Vancouver Halloween Events

Halloween activities in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland in October include Haunted Houses, trick-or-treating, costume parties, tours and other events.

There are Halloween Activities for Children of all ages as well as Halloween Events for Adults. There are Haunted Houses, Halloween Boat Parties, scary movies, and Halloween Rainy Day Activities. It’s not Halloween-related, but in October of 2023 the Circo Osorio Circus was also in town.

To learn about these and other Halloween-themed happenings this year, continue reading.

This article includes a list of the following types of Halloween and autumn-themed events:

Click any of the above links to jump to a specific kind of event, or continue reading to learn all about the Lower Mainland’s various Halloween-themed events and attractions.

Halloween in Vancouver

Highlights of the Halloween season in the Lower Mainland include Maan Farm’s Haunted Mazes for older folk in Abbotsford at night, and the kid-friendly Pumpkin Patch & Autumn Activities at the same venue during the day. They both start up in September, as does HowlOver Canada at FlyOver Canada.

In October there is Fright Nights at the PNE and Brinkworth Dungeon in Langley. In Chilliwack there is both Reaper’s Maze of Terror and Petey’s Pumpkin Patch. There is also Cougar Creek’s House of Horrors in Surrey (which is great for people who like scary things) and Canyon Frights at Capilano Bridge on the North Shore (which is suitable for people of all ages).

In Vancouver there are a couple of Halloween Boat Parties as well, plus spooky walking tours with Forbidden Vancouver and fun outdoor adventure games with Vancouver Mysteries. If you like walking tours, another awesome Halloween activity to check out is Grave Tales in Fort Langley. There are a number of wonderfully scary Haunted Houses in the region, but also other great fun stuff like dressing up at work and trick-or-treating with children around the neighbourhood.

Below is a list of Halloween-related events that usually take place in Vancouver and elsewhere in the Lower Mainland.

Events & Attractions in the City Vancouver

There are some fantastic haunted houses in Vancouver as well as a variety of other Halloween-theme activities to do.

Vancouver Haunted House Attractions

Fright Nights at the PNE – Playland’s annual Halloween celebrations take place at the PNE grounds at 2901 East Hastings Street. Fright Nights features eight haunted houses and over a dozen rides. Last year, the attraction ran on select days between October 6th and the 31st.
Dead Fellows Haunted Brewhouse – Strange Fellows Brewhouse on Clark Drive in Vancouver had a haunted house attraction on October 27th to 31st, 2023, in the evenings. There was also a family-friendly version of the attraction for families with younger kids on the Saturday and Sunday of October 28th and 29th.
Barclay Manor – the West End Community Centre hosted a haunted house in a really old building that looks like a real haunted house on October 27th and 28th last year. Admission cost just $4, or $12 for a family of four.

Other City of Vancouver Halloween Activities

Halloween at FlyOver Canada – a family-friendly multidimensional film about Canada with a Halloween theme at Canada Place in October. The show is a great way to learn about and experience Canada while celebrating the Halloween season. In 2023 HowlOver Canada ran from September 28th until October 31st.
Halloween Boat Parties – a number of night club-like parties take place on chartered yachts in the waters around downtown Vancouver. Last year, there were two Halloween-themed cruises on October 28th with Vancouver Boat Parties. There was the Halloween Havoc Boat Party on the Burrard Queen. On the Magic Spirit, meanwhile, there were two events that happened at the same time. The Halloween Boat Party and Latin Halloween Boat Party took place on different decks of the same yacht.
Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours – spooky walking tours for adults and older youth in downtown Vancouver. The most popular one this time of year is the Lost Souls of Gastown Tour which is led by a professional actor and highly recommended.
Vancouver Mystery Nights – outdoor adventure games in the streets of downtown Vancouver. Especially popular during the Halloween season are Ghost Patrol and Heroes & Villains.
Latin American Heritage Month – various events celebrating Latin culture take place in Vancouver in October. On the weekend of October 28th and 29th last year there was the Latin Market Featuring the Day of the Dead at Granville Island.
Nightmare Before Christmas Market – a Halloween-themed maker and artist market at the Croatian Cultural Centre on October 7th and 8th in 2023.
Big Halloween Run – a new family-friendly running event starting and finishing at Olympic Village. (October 30th, 2024)

