VancouverThe city between mountains and sea
Measured from 500+ plays across 11 walked routes: in Vancouver, you pass a place with a story every 350 metres.
Ranked #3 of 3 Canada big cities
2026 edition · scores vs all indexed cities · measured 2026-08-21 · scored on 6 of 8 measures · how we measure
Depth23/100
37 places with a story
1 historical figures
Density38/100
a story every 350 m
median along a route
Character20/100
industry & modern era
typical story: 1927 · early 20th century
Pulse72/100
—
Vancouver, measured
The scores
Ranked against
| What we measure | Vancouver | Score out of 100 | Rank | Global leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Depth | ||||
| Places with a storyspots where a route tells you what happened there | 37 | 32 | #56 of 71 | London (United Kingdom) · 594 |
| Historical figuresreal people you meet in its stories | 1 | 0 | #66 of 68 | London (United Kingdom) · 184 |
| Hours of storieshow long its stories take to read, end to end | 0.5h | 37 | #37 of 71 | London (United Kingdom) · 7h |
| Density | ||||
| How often you pass a storymetres from one story to the next | 350 m | 38 | #67 of 71 | Williamsburg (United States) · 100 m |
| Character | ||||
| Years its stories coverfrom its oldest story to its newest | 203 yrs | 20 | #65 of 70 | London (United Kingdom) · 1025 yrs |
| Pulse | ||||
| Instagrammabilityhow often players photograph this city | — | needs more plays here before photo habits can be measured | — | Sydney (Australia) |
| Group outingsof every 100 plays, how many bring a group of 3 or more | 25 in 100 | 72 | #6 of 69 | Houston (United States) · 32 in 100 |
| International visitorsshare of player reviews written in a foreign language | 0% | not scored here: most visitors write English too, so the measure cannot tell them apart | — | Venice (Italy) · 97% |
How to read this table›
How to read it: each score is out of 100, measured against a fixed scale that is the same for every city and every edition. Vancouver's 37 on places with a story scores 32, and it scores 32 on any page you find it. The switch above changes who it is ranked against, not the scores: right now that is all 80 indexed cities (19 countries so far). Vancouver is scored on 6 of the 8 measures: its overall score averages those 6, and the greyed measures stay out of the average rather than counting against it. Ranks compare cities of a similar size. What a city's stories are about has no better or worse, so themes and eras aren't scored. Instagrammability is shown as a score only; how it's calculated is on the methodology page.
The medal table
What Vancouver wins
- Most industry & modern era among Canada's big cities· 38% of its stories
Won against the other big cities of Canada in the 2026 edition. See the full table on the country page.
Character
What its stories are about
- industry & modern era38%
- parks & leisure14%
- guilds & trade11%
Out of Vancouver's 37 places with a story, the share whose story touches each theme. One story can touch several.
Character
Which centuries you walk through
- Early 20th century35%
- Post-war30%
- 19th century22%
- Contemporary9%
- Early modern4%
When Vancouver's stories happen (62% of them mention a year).
Pulse
Who visits, by review language
- English100%
Language of 100+ written player reviews. A proxy for who visits; English hides several nationalities.
Depth
37 stories wait on its streets. Here are three
You'd never know this was one of Granville Island's oldest tenants unless someone told you. Not only because the place is so…
The Vancouver Roundhouse was the biggest facility that housed and serviced steam trains in British Columbia. The first of the buildings was…
While BC has been populated since the Ice Age 8000 years ago, the greater Vancouver area has been inhabited at least as…
Depth
Figures you meet on Vancouver's streets
See all Canada figures →Depth
Every Vancouver place with a story, on one map
Each pin is a place whose story a Questo route tells. Tap one for the quest that tells it. See an empty street that deserves a pin? The form at the bottom of this page adds your story to the editors' queue.
Walk Vancouver's stories yourself
Three of 11 routes here. See everything in Vancouver
Where next after Vancouver?
MontrealThe old French port3686 km away · a story every 322 m
OttawaThe capital on the canal3538 km away · a story every 645 m
SaskatoonThe city of bridges1198 km away · a story every 139 m
TorontoThe fort that became a downtown3359 km away · a story every 248 m
WinnipegThe gateway to the west1864 km away · a story every 382 m
Quebec CityThe walled city of North America3792 km away · a story every 185 mHow does Vancouver compare?
Put Vancouver head-to-head with any city in the index, measure by measure, from real walking data.
Quick answers
- What is Vancouver like to explore on foot?
- Vancouver has 37 places with a story across 11 self-guided Questo routes, with a story every 350 metres of walking on average. Its stories lean towards industry & modern era and parks & leisure.
- Which historical period defines Vancouver?
- 35% of Vancouver's dated stories come from the early 20th century period; its oldest dated story reaches back to 1792.
- How is this measured?
- From Questo's own walked routes and player activity in Vancouver: 500+ plays and 100+ reviews. Full method on the City Stories Index methodology page, 2026 edition.
Quote any line, attributed
For press and citation
- Walking a Questo route in Vancouver, you pass a place with a story every 350 metres on average.
- 35% of Vancouver's dated stories come from the early 20th century period.
- Vancouver's typical story happens in 1927: the median year across its dated stories, which span 203 years.
- 0% of Vancouver's written player reviews are in a language other than English (from 100+ reviews).
- Roughly 25 of every 100 plays in Vancouver is a group outing of three or more people, measured from invited multi-device sessions over the last 12 months.
Copy any line as it stands: for an article, a post, or an argument at dinner. Attribution: Questo City Stories Index (2026 edition), with a link to this page. Method and sample sizes on the methodology page.
Vancouver ranks #76 of 80. Show it.
For city halls, tourism boards, local press and anyone who lives here: this badge is yours to use, free and without asking. It links back to the measurements behind it, and it updates itself when the next edition is published.
Embed code
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<img src="https://questoapp.com/api/og/city-index-badge?country=canada&slug=vancouver" alt="Vancouver ranks #76 of 80 in the Questo City Stories Index" width="320" height="100">
</a>Know a story these streets are missing?
Every place, story and figure on this page comes from routes built by people who know Vancouver. Add what's missing: as a Questo creator, or with a quick suggestion.