Burnaby Village Museum

Its' been a few years since we last came to Burnaby Village Museum and there have been a few changes to it. They appear to have done some renovations in certain areas and they've set things up so that the experience here is more interactive than before. There are things that can be turned, flipped and sniffed! I love these new changes they've made.

The Carousel ride is still there. That's one thing I hope they never change! Oh...you can get screamers at the Ice Cream Parlour now. They are available in two delicious flavors!

This is a great place to come for an educational, fun and scrumptious experience that will have you "screaming" with delight!

Oh, free admission is always something to smile about as well!

Service: Good
Parking: Free
Location: 6501 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby, BC

A great place to go on weekends, free admission, spacious and interesting architecture with lots of history. Great for young families. Everything was well kept, clean and manicured.

The staff there were friendly and actively made conversation and offered demonstrations for visitors.

Would even better if there were more parking and food options. Only have a handful of parking at the centre, so you may have to look for residential street parking. Only one cafe there with a very simple menu of hotdogs, coffee and pastries.

A nice little museum stop for family and kids and perhaps even for early dating couples (good conversation starters ^^)

Kids can enjoy carousel rides, buy ice cream and popcorn. Great time to visit now, before year-end, as one can still enjoy the last taste of the Christmas festivities - lights and Christmas trees!

Refreshments and snacks are satisfying from choices of hot dog, fish and chips, hot chocolate to dessert items like lava cakes, cheesecake, brownies and carrot cakes.

Gift shop has honey sticks and cute gift ideas. It's cute place to stop by for a walk after a dinner date to get some nice fresh air and awesome photos.

Beautiful display of the Olde Towne centre. Buildings and artifacts restored to authenticity.

The staff / volunteers are OUTSTANDING.

The restoration of the antique carousel to working perfection was a true delight. My husband rode that same carousel 53 years ago when it was at the PNE. Brought back great memories.

The Christmas lights and decorations were a real joy.

Brought a visitor from England to the village today. He was very impressed. I can't give a 5 star rating though because I was so disappointed that the former ice cream parlour had been turned into a sterile, cookie cutter restaurant. Gone was any historic ambiance. Does not fit into the museum setting at all.

Have been going since I was little and now take my own daughter. always pristine and well maintained. was looking forward to the newly renovated coffee shop but utterly confused on the style - a modern cafe in a village museum. Like how in the world was this not designed to follow the feel of the rest of the historic museum and be an ice cream shop? Plus the ice cream is pre scooped and served in a to go container!

What a hidden gem. We have been going to Vancouver for the longest time and only recently discovered this place. It is a pretty fun place to explore with kids. The village is set in the 1940s I think where their artifacts are all from this era and local to the area so it lends to a pretty authentic experience. We enjoyed going to the old school houses and seeing the nice homes back in the day that are pristinely preserved. All the volunteers were very nice and gave us a lot of information about the village. There is also a nice counsel on the property and also very affordable to buy rides for the kiddos.

For starters, admission is free. This makes for a nice family activity to keep the children busy for a little bit. Personally, I am not interested at looking into a piece of history. I was here because family who wanted to visit this museum. The ice cream shop had an okay menu. I wanted a latte and it was not available. They did serve coffee, tea and hot chocolate for hot drinks.

There was a free Santa you can take photos with at one of the houses. There were Christmas lights too. I thought that was a nice touch for the holidays.

A walk down the historic burnaby timeline. Great place for little kids and grown adults. Original merry go round!!!!! Cannot see/experience this on internet!! Kids should love to see blacksmith in action but maybe I enjoy this more than most as growing up in small town this was normal for me.
Always have something on the holidays to do. Definitely recommend to anyone visiting or just to get the kids outside to enjoy our beautiful city!!!

Because of transit, Burnaby Village Museum is not a place I frequent; as an adult, I've been twice -- once a couple of years ago, and again on Saturday. It's a shame that transit is so horrible, because it's a neat little museum, and it's free! (There is a small charge to ride the carousel, however.)

It's an open air museum about the history of Burnaby. There's a replica 1920s village with various shops (general store, bakery, bank, theater, print shop, mechanic shop, and a Chinese herbalist's shop, to name a few), and a restored interurban tram car that operated between 1913 and 1958 that visitors can enter. There's an ice cream shop and restaurant, a carousel to ride, and WiFi throughout the museum grounds. They also have a variety of seasonal events, and being Christmas time, the village was decorated with lights. And best of all, it's free! So what's not to like? Transit.

Burnaby Village Museum is located in Burnaby, as the name suggests, and despite there being three buses that go past the museum (the #123, #133, and #144), the buses run so infrequently that getting to and from the museum via transit is horrible! (Transit in Burnaby is horrible, and I avoid going to Burnaby because of it.) When leaving, I just missed a bus (due to not being able to find the bus stop, as I was unfamiliar with the area, and then having to cross a wide street), and had to wait 20 minutes for one! Three buses and a minimum 20 minute wait?! And it started to rain seconds after I started waiting, and there was no bus shelter.

In conclusion, it's a fun little museum, it's free, and it's great for kids, but it's not a museum I will go to again, unless someone drives me. It's not *that* good that I'd wait 20+ minutes for a bus.

[Yelp collections: Museums and Art Galleries; Cheap Thrills; Being a tourist in my own city]