Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours

Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours is a company that offers guided walking tours through Gastown, downtown Vancouver, the West End and Stanley Park.

If you like storytelling, live theatre, history and going for walks, and you want to learn about the city’s past, we highly recommend guided tours with Forbidden Vancouver. They are great for both tourists and locals (ages 14+).

For tickets and full details about the company’s tours, visit the forbiddenvancouver.ca website.

This article contains the following information about Forbidden Vancouver:

Guided Walking Tours with Forbidden Vancouver

Tour guides and local actors entertain, educate and guide small groups through the streets and back alleys of downtown Vancouver. One of the tours – the Lost Souls of Gastown – is led by an actor or actress in costume. The other tours are with professional tour guides.

Each tour consists of between 4 and 20 guests, plus the guide. Sometimes dressed in period costume, depending on the tour, the guide introduces themselves and then leads the group on a mysterious and almost magical tour. The group explores Vancouver neighbourhoods and the past.

Forbidden Vancouver is a great company. It offers exceptional guided tours of downtown Vancouver. We’ve been on their walks and loved them. Also, last time we checked, they had a 5 out of 5 rating on both TripAdvisor and Yelp! It’s impossible to get reviews any higher than that!

For tickets and full details about the tours see the forbiddenvancouver.ca website.

Walking Tour Options

Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours offers a number of different kinds of tours. A couple of them focus on the city’s historical past and explore Gastown and other parts of Vancouver‘s downtown core. A third tour explores Stanley Park. Another has an art deco and chocolate theme. A fifth looks at the city’s “gay” past.

Tours last for between about 1.5 and 2.5 hours. They go at a comfortable pace – not too fast and not too slow. They are all recommended and, between the five of them, they offer something for everyone (except maybe for folk who really don’t like to walk, plus children under 14 years of age).

Comprehensive details about Forbidden Vancouver’s five main walking tour options are listed below.

The various walking tours, duration and prices as of the summer of 2021 are listed below. The first prices are for students and seniors and the second prices are for other adults.

The Lost Souls of Gastown Tour (1.5 hours, $29/$32)
The Dark Secrets of Stanley Park Tour (2 hours, $29/$32)
The Really Gay History Tour (2 hours, $29/$32)
The Forbidden Vancouver Tour (1.75 hours, $29/$32)

One other tour that normally also takes place in the summer is the one listed below. Because of the coronavirus, however, and the fact it includes going into buildings, it hasn’t been offered during the pandemic.

The Art Deco and Chocolate Tasting Tour (2.5 hours, $45/50)

See below for more comprehensive details about each option.

Storyteller Guide in Gastown — Lost Souls of Gastown Tour Guide

Lost Souls of Gastown

The Lost Souls of Gastown Tour is one of Forbidden Vancouver’s most popular tours. It’s a 1.5-hour storytelling excursion. Guided by a professional actor or actress, this tour goes through the side streets and alleyways of Gastown which is Vancouver’s historic old part of town.

The tour starts in front of the Buro Coffee Bar at 356 Water Street. It finishes around 1 kilometre and 90 minutes later near Maple Tree Square in the heart of Gastown (at the corner of Water Street and Alexander). Places visited along the way include Gaoler’s Mews, the Gastown steam clock, the CPR railyards and former locations of the city’s first jailhouse, brothel and saloon.

There is a story to this tour, told through the life experiences of the guide’s fictitious character from the late 1800’s. The historical information provided – from the bawdy houses to the plague, the great fire and murder of John Bray – however, are all historically accurate. Photos of what places used to look like are also shown along the way.

The tour usually runs four or five evenings a week beginning in the spring. By the summer it happens every day. The last time we checked it cost $32 for adults and $29 for students and seniors.

Click Lost Souls of Gastown Tour for tickets and more information on dates and times.

Tour Guide Sarah Briers in Gastown Alley — Storytelling in Alley by the CPR Railway in Gastown

The Forbidden Vancouver Tour

The Forbidden Vancouver Tour is a 1.75-hour walking tour. It explores Vancouver’s Victory Square and historic Gastown neighbourhoods. The group meets in front of the Gastown Steam Clock at 305 Water Street and the tour ends in Maple Tree Square just down the street.

The Forbidden Tour lasts for about one kilometre. It starts by the Steam Clock at the corner of Water Street and Cambie in Gastown. It too costs between $29 and $32.

If you want to be entertained while learning about Vancouver’s history of opium dens, prohibition, speakeasies, corruption, crime and various social sins, you’ll enjoy this tour.

The Forbidden Tour started back up for the season in April of 2022 at 7 pm on Fridays and Saturdays and 4 pm on Sundays. An additional tour was added on Thursday evenings later in the year.

