The Forbidden Downtown and Gastown Walking Tour
Recommended by 98% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Vancouver, Canada
- 1 hour 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
Overview
Discover Vancouver’s bootlegging, rum-running, prohibition past on a walking tour through Victory Square and Gastown. Visit landmark buildings and historic sites as your guide brings the past to life with stories of the corrupt politicians, mob bosses, and showgirls that ruled the city’s dark side. Hear how the city bloomed from a frontier outpost to a cosmopolitan hotspot, and finish your walk in Gastown, where speakeasies and gambling dens have been given way to chic restaurants and hip bars.
- Discover Prohibition Vancouver on a fun walking tour
- Walk through Gastown and downtown Vancouver
- Hear stories of mobsters, corrupt politicians, and showgirls
- See key Vancouver landmarks and learn about their history
What's Included
- Professional guide
- Gratuities
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- 356 Water St, Vancouver, BC V6B 1B6, Canada
Meet outside 356 Water street at the entrance to historic Gastown at Water and Cordova Streets.
End point
- Main Street & Alexander StreetMain St & Alexander St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1B8, Canada
The walking tour ends at one of the most amazing views of the Vancouver Skyline. The start point is a quick 5-10 minute walk away, and the guide can provide a map and directions if needed.
Operating hours.4:00 pm
Itinerary
1
Cambie Bar & Grill
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
The Dominion Building
2 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Woodward's 43
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Gastown
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
5
Water Street
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
6
Hotel Europe
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
- Please arrive at least 10 minutes before the scheduled start time
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.9
based on 479 reviews
Patrick_C, Apr 2026
Wonderful insight to the beginnings/history of Gastown. Guide was very informative and great storyteller.
Response from Host, Apr 2026
Hi Patrick,
Thank you so much for your review! I am delighted to hear you had such a wonderful time on the Forbidden Vancouver Tour learning about Gastown's wild history! Thrilled you could join us and hope to see you again soon!
Diego_S, Oct 2025
Took the tour with Glenn. Great storyteller and he even dressed up for the walk! Awesome experience.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Hi Diego,
Thank you so much for your review. I am so happy to hear you had such a great time on the Forbidden Vancouver Tour with Glenn. Glad the stories and the outfit were memorable :) So glad you could join us and hope to see you again soon!
Gerald_R, Aug 2025
Very interesting history about Gas Town during Prohibition times. Learned about the places and characters during this time.
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Hi Gerald,
Thanks for the review! We're so thrilled you had such a great time out in Gastown with a talented guide. Your 5 stars mean the world to us, and hope you can catch another tour with us someday soon :)
Timurul_H, Aug 2025
Writing this review two years after the fact, and I still think about it sometimes. Genuinely some of the best content curation and presentation I've come across. I forget your name, man with the lovely short grey heard, but you were brilliant.
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Hi there,
Wow! Thanks so so much for the review! It means the world to us that you had such a memorable experience on our tour. I'll let our guides know you wrote this review (at least a couple fit that description) and I know they'll appreciate it a lot. Your five stars mean the world to us, and hope you can join us for another tour someday soon :)
Diane_C, Jul 2025
Walking tour at 4pm was two hours long. Although it was really interesting and educational, two hours was a little long. We started at one point and ended up in another and had to walk back to the meeting point on our own. It was a little much.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Hi Diane,
Thank you for taking the time to write us your review.
It sounds like you enjoyed your tour. We see that you gave us a 4 star rating, and we wish that it had been a 5 star experience - that's what we strive for for every guest!
