New Westminster is western Canada's oldest city and was the first capital of British Columbia. It sits along the north bank of the Fraser River, about 25 km east of Vancouver, and is easily reached by SkyTrain.
The waterfront area around the Quay is the main draw, with the River Market, views across the Fraser and a boardwalk along the shore. The city's Columbia Street historic district retains a number of early twentieth-century commercial buildings, and the residential neighbourhoods on the hill above have fine Victorian and Edwardian houses around Queen's Park. The Irving House Historic Centre is the best-preserved Victorian home in the province. New Westminster feels like a distinct city rather than a Vancouver suburb — it has its own character, its own downtown, and a proud sense of its history as the original capital. It also has a stronger claim than anywhere else to the title of Canada's lacrosse capital, a case well made at the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.