Vancouver's West Side: A Guide to Its Neighbourhoods

Vancouver's West Side runs from the beaches of Kitsilano and Point Grey to Kerrisdale and Marpole, with heritage rules in First Shaughnessy and big plans along Broadway and the Canada Line. This guide walks home buyers through ten local areas, their transit, beaches and schools, and the leasehold and jurisdiction questions to settle first.

The short version

The West Side at a glance

The City counts 22 local areas without dividing them into east and west. This guide covers ten on the West Side: Kitsilano, Fairview, West Point Grey, Dunbar-Southlands, Arbutus Ridge, Kerrisdale, Shaughnessy, South Cambie, Oakridge and Marpole.

Citywide, the 2021 Census counted 662,248 people, up 4.9% from 2016; 54.5% of households rented, about 62% of homes were in apartment buildings, and fewer than 15% were single-detached houses.

The neighbourhoods

• Kitsilano. On English Bay between Granville Island and Point Grey, known locally as Kits. Craftsman houses from the 1910 to 1912 boom and restored character homes share it with apartment blocks, and shops and restaurants line West 4th Avenue and West Broadway.
• Fairview. Fairview Slopes overlooks False Creek, and the blocks south of Broadway have been an apartment district since the 1950s. Vancouver General Hospital is here, and the City's page for the area also covers False Creek South and Granville Island.
• West Point Grey. Between UBC and Kitsilano, one of Vancouver's older neighbourhoods, with most of its original homes and some older mansions. Point Grey Village has a village-like shopping district, and the City calls the Old Hastings Mill Store, built in 1865, the oldest building in Vancouver.
• Dunbar-Southlands. East of UBC and Pacific Spirit Regional Park and north of the Fraser River, with quiet streets, large trees, many 1920s homes and the Dunbar Village shops. The City calls Southlands an urban country neighbourhood, and the area includes McCleery Golf Course and Musqueam Indian Reserve 2, which is not part of the City.
• Arbutus Ridge. In the middle of the West Side, next to Shaughnessy, Dunbar and Kerrisdale, with tree-lined streets, restored heritage houses and North Shore mountain views. Arbutus Village, a housing and shopping complex, was built in the late 1960s.
• Kerrisdale. Primarily residential, sloping toward the Fraser River, with grand old trees and many long-time residents. Kerrisdale Village is the main shopping area, and the area has a community centre, a pool and the Cyclone Taylor Arena.
• Shaughnessy. The city's geographic heart, between Queen Elizabeth Park and Arbutus, developed by the CPR as its premier residential subdivision. It is mostly single-family houses on large lots, many from the early 1900s, and VanDusen Botanical Garden is here.
• South Cambie. Between Queen Elizabeth Park and Shaughnessy, known for medical facilities, including BC Children's Hospital, BC Women's Hospital and Health Care Centre and GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre. Its oldest, northern part has Craftsman-style heritage homes from the 1910s and 1920s.
• Oakridge. South of VanDusen, mostly single-family homes, including classic postwar bungalows, with Langara College and Langara Golf Course. Oakridge Centre, Vancouver's first shopping centre (1959), on an 11-hectare (28-acre) site at 41st and Cambie, is being redeveloped as a mixed-use community.
• Marpole. The Marpole Midden, found in 1889 when Granville Street was extended, is evidence of its earliest settlement. From the 1960s, low-rise stucco walk-ups replaced many original homes south of 70th Avenue, shops line Granville Street, and the area has its own community plan.

Getting around

• The Canada Line. From downtown, it stops at Olympic Village, Broadway-City Hall, King Edward, Oakridge-41st Avenue, Langara-49th Avenue and Marine Drive, then continues to Richmond, where it splits for the airport and Richmond-Brighouse.
• The Broadway Subway. This 5.7 km Millennium Line extension from VCC-Clark will add stations at Broadway-City Hall, Oak-VGH, South Granville and Arbutus. Train testing was under way in late May 2026, with a fall 2027 opening expected, and the trip from VCC-Clark to Arbutus will take about 11 minutes.
• RapidBus. The R4 runs along 41st Avenue between UBC and Joyce-Collingwood Station.
• Bridges. The Burrard Bridge, built in 1932, helped open up Kitsilano. In Marpole, the Oak Street Bridge opened in 1957, and the Arthur Laing Bridge opened to airport traffic in 1975.

Beaches and parks

• Kitsilano. Kits Beach, Kitsilano Pool and Vanier Park, home of the Museum of Vancouver and a planetarium.
• Point Grey. Jericho Beach and Spanish Banks, two popular beaches for sunsets, with off-leash areas at Spanish Banks and the Locarno Park extension.
• Forest and gardens. Pacific Spirit Regional Park, on Dunbar's western edge, with Camosun Bog, and VanDusen Botanical Garden. Queen Elizabeth Park is next to South Cambie.

