Key takeaways
- CAD $76.95 is the adult walk-up gate price for anyone 18–64. The park itself recommends booking a timed entry rather than queuing — see what every option costs.
- 137 m long, 70 m above the river, and the crossing takes five to fifteen minutes. The rest of the park is what fills the day.
- Lynn Canyon is free, was built in 1912 and stands 50 m above its canyon floor. Read the honest comparison before you pay anything.
- Two to three hours is the normal visit, four at an unhurried pace — here is how that time breaks down.
- Parking is CAD $9.00 for three hours and the meters take credit cards only, so check whether the free downtown shuttle is running before you drive.
The gate price against the online price
What one Capilano admission covers
Whether you pay at the gate in Canadian dollars or book a timed ticket online, the same fence opens on the same things. Nothing inside costs extra except food.
The walks and exhibits
- The Suspension Bridge itself, 137 m long and 70 m above the water
- Treetops Adventure — seven footbridges between old-growth Douglas firs, up to 33 m (110 ft) above the forest floor
- Cliffwalk — a cantilevered walkway 213 m long, hanging about thirty storeys above the canyon
- Kia’palano, the Story Centre, the Living Forest, and Raptors Ridge from late May to September
What comes with the ticket
- Free guided talks run through the year, with the schedule posted at the entrance
- 1.8 km of paved stone path and boardwalk, so no scrambling
- Wi-fi, parking and same-day luggage storage on the standard GetYourGuide admission
- A held entry time, which is the part that matters in July
The park in the order you walk it
There is one loop and almost everyone does it in the same sequence. This is what you see, in order, and roughly what each part is worth.
You scan your ticket at the gate on Capilano Road, pass the totem poles, and the bridge is the first thing in front of you. Everything else — Treetops Adventure, the Cliffwalk, the exhibits — sits on the far bank or along the canyon rim, so the crossing is a doorway rather than the finale.
- Entrance and the Story Centre — Photographs, murals and artefacts running from 1889 onward. Ten to fifteen minutes, and the one part people skip and later wish they had not.
- The Suspension Bridge — 137 m across, 70 m above the Capilano River. Five to fifteen minutes depending on how much you stop, and it moves under you the whole way.
- Treetops Adventure — Seven suspended footbridges strung between old-growth Douglas firs, on platforms up to 33 m above the forest floor. Opened May 2004. Allow fifteen to twenty minutes.
- The Living Forest — The exhibit that explains what you have been walking through. Ten to twenty minutes, and a good place to sit when the bridge is at its busiest.
- Cliffwalk — A cantilevered walkway 213 m long, pinned to the rock about thirty storeys up. Opened June 2011. Fifteen to thirty minutes, and the section that unsettles people most.
- Kia’palano and the totem poles — The Pacific Northwest Indigenous culture exhibit, named for the Squamish word the river and the park take their name from. The poles date to the 1930s.
- Raptors Ridge — Falcons, owls and other birds of prey, staffed and open late May to September only. Fifteen to thirty minutes. Leashed dogs are welcome in the park but not here when the birds are out.
- The Cliff House Restaurant — All the food in the park is inside the park, and the Cliff House takes no reservations. You may bring small snacks and water of your own.
The whole loop runs on 1.8 km of paved stone path and boardwalk, which is why two to three hours is the honest figure rather than the twenty minutes people picture when they hear “a bridge”. I have written the walk up in more detail on what to expect at the park.
How booking works
Decide if you need a tour at all
With a car or the shuttle, admission on its own is enough.
Pick a time slot, not just a day
Entry is timed. Morning slots are the quiet ones.
Book through GetYourGuide
Live availability, instant confirmation, and free cancellation on most options.
Turn up with your phone
The confirmation is the ticket. Nothing to collect, nothing to print.
Live dates for the standard park ticket
This is timed-entry admission with no coach and no guide attached, which is what most people actually want. Pick your hour and see what is left.
Three different problems, three different tickets
Admission on its own, the seven-hour coach day that also does Grouse Mountain, and the private car. Here is what separates them.
| Vancouver: Capilano Suspension Bridge Park Ticket | Best without a carFrom Vancouver: Capilano Suspension Bridge & Grouse Mountain | Vancouver: Private Capilano Bridge & Grouse Mountain Tour | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $57 | $190 | $432 |
| Length | Your own pace, 2–3 hrs | 7 hours | 5 hours |
| Transport | None — get yourself there | Coach, 83 pickup points | Private sedan, SUV or van |
| Also includes | Wi-fi, parking, luggage store | Grouse Skyride, Cleveland Dam stop | Admissions, water, drop-off |
| Guide | Free talks inside the park | Live English guide | English, Hindi or Punjabi |
| Rating | 4.8 from 2,620 reviews | 4.8 from 500 reviews | 5.0 from 2 reviews |
| Best for | Anyone with a car | No car, wants Grouse too | A fixed pickup and a door held |
| View → | Book this → | View → |
Photo Gallery
Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, through the lens
The bridge, the two later walks, and the forest the whole thing hangs in.