Events and Attractions Elsewhere in Metro Vancouver

Brinkworth Dungeon – an exceptional haunted house in Langley that ran from October 4th until November 5th last year.
Cougar Creek’s House of Horrors – three haunted houses and other scary experiences in Surrey ran from September 29th to November 4th in 2023.
Pumpkins After Dark – a Halloween attraction featuring light displays and Jack-o-lanterns in Burnaby. Last year, the event ran from October 6th until Halloween.
Grave Tales in Fort Langley – creepy and spine-tingling walking tours around the Village of Fort Langley. In 2023, they took place on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in October starting on the 13th.
Canyon Frights – lights and Halloween decorations at Capilano Suspension Bridge from October 13th to the 31st last year.
Burnaby’s Haunted Village – although free in the summer, admission at Burnaby Village during this family-friendly event costs about $10 for adults, seniors and youth. In 2023 it ran between October 19th and 29th.

Events and Attractions Elsewhere in the Lower Mainland

Maan Farms Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maze – family-friendly activities at a farm in Abbotsford. The fall festivities in 2023 ran from September 16th until October 31st.
Haunted Corn Maze – a scary Halloween attraction for older youth at Maan Farms. Last year, there were three attractions between September 29th and October 31st: Homestead, The Slaughterhouse and The Way Down.
Spooktacular Halloween: Cabinet of Curiosities – Halloween activities took place at Britannia Mine Museum between West Vancouver and Squamish on the last three weekends of October in 2023.
Pumpkin Patches – pumpkins and child-friendly autumn activities at various farms throughout the Lower Mainland.
Reaper’s Haunted Attraction – a popular Halloween event for fright seekers in Chilliwack. It ran on most days from October 6th until Halloween night last year.
Halloween at WildPlay – if you wear a costume at the ropes course and ziplining venue in Maple Ridge on the last weekend in October you can do the Jump of Fear for free some years. (2024 details are to be confirmed.)

Whatever you do this Halloween, have fun, but remember to be responsible and stay safe!

Halloween Walking Tours

An interesting and entertaining way to enjoy the Halloween season is by taking a guided tour. There are some great walking tours to choose from, including the following:

Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours – a selection of exceptional and highly recommended guided tours. A perfect choice for Halloween is their Lost Souls of Gastown Tour.
- Lost Souls of Gastown features true stories about Gastown’s gruesome history, including about smallpox, fire and murder. The tours are great for Halloween and start at the corner of Water and Cordova Streets, beside Monaco Cafe.
Grave Tales in Fort Langley – Fort Langley National Historic Site hosts spooky walking tours during the Halloween season. Last year, there were adult tours and tours for kids between October 13th and 29th. The tours go around the town and into the local cemetery. They are also tremendously popular and sell out every year.
Fort Langley Tours – this company has two different tours. One is the Fort Langley Walking Tour which takes place on Wednesday evenings and looks at the history of the town in general. On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, however, there is The Dark Side of Fort Langley which has a theme about crime.

Vancouver Gastown Walking Tour — Lost Souls of Gastown Tour at Halloween

Halloween Boat Parties

Arguably even more fun than a party at a regular night club is a dance party on a boat off the coast of Vancouver. Below are a couple of cruising opportunities hosted by Vancouver Boat Parties most years.

There were three Halloween-themed boat parties that happened on Saturday, October 28th in 2023. One took place on the Burrard Queen and the other two were held jointly on the Magic Spirit Yacht. All three parties ran from 8:00 pm until midnight.

For full details about the three events click on the following:

Halloween Havoc Boat Party on the Burrard Queen
Halloween Boat Party on the Magic Spirit
Latin Halloween Boat Party on the Magic Spirit

To learn about these and boat party events at other times of the year, see our articles about Vancouver Boat Parties and Halloween Boat Parties.

Halloween-Themed Movies & Theatre

Because of the Halloween season, October is the perfect month to see horror movies (assuming you like that sort of thing). It’s also a great time to see kid-friendly Halloween-themed movies too. Below are some of the film opportunities to consider.

FlyOver Canada at Halloween – Vancouver’s multi-dimensional flying experience film at Canada Place had a wonderful, family-friendly Halloween theme every day in October last year. In the show you got to fly with witches and it was suitable for all ages (i.e. in no way was it a horror film).
Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival – horror films with in-person screenings take place over a couple of weekends in October. In 2023 the festival ran from October 13th to 15th in Vancouver and from October 20th to 22nd at Metrotown in Burnaby.
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror – the 1922 classic shows at the Orpheum Theatre as part of Vancouver Civic Theatre‘s Silent Movie Mondays series were on Monday, October 16th last year.