Our tours roughly all last between 1.5-2 hours, as we want to give all of our guests the most information we can while seeing as much of Gastown as possible. We're sorry it ended up being a little long for you, and if there're anything else we could have done to make it a 5 star-experience, please let us know! Hopefully we can see you again sometime soon :)
Jeannette_V, Jun 2025
Interesting information about the history of Vancouver through stories about prohibition and important persons, told on different places in the area of Gastown
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Hi Jeanne,
Thanks for the review! We're delighted you had such a great time on the Forbidden Vancouver tour. We really appreciate your five stars, and would love to host you again someday on another tour :)
Anita_R, May 2025
This was a lovely tour, but I thought I was going on the haunted history tour with a guide dressed as a character, and instead, it was a Prohibition tour. Nonetheless, the tour guide was lovely and knew his subject.
Response from Host, May 2025
Hi Anita,
Thanks for the five star review! It seems you might have mixed up two of our different tours. We're glad you had a great time on the Forbidden Vancouver tour, but it sounds like you were expecting the Lost Souls of Gastown tour. We offer that tour every night of the week at 7 p.m., so hopefully we can catch you again on the Lost Souls tour sometime soon :)
Patricia_O, May 2025
Excellent, fun, and very informative tour. Our tour guide, Rob, was fantastic. You could tell that he really liked his job and he made the whole experience that much better! Reasonably priced and well worth it!
Response from Host, May 2025
Hi Patricia,
Thanks for the review! Rob will be delighted to know how much you enjoyed his tour. We really appreciate your five stars, and hopefully we can host you again soon on another tour :)
Claudia_L, Sep 2024
Glenn was awesome! We had an amazing time. Great story teller! Loved it. Would recommend this for anyone that loves to be entertained and learn about the city.
Response from Host, Sep 2024
Hi Claudia,
Thank you so much for leaving a review. I'm so happy to hear you had an awesome time with Glenn on the Forbidden Vancouver Tour. He really is terrific, isn't he? We'll be sure to pass along your kind words. I'm so delighted it was such a resonant experience for you, learning the secrets of Gastown history! So glad you could join us for a five-star experience and hope to see you again soon :)
Lori_S, Sep 2024
Interesting and informative walking tour, Glenn brought the history of Gastown to life! Many funny antidotes and stories.
Response from Host, Sep 2024
Hi Lori,
Thank you so much for leaving a review! I'm delighted to hear you had a great time on the Forbidden Vancouver Tour with Glenn, learning the history of the area. Glad we could give you a memorable experience and hope you'll join us again soon :)
Mick_W, Sep 2024
Absolutely superb. Lennard provided high level of interesting information giving us a real insight into old Vancouver. Highly recommended and good value for money.
Response from Host, Sep 2024
Hi Mick,
Thanks so much for your glowing review! We're delighted to hear you had a great time with Lenard exploring Gastown, he's a great guide! Thanks for leaving us 5-stars, and if you ever want to take another walk through Vancouver with another talented guide, we'd be happy to host you again soon :)
Danarene_K, Sep 2024
I wouldn’t recommend that anyone schedule a tour through Viator-just go directly to the tour operators! We made the reservation the day before and could not reschedule through the Viator page even though the tour operator said they had no issue with us rescheduling for a daytime tour…walking through the area on our own convinced us that a daytime tour would be safer.
Response from Host, Sep 2024
Hi there,
Thanks for taking the time to write a review - though it seems like you had an issue with Viator, rather than with Forbidden Vancouver. We do our best at Forbidden Vancouver to always provide the best customer service we can and are always keen to help, which sounds like that was your experience with us. We also have full confidence that our tour routes are safe for all of our guests during our evening tours, which we run nightly in Gastown for 9 months of the year.
One-star reviews directly affect our business. We've forwarded your concerns to Viator, and hope that your experience with Forbidden Vancouver does not reflect a one-star rating. If that is the case, we would appreciate if this review could be perhaps amended to reflect your experience of our company or removed :)
We hope you still had a good time on your daytime tour, and we would be happy to host you again on another walking tour sometime soon.
JOEL_D, Sep 2024
We can’t say enough high praise to Glenn, our tour guide. He was informative, entertaining and flexible. If you can, you should ask for him by name. He will make a Vancouver tour and wonderful experience.
