VanDusen Botanical Garden.

If you want autumn colour arranged by experts, VanDusen is where you go. The garden occupies a former golf course on Vancouver’s west side, and its curators have spent decades planting for the fall: Japanese maples in every shade from amber to crimson, North American sugar and red maples, sweetgums, larches that turn gold before dropping their needles, and a line of ginkgos that shed their fan-shaped leaves almost all at once into a yellow carpet.

The layout rewards wandering, but a sensible route is to follow the main path from the visitor centre toward Livingstone Lake, loop around the water where the reflections are best, then climb gently to the Maple Grove and the Korean Pavilion before returning via the ginkgo walk and the Elizabethan hedge maze. That is about two kilometres and easily fills ninety minutes with photographs. Benches are plentiful, and the café near the entrance is a comfortable place to warm up.

Timing matters more here than in wild parks. Because so many of the showpiece trees are cultivated species, the peak usually arrives a couple of weeks after the bigleaf maples in nearby forests, often around the turn of October into November. The garden posts updates on its own channels, so a quick check before you buy tickets is worthwhile.

Children enjoy the maze, the floating bridge and the ducks on the lakes; the garden runs seasonal events that may add crowds and separate ticketing. The caveats are straightforward: admission is charged, hours change with the season and parking is paid, so this is a planned outing rather than a spontaneous stroll.