Where to Live in the Lower Mainland: A Lifestyle Guide

The North Shore

North and West Vancouver put the mountains at the end of your street: skiing, trails and the Seabus to downtown. The cost is the highest prices in the region outside Vancouver's west side, two bridges that back up every afternoon, and a housing stock heavy on older detached homes and condos near Lonsdale. Suits outdoor people with downtown jobs and the budget to match.

Vancouver and Burnaby

The urban choice. Walkable neighbourhoods, transit everywhere, the restaurants and the culture. Detached homes are out of reach for most households, so this is a condo and townhome decision for most people, and the question becomes which neighbourhood's version of urban you want: Kitsilano, Mount Pleasant, Commercial Drive, Metrotown, Brentwood. Suits people without cars, without kids or with one, and with jobs downtown or at the universities.

The Tri-Cities

Coquitlam, Port Moody and Port Coquitlam offer the Evergreen SkyTrain, Burrard Inlet, Buntzen Lake and a mix of newer towers near the stations and older family neighbourhoods on the hills. Prices sit between Burnaby and the Fraser Valley. Suits families who need transit to downtown and want a mountain or lake within twenty minutes.

Richmond and Delta

Richmond is flat, central, on the Canada Line, with some of the best food in the region and a very large Chinese-Canadian community. Delta splits into Ladner and Tsawwassen, small towns by the water and the ferry, and North Delta, which is suburban Surrey in all but name. Both face the question of the Massey Tunnel for anyone commuting north. Suits people working at the airport or in Richmond, and anyone who wants the ferry and the dykes at the door.

The Fraser Valley

Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford and beyond. This is where the region's new family housing is being built and where a detached home is still possible for a two-income household. The trade is distance: downtown Vancouver is a serious commute from most of it, though the Surrey Langley SkyTrain will change that for the Fraser Highway corridor. Suits families who work in the Valley or in Surrey, and anyone for whom a yard and a garage are non-negotiable.

The Semiahmoo Peninsula, where I live

White Rock and South Surrey are the Valley's exception: a beach town and a suburb that sit on the ocean at the bottom of the region, with strong schools, a hospital, big parks and a settled feel. You get the water and the quiet. You give up transit and accept Highway 99 and the tunnel if you work downtown. Prices sit above the rest of Surrey and below Vancouver and the North Shore. Suits families who prioritise schools and the outdoors, downsizers who want to walk to a village, and anyone who works south of the river or across the border. I have written about how White Rock and South Surrey differ if you get that far down the list.

How to decide

1. Fix the commute first. Pick the two or three areas that make the drive or the train bearable at 8 a.m., then stop looking everywhere else.
2. Pick the home type you need. Detached, townhome or condo decides the budget conversation.
3. Spend a Saturday and a weekday evening in each finalist. The region looks very different at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday.
4. Then talk to a local agent in the area you chose, not a regional one. The Lower Mainland is too big for one person to know every street, and I say that as someone who knows about a dozen very well.

The short version

• North Shore for mountains and money. Vancouver and Burnaby for urban life without a car.
• Tri-Cities for transit plus nature. Richmond and Delta for the airport, the ferry and the food.
• Fraser Valley for a detached home and a yard. The Peninsula for schools, the ocean and a town that feels finished.
• Decide by the commute and the home type, then visit on a weekday.

If the Peninsula makes your shortlist, I am the local call. If it does not, tell me where you landed and I will point you to someone who knows that area as well as I know this one.