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50 free Vancouver trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Vancouver is one of British Columbia's youngest cities: a saloon opened by Gassy Jack Deighton in 1867, a railway terminus chosen in 1884, incorporation in April 1886 and a fire that flattened the whole place two months later. This quiz follows the story from the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh villages and George Vancouver's 1792 survey through the CPR deal that renamed Granville, the Great Fire, the 1929 amalgamation, Greenpeace's founding, Expo 86 and the 2010 Winter Olympics. It also covers the city visitors know: Stanley Park's 405 hectares and seawall, the Lions Gate Bridge that Guinness money built, the Capilano Suspension Bridge, the Grouse Grind's 2,830 steps, the steam clock in Gastown, Granville Island market, Chinatown, the Museum of Anthropology, SkyTrain's driverless record, BC Place's roof, the Canucks and their two Stanley Cup riots, the Whitecaps and BC Lions, Hollywood North, Lululemon and why the North Shore gets nearly twice the rain of the airport. Vancouverism, unaffordability and the world's fourth-densest big city round it out. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Vancouver and its landmarks, teams and events, and each question shows the sentence that supports it. Our Canada quiz covers the rest of the country.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was the first name of the Royal Navy captain who explored Burrard Inlet in 1792 and gave the city its name?
George
George Vancouver had sailed as a midshipman on Cook's second voyage; the island and a city in Washington state share his name.
Q 02The settlement that became Vancouver grew around a tavern opened on 1 July 1867 by whom?
Gassy Jack Deighton
The Yorkshire seaman's saloon gave the district its name, Gastown; the steam clock marks the spot and his statue was toppled in 2022.
Q 03Before it was renamed Vancouver in 1886, the townsite was officially called what?
Granville
It honoured the British colonial secretary; the rename came through a deal with the transcontinental railway.
Q 04Which company chose Vancouver as its western terminus in 1884, giving the city its name and its boom?
The Canadian Pacific Railway
Port Moody, New Westminster and Victoria all lost out; the first transcontinental train arrived in 1887.
Q 05The Great Vancouver Fire that razed the whole city struck on 13 June of which year?
1886
The city had been incorporated only two months earlier, on 6 April; 600 to 1,000 buildings burned.
Q 06Which three Coast Salish peoples had villages on the site of present-day Vancouver?
Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh
K'emk'emelay, 'place of many maple trees', was a Squamish village where the first sawmill was built.
Q 07Vancouver ranks fourth in North America for population density, behind which three cities?
New York, San Francisco and Mexico City
More than 5,700 people per square kilometre live in the city proper of 662,000.
Q 08What is 'Vancouverism'?
The city's urban planning philosophy
Dense residential towers on podiums with parks and waterfront made the city a global model for liveable density.
Q 09Vancouver stood at number one on the Global Liveability Ranking for several years until which year?
2011
It has since been called one of the world's most unaffordable cities; in 2012 Demographia ranked it second worst.
Q 10Stanley Park, opened in 1888, covers roughly how much land?
405 hectares
It is named for Lord Stanley, the Governor General also behind hockey's Stanley Cup; the seawall around it draws thousands.
Q 11Stanley Park is named after Lord Stanley, who held which office?
Governor General of Canada
He opened the park in his own name in September 1888; residents were forcibly removed to build the road around it.
Q 12Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge, opened in 1938, was financed largely by which famous brewing dynasty?
The Guinness family
They had bought land on the North Shore; the bridge takes its name from twin peaks called the Lions.
Q 13The Capilano Suspension Bridge hangs how high above the river?
70 m
It is 140 metres long and was first built in 1889 by Scottish engineer G. G. Mackay.
Q 21Which environmental organisation was founded in Vancouver in 1969-71?
Greenpeace
Its first campaign sailed to protest a US nuclear test at Amchitka, Alaska; the first office was in Kitsilano.
Q 22The Vancouver Canucks joined the NHL in 1970 alongside which other expansion team?
Buffalo Sabres
The two are the oldest NHL teams never to have won the Stanley Cup; the Canucks lost finals in 1982, 1994 and 2011.
Q 23Riots broke out in Vancouver after Stanley Cup final defeats in 1994 and which other year?
2011
The 1994 riot injured as many as 200 people; both losses came in Game 7.
Q 14The Grouse Grind hiking trail, 'Mother Nature's Stairmaster', has how many steps?
2,830
It climbs 853 m in 2.9 km at an average grade of 17 degrees.
Q 15Gastown's famous clock on Water Street was built in 1977 partly for what purpose?
To cover a steam grate and stop people sleeping on it
It uses whistles rather than bells for its Westminster chime, and is nowhere near the district's oldest landmark.
Q 16Which world's fair, marking Vancouver's centennial, drew 22 million visitors in 1986?
Expo 86
Its theme was transportation and communication; SkyTrain and Canada Place were built for it.
Q 17With the 2016 Evergreen Extension, SkyTrain became the world's longest what?
Fully automated driverless system
Shanghai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and Riyadh have since passed it; the Canada Line to the airport opened in 2009.
Q 18Vancouver's foot-passenger ferry across Burrard Inlet is called what?
SeaBus
TransLink also runs SkyTrain, RapidBus and the West Coast Express commuter trains.
Q 19Canada set a record at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics by winning how many gold medals?
14
That beat the 13 of the Soviet Union in 1976 and Norway in 2002; alpine events were held at Whistler.
Q 20Hours before the 2010 opening ceremony, a luger from which country was killed in a training run?
Georgia
Nodar Kumaritashvili's death forced changes to the sliding track at Whistler.
Q 24What covered BC Place when it opened in 1983?
The world's largest air-supported inflatable roof
It was replaced after the 2010 Olympics with a cable-supported retractable roof, also the largest of its type.
Q 25The BC Lions, founded in 1954, are what?
The oldest pro sports franchise in BC
They have won six Grey Cups from ten appearances, the latest in 2011 on home turf.
Q 26The Vancouver Whitecaps entered Major League Soccer in which year?
2011
They are the third team to use the name, which dates to a 1974 NASL club.
Q 27Vancouver shares the nickname 'Hollywood North' with which city?
Toronto
It hosts about 65 films and 55 TV series a year and is North America's third-largest production centre.
Q 28The Port of Vancouver ranks how among ports in the Americas by tonnage?
Fourth-largest
It is Canada's busiest and most diversified port, trading with over 160 economies.
Q 29Which athletic-wear brand is among the lifestyle companies founded and headquartered in Vancouver?
Lululemon
Arc'teryx, Herschel, Aritzia and Mountain Equipment Co-op are also from the city.
Q 30Vancouver's Chinese quarter, with the Dr Sun Yat-Sen garden, is described as what?
Canada's largest Chinatown
It was targeted by the Asiatic Exclusion League's 1907 riot.