Port Coquitlam: Trail, History and Art

Port Coquitlam offers two distinctly different areas of focus for planning a trip: outdoor activities and local culture. The Traboulay PoCo Trail loops around the city for 25 kilometres; a museum, a permanent history exhibit, changing art exhibitions and May Days add further highlights. If you’re looking for a hotel in Port Coquitlam, this selection can help you decide which themes you’d like to shape your stay. You can then factor the activities and their respective conditions into your travel plans.

Outdoors: Trails and stairs

The Traboulay PoCo Trail is a 25-kilometre route that loops around Port Coquitlam. It passes through forests, along streams, through meadows and wetlands, along riverbanks, and through developed urban areas. This means the trail is not defined by just one type of landscape: forests, water, open spaces and urban areas are all part of the same route. This offers a practical guide for planning your day if you’d like to combine a variety of scenery with a longer loop.

The loop consists of gravel and paved paths and can be used on foot, by bicycle, on skates or on horseback. When planning, you can choose both the surface and your preferred way of getting around; the trail is not exclusively a hiking route.

PoCo Climb offers a different focus: the facility has more than 200 steps. The city also offers several loop options connected to PoCo Climb. If you plan to use these routes, check the current access conditions before setting out.

History, art and May Days

The permanent Story of Port Coquitlam Exhibit explores the history of Indigenous people and settlers through art, archival photographs and historical maps. It focuses on a permanent history exhibit. General admission to the PoCo Heritage Museum is free; check the current visitor information before your visit.

The exhibition program at the Michael Wright Art Gallery changes, and features works by local and regional artists. If you’d like to visit the gallery for a particular exhibition theme, check the current program, as exhibitions change. This makes the gallery a different kind of experience from the permanent historical exhibit.

May Days in Port Coquitlam is a long-standing tradition dating back to 1923. If May Days is a deciding factor for your travel dates, check the specific event dates before planning your stay around it.

The PoCo Heritage Museum and Archives offers in-person educational programs for local schools, including a bookable guided tour of historic sites in downtown Port Coquitlam.

The cultural offerings vary in timing: the Story of Port Coquitlam Exhibit is permanent, the exhibitions at the Michael Wright Art Gallery change, and May Days depends on the specific event dates. If one of these offerings is the reason for your trip, factor the current gallery program or event dates into your plans.

Discover more destinations: Vancouver, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Surrey, Burnaby, Bowen Island, Port Moody and Tsawwassen.

For the main travel overview: Metro Vancouver.