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Here are the best places to watch the Perseid meteor shower around Vancouver

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Heads up folks, because a meteor shower is coming to Vancouver this week, and it looks like the weather is going to play nice! The Perseid Meteor Shower is actually one of the best opportunities to catch a couple shooting stars every year. Since things kicked off last night, we thought you might like a guide to the best places to see it!

Here are the best places to watch a meteor shower around Vancouver.

Spanish Banks Park

We’re starting things off with easy-to-access options right in Vancouver. And, Spanish Banks is the perfect mixture of convenience and quality. Its location offers unobstructed views of the skies above, and it’s far enough away from downtown to mitigate some of the light pollution.

David Lam Park

Maybe you want to be in the heart of downtown- not a problem. While you’re going to have interference from the highrises around you, David Lam does offer a great vista for stargazing and meteor watching. Plus, the central location does mean a couple of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ around you, for effect.

Wreck Beach

If you’re willing to brave the stairs and the regulars, it doesn’t get much better than Wreck Beach for watching the skies. The west-facing views practically eliminate immediate distractions from Vancouver’s lights. Instead, it’s just the boats (and there are a lot fewer of them these days) to contend with.

Burnaby Mountain Park

If it’s good enough for a university observatory, it’s good enough for us. Pretty much anywhere on Burnaby Mountain will offer tremendous viewpoints, but the higher you get the better (safely). We’re lazy, so we’d probably just find a parking lot and hang out near our car.

Cypress Mountain

In addition to having one of the best viewpoints in Vancouver period, Cypress Mountain (and the road up to it) is also a great place to watch the sky. For a double-whammy, we say that you come around sunset, then hang out while the sky gets dark. Sure, it might take a few hours, but the view is worth it.

Porteau Cove

Our final point is definitely outside of the city, but deserves a spot on this list. A short drive from Vancouver gets you incredible views of the Howe Sound from directly on the water. And naturally, its distance from any nearby community makes it a prime spot for stargazing.

And that’s our roundup of some great spots to see a meteor shower around Vancouver! If you’re looking for more info on stargazing in general, we think that the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada has some great resources.