Watching Planes Land in Vancouver at Flight Path Park

I found myself thirty minutes early for a family airport pickup on a warm Tuesday night in August and while I love killing time at Vancouver International Airport (at the Observation Area or Chester Johnson Park) I turned off Grant McConachie Way, looping past Burkeville on Russ Baker Way, and pulled into Flight Path Park.

Larry Berg Flight Path Park opened in 2013 at the tip of the YVR Airport’s south runway. Landscaped with plane watching in mind, benches line small mounds of grass and the globe in the middle of the information plaza is grooved for climbing. Children race down paved mini runways, giant paper airplanes dot the grassy field, and picnic tables provide a venue for an extended stay.

There is a small parking lot off of Russ Baker Way but if you keep going a few meters you can turn onto Airport Road and find much more parking space in a gravel lot.

Taking your bike? There’s a bike tool and pump station at Flight Path Park.

Tail wings around the plaza area feature historical YVR facts and fun, educational aviation statistics tell you the story of YVR and why it is one of the best airports in the world.

Landing at sunset.

It’s the best place to watch planes land with your family as you hang out at a picnic table, scale the globe, or set up a blanket on the grass as aircraft approach for landing overhead.