Surrey

Surrey covers roughly 316 square kilometres on the south side of the Fraser River, making it one of the largest cities by land area in Metro Vancouver and, with a population of about 568,000, the fastest-growing city in British Columbia ([City of Surrey](https://www.surrey.ca/)). It is bordered by the Fraser River to the north and west, Langley to the east, and the Peace Arch crossing into Washington State to the south — a footprint that stretches from upland forest near the eastern boundary all the way to oceanfront at Crescent Beach. Unlike most cities its size, Surrey doesn't have a single downtown. It was incorporated in 1879 and grew outward from several historic villages, and today the city is organized around six official town centres — City Centre (Whalley), Newton, Guildford, Cloverdale, Fleetwood, and South Surrey — each with its own character, retail core, and surrounding residential pockets. City Centre anchors the Expo Line SkyTrain terminus and SFU's Surrey campus, while South Surrey and Semiahmoo feel suburban and coastal, and Cloverdale retains its small-town heritage main street. Surrey is also BC's most ethnically diverse city, home to large South Asian and Filipino communities alongside long-established multi-generational families and a steady stream of newcomers ([Statistics Canada Census 2021](https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/)). That diversity shows up in the food, the festivals, the places of worship, and the rhythm of each town centre. The neighbourhood guides that follow break Surrey down area by area — from transit-oriented high-rises near King George Station to detached-home enclaves close to the beach — so you can get a feel for the part of the city that fits how you actually want to live.