Marpole-Oakridge Community Centre, opened in 1949, is the city's oldest, and Douglas Park has South Cambie's.

Schools and hospitals

The Vancouver School Board, School District 39, serves about 50,000 Kindergarten to Grade 12 students and runs 18 secondary schools, including University Hill Secondary at UBC. Its School Locator finds the catchment school for an address if you type the street name only, and its district programs include French Immersion, Mandarin Bilingual, Montessori, International Baccalaureate and mini schools.

Vancouver General Hospital is in Fairview, and BC Children's and BC Women's are in South Cambie.

Housing and how the West Side is changing

• The Broadway Plan. The City's 30-year plan for the area between Vine Street and Clark Drive, from 1st to 16th Avenue, came into effect in 2022. It covers parts of Kitsilano and Fairview and has capacity for up to 64,000 more residents and 45,000 more jobs.
• The Cambie Corridor Plan. A 30-year framework along the Canada Line, which the City calls its biggest growth area outside downtown. With major project sites, it is expected to more than double the corridor's population and add over 30,000 homes.
• The Jericho Lands. A 90-acre site in West Point Grey owned by a partnership of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations and Canada Lands Company. A policy statement was approved in 2024, and Council approved an Official Development Plan in April 2025.
• Multiplexes. The R1-1 zone, which replaced the RS single-family zones in October 2023, generally allows a multiplex of three to six strata units on a large enough lot, or up to eight homes if all are rented. First Shaughnessy has its own zoning.
• Near transit. Around SkyTrain stations and the Dunbar Loop bus exchange, the City can't refuse a rezoning on height or density alone, up to limits that fall with distance. Land isn't rezoned automatically.

UBC and the University Endowment Lands

UBC's Vancouver campus and the University Endowment Lands (UEL) next to it are not run by the City. The UEL, home to nearly 4,000 people, is governed by the Province, with its own bylaws and property taxes levied by the Province's Surveyor of Taxes. At UBC, land use follows a Land Use Plan approved by the Province, the Board of Governors approves neighbourhood plans, and homes are rental or long-term lease. When a UBC leasehold home is sold, UBC signs the assignment of lease, and each mortgage needs an agreement signed by the buyer, the lender and UBC.

What to check before you buy

• First Shaughnessy. The heritage conservation area, created in 2015, aims to conserve pre-1940 homes and limit subdivision. A heritage alteration permit is generally needed for new development, demolition and most alterations, and a protected building can be demolished only if the Director of Planning decides it no longer has enough heritage value.
• Other heritage. Elsewhere, ask whether a house is on the Vancouver Heritage Register before you plan changes.
• Leasehold. The City owns 80% of the land in False Creek South, where most of its leases expire between 2036 and 2046, and homes at UBC are leasehold too. I explain leasehold in Freehold or Strata?
• Flood plain. Some land near the Fraser River, English Bay and False Creek is in the City's designated flood plain, where new buildings must meet a flood construction level. Ask the City.
• Empty Homes Tax. Owners must make a declaration every year, and the 2025 rate was 3% of assessed taxable value.

Questions buyers often ask me

Are UBC and the University Endowment Lands part of Vancouver?

No. The UEL is governed by the Province with its own bylaws, and UBC's campus follows a Land Use Plan approved by the Province, so City zoning doesn't apply there.

Can I tear down an old house in First Shaughnessy?

Not freely. You generally need a heritage alteration permit, and a protected house can be demolished only if the Director of Planning decides it no longer has enough heritage value to justify keeping it.

What does leasehold mean at False Creek South and UBC?

You buy the right to the home for the rest of the lease, while the land stays with the City or UBC. Most City leases in False Creek South expire between 2036 and 2046; in March 2023 the City offered strata leaseholders 20-year extensions, open until February 2028.

When will the Broadway Subway reach the West Side?

By late May 2026, train testing was under way and a fall 2027 opening was expected. Its West Side stations will be Broadway-City Hall, Oak-VGH, South Granville and Arbutus.

What is planned for the Jericho Lands?

The City's plans for the 90-acre site in West Point Grey call for about 13,000 homes for around 24,000 residents, space for about 3,000 jobs and 30 acres of parks and open space.

Thinking about the West Side? Browse homes for sale in Vancouver, see my Vancouver area page, or read which strata documents to read first if you are looking at a condo.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Population and housing figures are from the 2021 Census, and other details are from the City of Vancouver, TransLink, the Province, the Government of Canada, the Vancouver School Board, UBC and the University Endowment Lands at the time of writing. For the City's neighbourhood pages, see Areas of the city.