The Steveston Beer Run: 3 Cities, Infinite Craft Beer & a Fishing Village
Vancouver Bike Route #2
All Vancouver Area Bike Routes
This route starts at the Burquitlam Skytrain Station and ends at the Sperling Skytrain Station, passing through Burnaby, Vancouver and Richmond along the way.
What’s nice about starting at the Burquitlam Station is that you can begin the journey from the top of Blue Mountain. Similarly, ending the trip at the Sperling Station lets you avoid climbing the same little mountain if that’s where you’re headed.
You can create your own variation based on where you live by comparing the route to the official Translink bike route maps for Metro Vancouver.
Route Variation #1: through Richmond City Center
Route Variation #2: Down the Shell Rd Gravel Trail
The Vancouver area, according to Google, has 73 craft breweries, quite a lot of which are in East Van, which should be enough for your bike ride. My regular brewery in this part of town is Bomber Brewing but I’m also a regular at Parallel 49 and a few other places.
If you look at the route map, in south Vancouver in the Marpole neighborhood you’ll see a little squiggle-detour along the Fraser River — that’s the side jaunt over to Milltown Pub.
A great way to experience Milltown — or at least, save a little money — is bring your lunch with you and have it at the picnic table area along the river across from YVR just east of the pub, then head into the pub after your lunch and get a pint.
For craft beer in south Richmond and Steveston proper — note that Steveston is officially just a popular neighborhood of Richmond, not its own municipality — check out 5 Roads in the main touristy section or Fuggles which is further east in a light industrial area.
Fuggles is quite easy to get to, just take the Shell Rd gravel trail south to Steveston Highway, then meander zig-zaggedy southeast through the strip malls and light industry zone.
Richmond has many miles of dyke trails and calm river roads especially on its southerns and western edges. These are great for letting any beer buzz you might acquire wear off slowly as you take in views of the wetlands, the Strait of Georgia (part of the Salish Sea) and the distant north shore mountains.
