10 Heritage Christmas Experiences Around Vancouver (Burnaby Village Museum, Fort Langley and More)

The Lower Mainland’s heritage sites do Christmas differently. You get a 1912 carousel instead of a light show and a wood stove instead of a food court. The history is real. At several of these sites, the holiday program is free.

This guide covers the historic villages, farmhouses, canneries, mansions and the fort that are worth a visit this holiday season, from Burnaby Village Museum and Steveston to Fort Langley and up the Sea to Sky. Where a site has posted its 2026 dates and prices, you’ll find them below. Where it hasn’t, the entry says so plainly.

Most of the dated programs run from late November through December. Several sites close on statutory holidays, so check each entry’s hours before you build a plan around December 24 to 26.

10. Britannia Mine Museum (Britannia Beach, Sea to Sky)

Britannia Mine Museum lists Christmas 2026 on its events page for December 2026. It calls the event a family tradition. Festivities haven’t been announced yet. Watch the museum’s events page for the 2026 details.

The holiday hours are already posted. From October 12, 2026 to January 1, 2027, the museum is open Monday to Sunday, 9 am to 4:30 pm, with the last tour at 3 pm. It closes early at 2:30 pm on December 16 and at 2 pm on December 24 and 31. It’s closed December 25 and January 1. Check the plan your visit page before you head up.

Christmas 2026 pricing hasn’t been posted. Annual members get free admission to seasonal events like Easter, Halloween and Christmas. If you already visit more than once a year, a membership could cover the holiday event. The museum is accessible except for the underground tour.

It’s a December drive up the Sea to Sky. From October 1 to March 31, winter tires (M+S or mountain-snowflake symbol, at least 3.5 mm tread) or chains are legally required north of Horseshoe Bay, and drivers without them can be turned back and fined. Check DriveBC for road conditions before you go.

9. Roedde House Museum (West End, Vancouver)

Roedde House is an 1893 Victorian house museum in the West End. Its holiday draw is A Christmas Carol: An Immersive Tour Experience. The tour premiered at Roedde House in 2020. It’s an automated 40-minute walk-through that uses lighting, video and sound to move you from room to room and scene to scene.

2026 dates and prices haven’t been posted. The museum’s event listing still shows the 2025 run, December 6 to 23. Keep an eye on the Christmas Carol event page. The tour is recommended for ages 10 and up, and minors must come with an adult.

Last year’s listing asked ticket holders to arrive at least 10 minutes before showtime. Regular fall hours are Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, 1 to 4 pm. Regular admission is $10 general and $5 for youth 6 to 18, and children 5 and under get in free. The wheelchair-accessible entrance is the side kitchen door facing the gazebo.

8. Fort Langley National Historic Site (Fort Langley)

Parks Canada hasn’t posted a 2026 holiday program for Fort Langley yet. The fort is still worth a December visit. The Hudson’s Bay Company built it in 1827 as a fur trading post. On November 19, 1858, newly sworn-in Governor James Douglas proclaimed the Colony of British Columbia here. It became a national historic site in 1923.

The most recent holiday program Parks Canada posted was in 2024. From December 16 to 30 that year, visitors made their own ornaments. They took one home and secretly left another to decorate the fort. A grumpy Chief Trader character inspected the fort at 2 pm. Whether anything like it returns in 2026 is unknown. Watch the Parks Canada events calendar for updates.

The fort is open 7 days a week, 10 am to 4:30 pm. It’s closed December 24, 25, 26, 31 and January 1, according to the hours page. Admission is $10 for adults and $8.50 for seniors, and youth get in free. Regular fees apply as of September 8, 2026. No winter 2026 to 2027 free-admission window had been announced.

The fort sits on the south bank of the Fraser River, about 48 km east of Vancouver. Pay parking started November 1, 2025. Fort visitors can park free for up to 4 hours by registering their licence plate at the Visitor Centre. Do that as soon as you arrive. The parking page has the details.

7. Jingle Bells Tea at London Farm (Richmond)

London Farm tells the story of early Richmond farming through the London family. The 4-acre historic site sits on the south arm of the Fraser River and covers Richmond farming from 1880 to 1930.

The holiday event is a Jingle Bells afternoon tea in the historic London Farmhouse. In the regular season the farmhouse tearoom serves afternoon tea and sells homemade London Farm jam. The holiday menu hasn’t been posted.

The 2026 teas are on Saturday, November 28, Sunday, November 29, Saturday, December 5 and Sunday, December 6, with seatings at 11 am, 1 pm and 3 pm. The tea costs $38. Book by email at londonhf@telus.net, and check the Steveston Heritage events page for updates.