Halloween Trains

The Lower Mainland is home to a couple of miniature train attractions that go all out at Halloween. Both offer fairly tame tours for little kids in the afternoons and early evenings, but then really ramp things up for youth and young adults at night.

Bear Creek Halloween Train – child-friendly Halloween Pumpkin Express miniature train rides in Surrey usually run from 10:00 am until 4:30 pm every day in October. The cost in 2023 was about $11.50. The Haunted Forest Scream Train is at the same place and cost about $6 more. Last year, it ran from 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm but only started on October 13th.
Stanley Park Ghost Train – family-friendly miniature train rides with a Halloween theme. In 2019 the train ran every day from October 11th until Halloween on October 31st. It was cancelled in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Hopefully it will run again one day!

Special Halloween Events

Metro Vancouver is home to numerous attractions, like miniature trains and Haunted Houses. They run for either most of the month or at least the last few days of October. In addition to the “attractions” though, there are also a number of special one-day events, including the following:

Celebrate the Night – an evening of family-friendly activities and fireworks at Memorial Peace Park in Maple Ridge. In 2023 the event happened on October 20th.
Central Spark – a free Halloween celebration at Burnaby’s Central Park. The inaugural event took place on October 27th last year. It featured carnival games, an outdoor maze, fireworks, and more.
Parade of Lost Souls – an annual grassroots parade event where the location isn’t revealed until midnight on the Friday before Halloween (although one can assume it’ll be somewhere in the Commercial Drive neighbourhood). The event took place on October 28th this past year.
Night for All Souls – free Halloween-type activities take place at Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery most years. In 2023 the events ran from October 25th until November 1st.
Halloween Fireworks – free music, kids’ activities, fire juggling, a magic show and fireworks take place at Minoru Park in Richmond on Halloween night.
Vancouver Halloween Parade – a fun family-friendly parade in downtown Vancouver. (Note: This event was CANCELLED for 2023, as was the related Vancouver Halloween Expo.)

For more special events, see our articles about the Halloween Weekend or Halloween for Adults.

Other Haunted Venues

In addition to the above-mentioned attractions, the Lower Mainland has numerous other wonderfully scary haunted houses.

Click Vancouver Haunted Houses for a list of more spooky places in the Lower Mainland.

Some of the best haunted houses include venues like Brinkworth Dungeon in Langley, Anmore Manor just north of Port Moody, Reapers in Chilliwack and the list goes on and on!

In addition to the above list, there is also a wide variety of other events and activities for people of different age groups, both on the big day of October 31st as well as throughout the entire second half of the month.

Halloween Activities for Children

Check out Vancouver Children’s Halloween Activities for a list of other family-friendly and only-moderately-spooky fun. Attractions with kid-friendly activities include FlyOver Canada, Capilano Suspension Bridge, VanDusen Garden and other places of interest. In October there are also Pumpkin Patches and Corn Mazes all over the Lower Mainland. New for 2023 was the Harrison Pumpkin Festival which ran until a couple days before Halloween. There are also fun events at the Museum of Surrey and other Lower Mainland museums including the following:

Maritime BOO-Seum – Halloween decorations and a drop-in scavenger hunt at the Vancouver Maritime Museum.
Halloweekend on the River – kid-friendly activities at the Fraser River Discovery Centre in New Westminster.
Mr. I’s Slightly Spooky Songs and Stories – a Halloween concert for little kids and their parents at Place des Arts in Coquitlam.

Click Vancouver Children’s Halloween Activities for ideas on what to do with kids.

THE CIRCUS IS COMING!

Last year, the Circo Osorio Circus played at Coquitlam Centre between October 19th and October 30th. The circus isn’t a Halloween event, obviously, but it did have shows in the month of October. It’s also a fabulous, family-friendly and very affordable event. An adult and two younger children could get in for less than $30!

See the American Crown Circus website or our article about Circo Osorio to learn more.

Halloween Activities for Adults

Click Adult Halloween Activities for a list of Halloween events for people age 19+, or click Lower Mainland Haunted Houses for a list of haunted attractions suitable for adults and older youth.

In addition to haunted houses, adult Halloween activities include boat parties, night club parties, spooky walking tours and mystery games.

Other Activities in October

Interested in learning about other great activities in the month of October? Then check out the following:

If you happen to be in Victoria (on Vancouver Island) around Halloween, another family-friendly event you might like is Wicked Victoria. It’s a street party with free admission.