Click Forbidden Vancouver Tour for more information and to book your experience. And for an idea of what to expect, see the following promotional video from Forbidden Vancouver.

Dark Secrets of Stanley Park

Unlike Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours’ downtown trips, the Dark Secrets of Stanley Park Tour is a daytime event that explores the seawall, forest trails and fascinating history of the city’s world-famous park. On the tour you’ll see totem poles and beautiful scenery. You’ll also learn about Deadman’s Island, secret cemeteries and past criminal activities.

Beginning and ending outside the Vancouver Aquarium at 845 Avison Way in Stanley Park, the tour typically takes place on Saturday mornings, lasts for about two hours and runs from mid-spring until late fall. The cost is between around $29 and $32. As of the summer of 2022 this tour was happening on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays starting at 10 am.

Click The Dark Secrets of Stanley Park for more information about the afternoon tours through the park. Or, for details about our experience on the walk in 2020, see our article about Forbidden Vancouver’s Walking Tour Through Stanley Park.

Dark Secrets of Stanley Park Walking Tour — Dark Secrets of Stanley Park Tour

The Really Gay History Tour

Did you know that the history of Vancouver and the struggles of its LGBTQ2+ community for recognition and acceptance involved bookstore bombings, protests and police raids? You’ll learn about those and other events and places of interest in Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours’ Really Gay History Tour.

On this tour focusing on the city’s LGBTQ history, participants make their way through Vancouver’s West End to Davie Street Village with its bars, restaurants and rainbow-coloured banners and cross-walks.

The tour begins outside the Robert Lee YMCA and and finishes a couple of hours later at Davie Street Village. The cost is around $32 for adults and $29 for seniors and students. It takes place during the day about once a week between late June or July and October, but has additional tours leading up to and including Pride Week.

In 2022 the tours take place on Sundays starting at 10:00 am. Participants meet outside the Robert Lee YMCA building at 955 Burrard Street and the tour ends in Jim Deva Plaza on Davie Street. Extra tours also take place on July 28th to 30th as well as on August 1st in 2022 (which is during Pride Week in Vancouver).

Click The Really Gay History Tour for more details.

Really Gay History Tour on Davie Street — The Really Gay History Tour

Art Deco & Chocolate Tour

(Note: This tour has not been running for the past couple of years. Hopefully it will again though soon!)

When it does happen, the Art Deco and Chocolate Tasting Tour is a two-and-a-half-hour walking tour in downtown Vancouver that examines some of the city’s art deco architecture and chocolate shop creations.

This walking tour combines storytelling, a look at how history has shaped early 20th-Century Vancouver, and chocolate sampling along the way. Venues examined include the Commodore Ballroom (1929), Gotham Steakhouse (1933), Marine Building (1930), Power Block (1929) and Vogue Theatre (1940). Also visited are two of Vancouver’s top chocolatiers (where complimentary tastings are included in the price of the tour).

Although still very much an outdoor walking tour, of Forbidden Vancouver’s various tour options, this one goes indoors more than the others (and so can be extra popular on rainier days).

The cost of this tour is between $45 and $50, depending on your age. It usually departs on Saturday mornings from outside the Vogue Theatre at 918 Granville Street (near Smithe Street) and finishes at the Marine Building at 355 Burrard Street. It happens on additional days in the summer months.

If you like walking, exploring, history, architecture and/or chocolate, it’s a great tour to go on!

For tickets and more information click Art Deco & Chocolate Tasting Tour.

Forbidden Vancouver

Tips & Advice

Below are some tips and additional information to help you make the most out of your walking tour experiences.

TIP #1: Because they involve content designed for mature audiences, walking tours with Forbidden Vancouver are recommended for folk ages 14+.

TIP #2: If you find you can’t hear, don’t be shy – ask your guide if they can speak up. It can be noisy on Vancouver’s streets and your guide will be more than happy to “up” their volume, especially if you’re in a larger group. They are also happy to answer questions along the way.

TIP #3: Tips are greatly appreciated, but not compulsory. If you enjoy your tour and want to thank your guide, feel free to slip them a few dollars at the end. Another way to thank the company is to give them a good review later online.

TIP #4: The four main tours within the city are all wheelchair accessible. Because it goes along forested trails in parts, the Secrets of Stanley Park tour is not.

TIP #5: Especially with the storytelling tours where the guide takes on the character of a fictitious historical figure, guests need a fairly good level of English to understand what’s being said. If English is your second language, and your level of comprehension isn’t quite high, you’ll likely be better off going to a museum where you can read the display information as opposed to just listening the whole time.

TIP #6: The tours are both entertaining and educational. You’ll be entertained by the fictitious characters from bygone years who lead the tours, but what they say is based on actual historical events.