Outside the tea, the farmhouse is closed from October 1 to December 31. The park grounds are open dawn to dusk. The farmhouse has an accessible ramp, but gravel paths lead to and around it, and there’s no elevator to the second floor. Details are on the London Farm visit page.

6. Hycroft for the Holidays (First Shaughnessy, Vancouver)

Hycroft is the mansion built for businessman and politician Alexander Duncan McRae. Architect Thomas Hooper designed it. Construction began in 1909 and finished in 1911. The University Women’s Club of Vancouver bought it in June 1962 as its clubhouse, and the Hycroft Heritage Preservation Foundation runs the holiday event with the club.

The event is a holiday market inside the decorated mansion. The club bills it as one of the more upscale holiday markets in the Lower Mainland. The 2026 listing promises more than 40 local artisans and work by the Hycroft Knitters, plus holiday treats from the Coach House Shop and décor from the Hycroft Garden at the McRae Shoppe.

The 2026 dates come from the foundation’s Eventbrite listing. Thursday, November 26 runs 6 to 9 pm. Friday, November 27 and Saturday, November 28 run 11 am to 7 pm. Sunday, November 29 runs 11 am to 6 pm. The club’s own Hycroft page still says to watch for 2026 dates, and the 2026 ticket price wasn’t posted, so check Eventbrite before you go.

Look past the stalls at the house itself. The City of Vancouver’s Shaughnessy history says the McRaes’ New Year’s Eve costume ball was the highlight of the Shaughnessy social calendar in the 1920s. The ballroom had seaweed laid under the floor to give the dancers more bounce.

5. Winter Tram at the Steveston Tram (Steveston, Richmond)

The Steveston Tram museum houses Tram Car 1220, one of the last interurban tram cars. It served the city from 1913 to 1958. It’s also the largest artefact in the City of Richmond’s collection, which is a fair claim for something that once carried passengers.

For December the museum becomes Winter Tram, with festive decorations and activities for all ages. Winter Tram runs December 1 to 31, 2026. Admission is free.

Winter hours from November 27 to December 31 are Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. The tram is closed Mondays and statutory holidays. There’s free three-hour street parking throughout Steveston Village. The Steveston Community Centre parking lot is 150 m from the tram. See the tram’s plan your visit page.

Britannia Shipyards, the Gulf of Georgia Cannery and London Farm are all in or near Steveston. You can line them up for one heritage day. Pick a Saturday or Sunday, or December 27 or 29 to 31, so the shipyards’ holiday crafts are running too. The tram is closed Monday, December 28.

4. Gulf of Georgia Cannery: Photo Vignettes and Santa (Steveston, Richmond)

The Gulf of Georgia Cannery was built in 1894 in the village of Steveston. It was once the largest building of its kind and the leading producer of canned salmon in British Columbia. For the 2026 holidays it’s setting up Festive Family Photo Vignettes inside the old cannery, and it’s holding one Santa day with free admission.

The photo vignettes run November 21 to December 31, 2026, daily from 10 am to 5 pm. Cannery staff and volunteer photo takers are on hand from 11 am to 4 pm. Go in that window if you want everyone in the shot.

Santa at the Cannery is Sunday, November 29, 2026. Admission is free all day, and photos with Santa run 2 to 4 pm. Santa photo tickets go on sale on Eventbrite on Sunday, November 15. Watch the cannery’s home page for the link. The Steveston Festival of Trees ran here from November 29, 2025 to January 4, 2026. No 2026 edition had been posted.

On other days, the admissions page lists $14.75 for adults and $12.50 for seniors 65 and over. Youth 17 and under and society members get in free. An older Parks Canada page says the cannery closes on statutory holidays from October to January, including Boxing Day, and has shorter hours on December 24 and 31. Confirm before you plan around those dates.

3. Victorian Christmas at Historic Stewart Farm (South Surrey)

Surrey runs a whole December series in the Stewart farmhouse in Elgin Heritage Park. Each weekend has a different theme, and most of it is free.

Deck the Halls is December 5 and 6, from noon. It has a live chestnut-roasting demonstration and mini cookie tastings. You can also learn to make popcorn strings and decorative pomanders. Victorian Christmas Evening is Saturday, December 5, 4 to 7 pm. You step into the rustically decorated farmhouse, listen to live harp music in the parlour and eat woodstove-baked treats. Then you make a homemade lantern and head out to the pole barn for a photo with Father Christmas.

