The Seven Best Drives Within Two Hours of Vancouver

Vancouver has a rare advantage: you can be on a genuinely great road within forty minutes of downtown. Here are the drives worth clearing a weekend for, ranked by what they ask of the car.

1. Sea to Sky Highway to Squamish

The one everyone names, and it earns it. Highway 99 north out of Horseshoe Bay hugs Howe Sound with the water on your left and granite on your right for the better part of an hour. The corners are fast and open rather than technical, which makes it a grand tourer's road more than a sports car's.

Time: 45 minutes each way. Best car: something with a roof that opens or a view out the front. Stop: Porteau Cove, early, before the lot fills.

2. Squamish to Whistler and the Duffey Lake loop

Keep going past Squamish and the road changes character - tighter, higher, quieter. Past Whistler and Pemberton, the Duffey Lake Road (Highway 99 to Lillooet) is the best-kept driving secret in the southwest: alpine switchbacks, almost no traffic midweek, and scenery that makes the drive the destination.

Time: Full day. Best car: an SUV with real ground clearance if the season is uncertain - conditions turn fast above Pemberton.

3. Marine Drive, West Vancouver

The short one. Twenty-five minutes of low-speed, high-reward coastal road through some of the most expensive real estate in the country. It is not about pace; it is about a Sunday morning with the windows down and no particular destination.

Time: An hour with coffee. Best car: anything you want to be seen in.

4. The Fraser Valley wine run

East instead of north. Highway 1 out to Abbotsford and Chilliwack opens into farmland and mountain backdrop, with a dozen wineries and cideries spaced along the route. The driving is relaxed; the appeal is the day.

Time: Half day. Best car: a comfortable SUV - you will be carrying things home. Note: if tasting is the point, this is the drive to be driven on rather than to drive.

5. Mount Seymour and Cypress lookouts

Two mountain roads, both twenty minutes from the Second Narrows, both ending at a view over the whole city. Cypress at dusk is the classic; Seymour is quieter. Steep, well-surfaced switchbacks reward a car with brakes worth the name.

Time: Two hours. Best car: something quick with good brakes.

6. The Gulf Islands via BC Ferries

Drive on at Tsawwassen, drive off at Galiano or Salt Spring, and spend a day on roads with almost no traffic. The ferry makes it a commitment - reserve ahead in summer - but island driving is a different pace entirely.

Time: Full day or overnight. Best car: anything; the roads are gentle.

7. Highway 7 back from Hope

Everyone takes Highway 1 both ways. Go out on the freeway and come back on Highway 7 along the north side of the Fraser - slower, prettier, nearly empty, and it turns a return leg into part of the trip.

Time: Adds 45 minutes to a Hope run. Best car: whatever you drove out in.

A note on the car

The honest truth about these drives is that the vehicle changes the experience more than the route does. Duffey Lake in a G-Class and Marine Drive in a 911 are two different weekends. That mismatch is the single best argument for access over ownership: the road you pick on Friday should decide the car, not a purchase you made three years ago.