy forest past thousands of twinkling lights hand-in-hand with your Valentine. Both Grouse Mountain and Cypress Mountain offer enchanting snowshoe light walks this winter.
Grouse Mountain’s Light Walk experience starts with a tunnel of lights and leads you around Blue Grouse Lake. Warm-up afterwards with hot chocolate and s’mores at Altitudes Bistro.
At Cypress Mountain, Lights to the Lodge is an easy snowshoe trek to the historic Hollyburn Lodge. The trail is lit up with LED lights strung through the old-growth forest. Take a break at the lodge to enjoy hot drinks and treats, then follow another lit trail back to the parking lot. You must reserve tickets (which include snowshoe rentals) in advance.
Lights to the Lodge at Cypress Mountain. Photo: Cypress Mountain
Plan a Spa Day
The Vancouver area is home to lots of luxurious spas. Book a couples retreat at CHI, The Spa at Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver which includes side-by-side aromatic steam, seaweed wrap, and massage. The Spa at the Wedgewood is offering a three-hour Romantic Tranquility Escape package that includes a couples massage and facials. Or head to Scandinave Spa Whistler to experience rejuvenating outdoor baths, Finnish-style saunas, steam rooms, and cold water plunge pools.
Photo: Scandinave Spa Whistler