Spectral Stories is December 11 at 6:30 pm and 8 pm. The Re-enactors give a dramatic reading of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. It’s for ages 19 and up, costs $29.50 per person and needs registration. Homemade Holidays is December 12 and 13 from noon and shows what Victorians put under the tree and how they made it. Let’s Celebrate closes the series on December 19 and 20, 12 to 4:30 pm, free. The full lineup is on Surrey’s holiday activities page.

Saturday, December 5 gives you the most for one trip. Come for Deck the Halls at noon and stay for the evening at 4 pm. Regular farmhouse hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 12 to 4:30 pm.

2. Heritage Holidays at Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site (Steveston, Richmond)

Britannia Shipyards started as a cannery and later became a shipyard. Its 12 heritage buildings tell the stories of the Chinese, European, First Nations and Japanese-Canadian residents and fisheries workers who lived and worked here. The Richmond Maritime Festival calls it the oldest shipyard in British Columbia, and several of its buildings have been restored to reflect their original roles in the West Coast fishing industry.

Heritage Holidays runs November 28 to December 31. Holiday illuminations run throughout the site, and the heritage buildings are decorated inside. On Saturdays and Sundays from November 28 to December 20, and daily December 27 to 31, the Chinese Bunkhouse hosts holiday crafts and a scavenger hunt with free warm drinks, 10 am to 5 pm. The Steveston Heritage events page is where 2026 details will appear.

Site hours over the holidays: November 27 to December 20, Fridays to Sundays, 10 am to 5 pm, then December 27 to 31 open daily, 10 am to 5 pm. The site is closed December 21 to 26: December 21 to 24 fall on Monday to Thursday, and December 25 and 26 are listed as closed. The site is closed on statutory holidays, and the Seine Net Loft is closed for repairs. The heritage buildings are free to enter.

The 8-acre outdoor site is accessible except for the second floor of the Chinese Bunkhouse, which has stairs. Accessible public washrooms are in the northeast corner, behind the historic stilt homes. No food or drinks are allowed inside the heritage buildings, so finish your hot chocolate before you go in. The plan your visit page has the rules.

1. Festive Village at Burnaby Village Museum (Burnaby)

Burnaby Village Museum now calls its holiday season Festive Village. The 10-acre open-air site is lit with holiday lights and classic decorations. Carol singers and roving entertainers work the village streets, and Father Christmas makes the rounds. Kids get a scavenger hunt. Food comes from Mai’s Cafe, and Cravings Kettle Corn sells treats.

The main event is the C.W. Parker carousel. It was hand-carved in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1912. It has 36 wooden horses, 1 chariot and 4 cast aluminum ponies. It was running at Happyland in Vancouver by May 1936 and later ran at Playland. From 1972 to 1989 it ran outdoors and was put away each winter. In 1989 came the announcement that it would be sold off horse by horse at an auction in New York. The community rallied to save it, and today you can ride it at the museum, which makes each $2.86 ride a small piece of local history.

From November 25 to December 13, 2026, the village is open Wednesdays to Sundays, 2 to 9 pm, and closed Mondays and Tuesdays. From December 16, 2026 to January 3, 2027 it’s open daily, 2 to 9 pm, except December 24 and 25. The Bright in Burnaby tree lighting is Saturday, November 28. Speeches start at 6:30 pm at the bandstand, and the tree is lit at about 6:50 pm. Hours and updates are on the City of Burnaby’s Festive Village page.

On the night of Bright in Burnaby, buy your carousel tickets after 5 pm. Proceeds from every ride bought between 5 and 9 pm go to the Burnaby Christmas Bureau, and Concord Pacific matches each donation. Ride tickets don’t expire and work all year, so a Baker’s Dozen bought that night can cover spring visits too.

When to go: the 2026 holiday calendar

• Nov 21: Gulf of Georgia Cannery photo vignettes begin.
• Nov 25: Festive Village opens at Burnaby Village Museum.
• Nov 26 to 29: Hycroft for the Holidays.
• Nov 28: Bright in Burnaby tree lighting. Britannia Shipyards Heritage Holidays begins, and the first London Farm Jingle Bells Tea (also Nov 29, Dec 5 and Dec 6).
• Nov 29: Santa at the Cannery, with free admission all day.
• Dec 1: Winter Tram begins.
• Dec 5: Deck the Halls (also Dec 6) and Victorian Christmas Evening at Stewart Farm.
• Dec 11: Spectral Stories at Stewart Farm.
• Dec 12 and 13: Homemade Holidays at Stewart Farm.
• Dec 19 and 20: Let’s Celebrate at Stewart Farm.
• Jan 3, 2027: Festive Village closes.

