New Westminster

New Westminster sits on the north bank of the Fraser River, wedged between Burnaby and Coquitlam, with the Queensborough community stretching across the river onto the eastern tip of Lulu Island. At roughly 15.6 square kilometres and a population of about 78,900 residents per the [2021 Census](https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/), it's one of the most compact and walkable cities in Metro Vancouver — small enough to cross on foot in an afternoon, dense enough to support a real downtown core. Founded in 1860 as the capital of the Colony of British Columbia and named by Queen Victoria herself, New Westminster carries its "Royal City" nickname through the bones of the place: early-1900s houses lining Queens Park (a designated Heritage Conservation Area since 2017), the brick storefronts along Columbia Street, and the brewery and rail history still visible in Sapperton. The [City of New Westminster](https://www.newwestcity.ca/) leans into that heritage while four Expo Line SkyTrain stations — New Westminster, Columbia, Sapperton, and Braid — pull the city firmly into the regional rapid-transit grid. The SkyBridge, opened in 1990, carries the line south across the Fraser to Surrey. What follows is a set of neighbourhood guides covering the distinct pockets of the city: the Quayside boardwalk and River Market along the waterfront, the heritage blocks of Queens Park and the West End, the hospital-and-brewery corridor in Sapperton, the Uptown commercial spine along Sixth Street, and the island community of Queensborough. Each one has its own rhythm, its own housing stock, and its own relationship to the river that defines the city.