New Westminster brings together the Fraser River, historic homes and a variety of museums. When choosing a hotel in New Westminster, it helps to first decide what you want to focus on during your stay: waterfront views, insights into the city’s history or time in a park. The city’s sites offer specific ways to explore these interests, without requiring you to fit them all into the same itinerary.
Waterfront paths and views of the Fraser River
The Waterfront Esplanade invites you to take a walk with views of the Fraser River. Viewpoints, interpretive signs and public art line the route. The Esplanade is 1.3 kilometres long and covers 7.6 acres. This makes the waterfront visit an outing in its own right: the path combines river views with information and public art.
Westminster Pier Park offers a different combination: a 325-metre waterfront promenade, elevated viewpoints, public art and a play area. The Memory Band there highlights people, places and businesses that are significant to New Westminster’s history. Those interested in the city’s history can encounter it here through art in the park, while the interpretive signs at the Waterfront Esplanade offer a different way to explore it.
The measurements offer a simple guide for planning: the Waterfront Esplanade stretches for 1.3 kilometres, while the waterfront promenade in Westminster Pier Park is 325 metres long. Both sites offer viewpoints, but Pier Park adds a play area and the Memory Band to its waterfront promenade. When planning your outing, you can decide whether to focus on a longer walk or on a combination of waterfront and public art.
City history in homes and exhibitions
Irving House is located in central New Westminster and is one of the oldest community heritage sites in British Columbia. The house was built in 1865 in the Colonial Gothic Revival style. Visitors can explore 14 furnished rooms, bringing the interiors of the historic rooms into focus as well as the exterior architecture.
A permanent exhibition at the Anvil Centre explores more than 10,000 years of New Westminster’s history, up to 2010. The Fraser River Discovery Centre focuses on the river: this 17,000-square-foot interpretive centre on the waterfront houses exhibitions, educational programs and events. Its two floors include exhibition space with regularly changing exhibitions and views of the Fraser River. The two institutions therefore have different focuses—one on the city’s long history, the other on the river and its themes.
Samson V also tells the story of the Fraser River. It is the last surviving wooden, steam-powered sternwheeler built for the Canadian federal Department of Public Works as an obstacle-removal vessel on the Fraser River. Together with Irving House and the Anvil Centre, Samson V is one of the three sites where New Westminster’s museums and archives operate. As operating arrangements at individual sites may change, check the latest visitor information before your visit.
Queen’s Park and historic homes
Queen’s Park is New Westminster’s 75-acre flagship park. It is home to some of the oldest historic houses in British Columbia. Tourism New Westminster offers a self-guided tour of the homes in Queen’s Park. All the houses along the tour are private residences, so please respect the residents’ privacy and property.
The Queen’s Park Heritage Conservation Area aims to preserve the neighbourhood’s existing heritage values while managing change. This approach offers another perspective for your visit: the focus is not only on individual historic homes, but also on how the neighbourhood as a whole is managed. New Westminster also has a network of greenways, bicycle routes and walking trails. This means that, in addition to waterfront and cultural attractions, paths and green spaces are other interests to consider when planning your stay.
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