Fort Langley, Roedde House and Britannia Mine Museum haven’t posted their 2026 holiday programs yet.

Holiday closures to plan around

• Fort Langley is closed December 24, 25, 26, 31 and January 1.
• Festive Village is closed Mondays and Tuesdays until December 13, and on December 24 and 25.
• Britannia Shipyards and the Steveston Tram are closed on statutory holidays, and the shipyards are closed all week from December 21 to 26.
• Britannia Mine Museum closes early on December 16, 24 and 31, and is closed December 25 and January 1.
• The Old Hastings Mill Store Museum is closed through December and January, which is why it isn’t on this list.

Free and paid

Free: Burnaby Village Museum gate admission, Britannia Shipyards, the Steveston Tram, the Stewart Farm drop-ins and Victorian Christmas Evening, and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery on November 29.

Paid: the London Farm tea ($38), Spectral Stories at Stewart Farm ($29.50, 19+), Fort Langley ($10 adult, youth free), the Gulf of Georgia Cannery ($14.75 adult, $12.50 senior, youth 17 and under free) and the Burnaby carousel ($2.86 + tax per ride). Hycroft, Roedde House’s Christmas Carol and Britannia Mine Museum’s Christmas event are ticketed or priced separately, and their 2026 prices weren’t posted.

What to bring and etiquette

• Wear warm layers. Most of these are old buildings or outdoor villages, and at Burnaby and Stewart Farm you’ll be walking between buildings after dark.
• Britannia Shipyards doesn’t allow food or drinks inside its heritage buildings.
• For the Roedde House tour, last year’s listing asked ticket holders to arrive at least 10 minutes before showtime; check the 2026 listing once it’s posted.
• At Burnaby, carousel tickets don’t expire. Buying a Baker’s Dozen makes sense if you’ll be back during the year.

Getting there and parking

Steveston Village has free three-hour street parking. The Steveston Community Centre lot is 150 m from the tram. Fort Langley is about 48 km east of Vancouver. Parking there is free for up to 4 hours once you register your plate at the Visitor Centre. Britannia Mine Museum is on the Sea to Sky Highway at Britannia Beach, where winter tires or chains are legally required from October 1 to March 31. Check DriveBC for conditions before you go. Plan your route before you go.

Accessibility notes by site

Site	What’s accessible	What isn’t
Britannia Shipyards	The 8-acre outdoor site and its buildings. Accessible washrooms in the northeast corner, behind the stilt homes	Second floor of the Chinese Bunkhouse (stairs)
London Farm	Farmhouse ramp	Gravel paths to and around the farmhouse. No elevator to the second floor
Roedde House	Wheelchair entrance through the side kitchen door facing the gazebo	Upper floors (wheelchair-accessible admission covers the ground floor only, $5)
Britannia Mine Museum	The museum	The underground tour

If you can only do one day, Steveston gives you the most in one place: the tram, the cannery and the shipyards all sit close together, and two of the three are free. If you can do two, add Burnaby Village Museum on an evening for the lights and the carousel. Dates for Fort Langley, Roedde House and Britannia Mine Museum should land on their official pages closer to December. Check back before you go.

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Photo credits

• Gulf of Georgia Cannery.jpg by Alexey Golubev, CC BY-SA 4.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Window onto the Christmassy museum (11594762415).jpg by Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Steveston-pano.jpg by Arnold C (User:Buchanan-Hermit), Attribution (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Fraser at Dusk 02.jpg by Laol12, CC BY-SA 4.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Church in Burnaby Village Museum (7869053454).jpg by Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (resized; cropped for the featured image). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Fort Langley.jpg by User:Themightyquill, CC BY-SA 2.5 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Hycroft.JPG by Iota 9 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Gulf-of-Georgia-Cannery.jpg by Arnold C (User:Buchanan-Hermit), Attribution (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Old Britannia Shipyard (15392166549).jpg by Jerry Meaden from Surrey, BC, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Steveston Tram Richmond.jpg by EHuang55, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• London Farm House in Richmond BC.jpg by CathyDaniel, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Stewart Farmhouse 13723 Crescent Road Surrey BC 2590.jpg by Jollycanuck, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Roedde House 01.jpg by Torecles, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Britannia Mines Concentrator as seen from Howe Sound.jpg by Anton Bielousov, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.