Deer Lake Park–where nature, culture and heritage meet
Deer Lake Park is situated in a peaceful natural environment that serves as the cultural centre of our city. Leisurely walking trails with scenic views connect the lake, Burnaby Art Gallery, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, Burnaby Village Museum and Hart House restaurant.
About Deer Lake Park
As you walk along the many connecting trails that surround Deer Lake, watch for wildlife like majestic great blue herons fishing in the shallows or turtles sunning themselves on logs–and, just maybe, beavers building dams in the marshy areas to the west.
To the north of Deer Lake, you'll find Burnaby's cultural centre–Burnaby Art Gallery, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, Burnaby Village Museum and more. It's a hub of activity during the busy summer season, hosting concerts and festivals on the Festival Lawn.
Keeping Burnaby's waterways healthy
The City of Burnaby keeps an eye on the health of our waterways. We’re joined in this vital mission by the Pacific Streamkeepers, the volunteer organization dedicated to saving critically important watersheds through public education and community clean-up projects. Their efforts to stock depleted streams with cut-throat trout and coho and chum salmon have been an ecological triumph of no small measure.
What you need to know
Please be respectful and courteous toward other park users and use our parks, trails and public spaces responsibly:
- Please stay to the right when walking or running on trails and pass others on the left.
- Decomposing plant life and water-quality fluctuation limit swimming opportunities in urban lakes across North America. Deer Lake is no exception. Water quality improvements through additional biofiltration ponds make it suitable for 'secondary contact' like watercraft, but not for swimming. Instead, try one of our 8 indoor and outdoor swimming pools at recreational facilities across the city.
- Canoes, kayaks and paddleboards are allowed on Deer Lake with launch access from the boat launch (dock) and beach area–located off Sperling Avenue at the east end of the lake.
- Fishing is allowed from the boat launch (dock), the shore or from a belly boat. Please bring your valid BC freshwater fishing licence with you.
- Please note: Bikes are not permitted on wooden boardwalks.
- Keep your dog leashed in all areas of the park, including the trails. Dogs aren't allowed on the beach or in the picnic area. Thank you in advance for immediately picking up your dog's waste and properly disposing of it.
- View our Wildlife in Burnaby page so you know what to do if you see a coyote, bear or a cougar on the trail.
- Enjoy clean air at your favourite public park. Smoking has been banned in all City parks and multi-use paths since January 1, 2022.
- Please note: The festival lawn area in front of the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts is excluded from the Alcohol in Parks program as it is a liquor-licensed area.
Features
Heritage and cultural facilities
Visit the village of Burnaby in the early 20th century. Costumed interpreters bring places and activities to life–a local farmhouse as well as a typical street with homes, shops and blacksmith forge. The highlight of your trip back in time–the C.W. Parker Carousel.
The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts is a stunning multi-use facility that presents live performances, offers arts programs for all ages and produces community events and festivals.
The Burnaby Art Gallery is dedicated to collecting, preserving and presenting a contemporary and historical visual art program. It's the only public art museum in Canada dedicated to works of art on paper. The art gallery maintains more than 6,000 works in its Public Art Collection and the City's Permanent Art Collection.
Constructed in 1929 on the southeast shore of Deer Lake, the Eagles Estate features a magical 0.6 hectare (1.6 acre) garden of Japanese maples, dwarf Alberta spruce, rhododendrons and magnolias–designed by pioneering Canadian horticulturalist Frank E. Buck. The site has now been restored as a recognized civic heritage site based on its historic, artistic and cultural significance.
Designed by internationally renowned architect Arthur Erickson and built in 1965 for Ruth and John Baldwin, this house features modern post and beam structure that makes extensive use of glass as a material. It's located along the south shore of Deer Lake.
Deer Lake artist residencies provide unique opportunities for emerging and established artists from various disciplines, cultures and locations to create and produce new work.
Baldwin House and Eagles Estate are are part of the Deer Lake Artist Residency program. These newly renovated heritage homes are nestled around the lake and a 10-minute walk from Shadbolt and the Burnaby Art Gallery.
Outdoor areas
Visit Century Gardens, the single best place in the city to admire and celebrate Burnaby’s official flower, the rhododendron. It's beside Ceperley House, home of the Burnaby Art Gallery.
The Festival Lawn at Deer Lake Park is a wonderful performance venue overlooking scenic Deer Lake in the heart of the city’s arts precinct. With casual, festival seating for 10,000, Festival Lawn is an ideal location for major outdoor concerts and festivals.
At the heart of every great community lies a site where citizens can gather for special occasions. Spirit Square is an open plaza outside the Shadbolt where visitors can wander or stop for a bite. It's also available to book for events and celebrations for up to 500 people. However, if you book this area, you'll need to supply your own tables and chairs. For more information about booking Spirit Square, email Shadbolt Centre for the Arts at [email protected].
View the exteriors of Burnaby's best-preserved heritage homes–featuring a fascinating collection of Edwardian country homes and landscapes built between 1904 and 1935.
Outdoor recreation in the park
Deer Lake trail loop – connecting pathways
A new pedestrian bridge is being built that will span over Deer Lake Brook and connect the Deer Lake trail loop to enhance the experience of walkers, joggers and nature lovers.
Deer Lake–the park's namesake, along with Burnaby Lake, is situated in the central heart of the city and home to resident populations of blue herons, turtles and beavers. You might glimpse them as you walk or run on the trails that circle the lake.
Deer Lake Park trails go along the water's edge and through the forest, winding past song birds flitting through the meadows, turtles sunning on logs and red-tail hawks circling the sky for prey below and, occasionally, beavers hard at work building dams at the marshy west end of the lake. The park offers a variety of routes:
- Deer Lake Loop Route
- Hart House Mini Route
- Oakland Flats
- Royal Oak Meadow Route
Please note: Bikes are not permitted on wooden boardwalks.
Just below the Burnaby Art Gallery, the Deer Lake Park Festival Lawn is an ideal spot for a picnic on the grass or at the picnic tables near the wide paved path leading to Deer Lake.
If you arrive with a kayak or canoe in your cartop carrier, you can launch it from the dock. There's also a rental service for watercraft that operates from the dock.
The east end of Deer Lake features a sandy beach for play, along with swings for children. Plus, there's a dock where you can launch small boats, like kayaks and canoes.
Accessibility
Parking
- 7 designated parking stalls are located in the parking area at the beach access point off Sperling Ave on the east side of lake.
Park trail surfaces:
- The main trail around the lake varies between finely crushed gravel, hard packed dirt and wooden boardwalk.
- Other trails in the park are mostly finely crushed gravel.
- This map shows all the trails and their surfaces.
- Please note: some of the paths may be too steep for some users. Tree roots crossing the trail also pose a tripping hazard.
Washrooms
- An accessible washroom is located on the east side of the lake, near the Sperling Ave parking area.
Visitor information
General inquiries
[email protected]
604-294-7450
Park hours
Deer Lake Park is open from dawn 'til dusk year-round.
Address
6450 Deer Lake Ave, Burnaby
Get directions
Turn off Canada Way onto Sperling Ave. The park is on the southeast shore of Deer Lake.
Public transit
Visit TransLink Trip Planner.
Parking
This map shows the parking areas noted below. Please park only in designated areas. Parking isn't permitted in the residential areas around Deer Lake Park.
- The Shadbolt Centre, Burnaby Art Gallery and Burnaby Village Museum parking lots are accessible from Deer Lake Ave.
- There is one parking lot, closer to Deer Lake beach area that is accessible from Sperling Ave.
- There is a parking lot on the west side of the park off Royal Oak Ave.
Parking lots close at 10 pm every night.