Every way into the park, priced
Six options, from admission on its own to a private vehicle. The first one is the cheapest and suits more people than the rest put together.
Just the ticketPark admission includedVancouver: Capilano Suspension Bridge Park Ticket
City + bridgeBoth admissions
includedVancouver: City, Lookout & Capilano Suspension Bridge
Most booked comboBridge
+ Skyride includedFrom Vancouver: Capilano Suspension Bridge & Grouse Mountain
From the airFlight + bridge
ticketVancouver: Scenic Seaplane Flight & Suspension Bridge
Max 14 guestsSkip-the-line
ticketsVancouver: Capilano & Grouse Mountain Small-Group Tour
PrivateAdmissions
includedVancouver: Private Capilano Bridge & Grouse Mountain Tour
What guests say about these tickets and tours
Review snippets from the live GetYourGuide pages, matched to the option they describe.
The suspension bridge is stunning, and the surrounding rainforest is beautiful.
We were there by 9.30 — no queues.
This was such a fun tour and our tour guide Kyle was amazing.
Alex was an excellent guide — friendly, knowledgeable, and very helpful throughout the entire tour.
Eric was so friendly, funny and very knowledgeable. Pick up from my hotel was awesome.
A very nice experience with spectacular views. Easy transport to Capilano.
Ratings and reviews are the operators’ live GetYourGuide figures. Read our full tour reviews ›
Four things people ask me before they book
These are the questions I get on the trail, roughly in the order they arrive, with the short version of each answer.
Do I need a tour, or just a ticket?
If you can drive, or the seasonal shuttle from Canada Place, the Hyatt Regency or the Blue Horizon is running, admission on its own does the job. A tour earns its price when the shuttle is not running or you also want Grouse Mountain, which is what the combo day exists for.
Is there really a free bridge instead?
Yes. Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge is free, opened in 1912 and stands 50 m above the canyon floor, with swimming holes and trails around it. It has no Treetops, no Cliffwalk, no Raptors Ridge and no shuttle. I have laid the two side by side on the free alternative page.
How long should I block out?
Two to three hours inside the park covers it, four if you stop for the free guided talks and the exhibits. The crossing itself is five to fifteen minutes. More on how long you need.
When is it quietest?
Weekdays beat weekends in summer, and an early slot beats everything. Mid-autumn is my own favourite window, around 14°C and far fewer people. See the best time to visit.
Can’t make these dates?
Browse more available Capilano Suspension Bridge tickets and find one that fits your schedule — all with instant confirmation and free cancellation.
Capilano Suspension Bridge, explained
I spent four summers working inside this park as a seasonal interpreter, and I have walked the canyon in every month of the year since. In that time the adult gate price has climbed to CAD $76.95, and the question I am asked most often is not how the bridge was built. It is whether to pay at all. This is the answer I would give you on the trail.
An 1889 bridge made of hemp rope
George Grant Mackay, a Scottish civil engineer and Vancouver park commissioner, bought land on both sides of the Capilano canyon and strung the first crossing over it in 1889. It was hemp rope with a cedar plank deck, which tells you most of what you need to know about the nerve of the people who used it. Wire cable replaced the rope in 1903, and the bridge was rebuilt outright in 1956, which is essentially the structure you walk on today: 137 m (450 ft) across, 70 m (230 ft) above the water.
The land changed hands several times after Mackay — Edward Mahon in 1910, “Mac” MacEachran in 1935, who brought in the totem poles, Henri Aubeneau in 1945 — and since 1983 it has been owned by Nancy Stibbard. The name comes from Kia’palano, a Squamish word; the park’s Indigenous culture exhibit carries that name. Over 1.2 million people now come through the gate each year, which is worth holding in mind when you picture a quiet forest walk.
Three engineered walks, not one
The bridge alone takes five to fifteen minutes, and if that were the whole park the price would be indefensible. It is not. Treetops Adventure opened in May 2004: seven suspended footbridges running between old-growth Douglas firs on platforms up to 33 m (110 ft) above the forest floor, fifteen to twenty minutes to walk. Cliffwalk followed in June 2011 — a cantilevered walkway 213 m (700 ft) long, pinned to the rock about thirty storeys above the canyon, and the part that unsettles people most. Allow fifteen to thirty minutes for it.
Around those three you get the Living Forest exhibit, the Story Centre with photographs and artefacts from 1889 onward, Kia’palano, and Raptors Ridge with its falcons and owls from late May to September. Free guided talks run year-round, with the schedule posted at the entrance, and they are the best thing in the park that nobody plans for. All of it sits on 1.8 km of paved stone path and boardwalk, so most guests are inside for two to three hours, four if they take their time.
What CAD $76.95 actually buys
An adult 18–64 pays CAD $76.95 at the gate. A senior 65+ pays CAD $71.95, a youth 13–17 CAD $49.95, a child 6–12 CAD $29.95, and children five and under are free, issued on arrival. Anyone under 15 needs an adult with them. That single price covers every walk and exhibit above. Food is the exception: all the dining is inside the park, the Cliff House takes no reservations, and you may bring small snacks and water.
