Day trips

Vancouver

Twenty-five minutes on the Canada Line. Granville Island, Stanley Park, the seawall, Gastown. Richmond makes a perfectly good base for a Vancouver trip if you'd rather pay Richmond prices, and plenty of people do exactly that.

The North Shore

An hour and change each way by transit, less by car outside rush hour. Suspension bridges, Grouse Mountain, and Lynn Canyon — which is free, quieter, and to my mind the better of the bridges.

Ladner and Tsawwassen

South through the tunnel. Ladner village is small, old and pleasant for a couple of hours. The ferry terminal at Tsawwassen is the jumping-off point for Victoria and the Gulf Islands — a day return to Victoria is possible but long, and better as an overnight.

Birdwatching

The delta is on the Pacific flyway and the numbers in autumn are remarkable. The migratory bird sanctuary in Delta is the obvious destination; the dyke trails on Richmond's own west side are free and often just as good, particularly at dusk in October and November.

What I'd skip

Whistler as a day trip. It's over two hours each way and you'll spend more of the day in a car than in the mountains. Either stay a night or leave it for another trip.