What to do in Vancouver: Get Your Inspiration Pass

Mayor Gregor Robertson announced a new program last week for Vancouver residents to rediscover the top attractions and facilities in Vancouver for a very special price. It’s an opportunity for families and teens that may not otherwise be able to sample cultural and recreational venues in this fantastic city of ours. It’s also a chance to become a tourist in your own town. If you’ve been wondering what to do in Vancouver this season, the answer is all of it.

At VancouverMom.ca, we want you to love where you live. Read on to learn how to take advantage of this opportunity. It’s free after all. Yes that’s right, free!

How the Pass Works

Vancouver residents aged 14 and older can use their VPL library card to borrow the pass once a year. One pass admits a family of two adults and up to four children, or a group of up to six young people (aged 14 to 18) to participating venues.

What this means is I could take my family to the Vancouver Art Gallery to attend The Making Place, an explorative and hands-on workshop for kids between 5-12. It takes place every second and fourth Sunday, between 12-4pm. There are other programs to attend if the dates don’t fall in line with my two-week pass.

Value: $50.00. Cost with the pass? $0.00

Here’s a list of other venues you can visit with your pass:

10 Kid-Friendly Activities For Family Day in Metro Vancouver

Vancouver Aquarium
Science World
Vancouver Bach Choir

Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
H.R. MacMillan Space Centre and UBC Museum of Anthropology

Park Board’s fitness centres, swimming pools, skating rinks, pitch and putt golf courses, and botanical gardens.

What to do in Vancouver: Get Your Inspiration Pass

It’s easy to get your Inspiration Pass. All you need to do is go to VPL.ca/InspirationPass and armed with your library card, choose the branch you’d like to pick your pass up at then reserve online. There are 120 passes available city wide and spread out between all the VPL Library branches. The downtown central library has 15 passes and five passes are available at each VPL branch. If you don’t have a library card yet, you can get that online too.

I registered to pick my pass up at the Mount Pleasant branch, as it is closest to me. All the passes were reserved but as I’m tenth on the hold list it should only be a few weeks until I can pick mine up.

Date Night In Vancouver is Now Possible

If I plan it right I could have one or two date nights with my pass, a couple day time excursions to the Vancouver Aquarium, the MacMillan Space Centre and maybe the Museum of Anthropology at UBC and all without pulling out my pocketbook. I like this very much. It’s not often you get opportunities like this – and for free? I like nothing better. Planning what to do in Vancouver, paying a babysitter and going out with my man will seem so much more doable. Now I just need a whole new wardrobe and I’m golden!