Two things before you pay. The park recommends buying a timed-entry ticket online rather than queuing, and it is open every day of the year except 25 December. And the answer to the question BC residents keep asking is no — Capilano is not free for them. Residents can upgrade a ticket to an Annual Pass, which gives a year of admission plus dining and retail discounts, but passholders still have to reserve a timed entry, and there are a limited number of those per hour during peak events.
The free bridge people are really asking about
Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge, a few minutes away in the District of North Vancouver, was built in 1912, hangs 50 m above the canyon floor and costs nothing. It began as a toll bridge and became free when it passed into public hands. It has swimming holes, forest trails and no queue. What it does not have is Treetops Adventure, the Cliffwalk, Raptors Ridge, the Story Centre, 1.8 km of boardwalk or a free downtown shuttle.
So the split is clean. If you have a car and a tight budget, Lynn Canyon is the better day and I will not pretend otherwise; I have written it up properly on our free alternative page. If you want the three engineered walks and the interpretive programme on one ticket, fifteen minutes from downtown, Capilano is the only place that assembles them.
Getting there without a car
The park is at 3735 Capilano Road, roughly fifteen minutes’ drive from downtown. A seasonal free shuttle runs from Canada Place, the Hyatt Regency and the Blue Horizon Hotel, and you need proof of admission for the return trip. On transit, take the SeaBus from Waterfront Station to Lonsdale Quay and then bus #236, or the #246 from Granville or Burrard and walk north up Capilano Road. Driving costs CAD $9.00 for three hours at credit-card-only meters; a rideshare from downtown runs about CAD $25–30. When the shuttle is not running, a combo tour is what solves the transport problem, and it is the only thing that links Capilano to Grouse Mountain in one day.
One last thing about the swaying
In 1974 two psychologists ran an experiment on this bridge that became a standard textbook reference: men who had just crossed the swaying deck were far more likely to read their own racing heart as attraction to the researcher waiting at the other end. Misattribution of arousal, in the literature. Standing on the deck at 70 m with the planks shifting under you, it is an easy finding to believe.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to go on the Capilano Suspension Bridge?
At the gate the park charges CAD $76.95 for an adult 18–64, CAD $71.95 for a senior 65+, CAD $49.95 for a youth 13–17 and CAD $29.95 for a child 6–12, with under-6s free on arrival. The GetYourGuide timed ticket starts at $57 per person in US dollars and holds your entry hour. Full arithmetic, including parking and rideshare, is on the cost page, and what the ticket includes is broken out separately.
Is there a free suspension bridge in Vancouver?
There is. Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge in the District of North Vancouver was built in 1912, sits 50 m above the canyon floor and costs nothing, because it stopped being a toll bridge when it passed into public hands. It is shorter, lower, and has none of the Treetops or Cliffwalk engineering. I compare them properly on the free alternative page.
Is the Capilano Suspension Bridge worth the money?
It depends entirely on whether you have a car. With one, and a free afternoon, Lynn Canyon will probably make you just as happy for nothing. Without one, the admission buys three engineered walks, an interpretive programme and free guided talks in a single ticket, which is hard to assemble any other way in fifteen minutes from downtown. I argue both sides on is it worth it.
How do I get to Capilano Suspension Bridge from downtown without a car?
A seasonal free shuttle runs from Canada Place, the Hyatt Regency and the Blue Horizon Hotel; the ride is around fifteen minutes and the park’s own FAQ quotes twenty to twenty-five, and you need proof of admission for the return leg. On transit, take the SeaBus from Waterfront Station to Lonsdale Quay and then the #236 bus. Every route, plus the case for a combo tour when the shuttle is not running, is on how to get there.
Is Capilano Suspension Bridge free for BC residents?
No. The only BC-resident concession is that residents can upgrade a ticket to an Annual Pass, which gives unlimited admission for a year plus dining and retail discounts. Passholders still have to book a timed entry, and there are a limited number of passholder reservations per hour during peak events. The details sit alongside the free alternative and the cost breakdown.
How long do you need at Capilano Suspension Bridge?
Crossing the bridge takes five to fifteen minutes. The park as a whole takes most guests two to three hours, and four if you are unhurried and stop for the guided talks: Treetops Adventure is fifteen to twenty minutes, the Cliffwalk fifteen to thirty, the Living Forest ten to twenty. There is a per-attraction breakdown on how long you need and a walk-through on what to expect.
How scary is the Capilano Suspension Bridge?
It moves. That is the whole design, and 70 m of air under a deck that sways with the people on it is enough to stop a lot of confident adults halfway. The Cliffwalk’s glass sections and the 33 m Treetops platforms bother some people more than the bridge itself. One reviewer called it exhilarating if somewhat scary, which is about right. More on how scary it really is.
Still have questions? Email us [email protected]