Response from Host, Sep 2024
Hi Joel,
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review! I'm so glad you had such an amazing time on the Forbidden Vancouver Tour with Glenn as your guide. I'm so happy to hear he provided such an entertaining and memorable experience. We will certainly pass along your kind words! Thrilled you could join us and hope to see you again soon!
Peter_W, Aug 2024
A very interesting tour discovering Vancouver’s hidden secrets!
A fantastic guide and lots of surprise's, all good!
Fully recommended!
Response from Host, Aug 2024
Hi Peter,
Thanks so much for your review! So glad you could join us on the Forbidden Vancouver Tour, learning the salacious tales of Vancouver's Prohibition past. Thrilled you enjoyed your time with us and hope to see you again soon!
Beverly_S, Jul 2024
Our tour guide Will was friendly and enthusiastic. We learned some interesting things about the history of Gastown. We would recommend it.
Response from Host, Jul 2024
Hi Beverly,
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a five-star review. I'm so glad to hear you had a wonderful time on the Forbidden Vancouver tour with Will as your guide! What a delight! Thrilled you enjoyed learning about Gastown history and hope you'll join us again soon!
John_C, Jun 2024
Lenard’s enthusiasm and knowledge of the area was fantastic. He brought the place alive with stories of the characters from the past. A very pleasurable experience and well worthwhile. Thank you !
Response from Host, Jun 2024
Hi John,
Lenard will be thrilled to hear how much you enjoyed your Forbidden Vancouver tour with him. Thanks again for joining us and for the great five star review. We hope we'll see you again soon!
Eunice_S, Jun 2024
Our guide Lenerd (no O) was great. He made it fun and educational. It is clear that he loves giving these tours and knows a great deal about the area.
Response from Host, Jun 2024
Hi Eunice,
We're delighted to hear that you had a five star experience with Lenard on your Forbidden Vancouver tour. Thansk for joining us and we hope to see you again soon :)
Katrina_B, Apr 2024
Rob was fantastic,entertaining and engaging. Recommend highly. Be sure to put on your walking shoes it is a hike.
Response from Host, May 2024
Thanks for your review Katrina! Glad to hear you enjoyed your time with Rob and yes you are 100% you need the right footwear to explore old Gastown!
Karen_A, Sep 2023
Wonderful night time walking tour narrated by a knowledgeable and personable guide. Focus was on the impact of prohibition on Vancouver with a in depth discussion on Gastown during that era.
Peggy_B, Sep 2023
Lenard was a fabulous and informative guide. We loved hearing about the history of Gastown and the many interesting facts that were shared. An easy walk and very enjoyable morning!
Robert_P, Sep 2023
Rob was awesome! So knowledgeable of the area and was full of interesting facts. The walk was easy and pleasant.
Linda_C, Aug 2023
The history of prohibition in Vancouver and the systemic racism. Also the tour of the heritage buildings in Gastown.
Carole_S, Jul 2023
The gentleman who led the tour was terrific. He gave us wonderful information in a creative way. This was the best tour I’ve taken in years
leslie_b, Jul 2023
There were many interesting stories about prohibition
Also insight into some of the racial prejudices of that era.
Tracey_R, Jun 2023
An entertaining and well-crafted talk/walk by Rachel - she made the most of the time available, had brought photos to help bring the stories to life and was both informative and entertaining.
Robyn_B, Jun 2023
Rob led an informative and interesting tour. We (2 adults, 1 teen) learned so much about prohibition and the railway boom. We all enjoyed. Would recommend!
Will_S, May 2023
Rowan was our guide. He did an excellent job. He was knowledgeable about Vancouver and very enthusiastic about giving the tour, giving information while being entertaining. He has a lot of experience in giving these tours (has done so since 2017). He did a good job of leading our relatively large group of about 20; keeping us together as we walked through Gastown. He spoke clearly and could be heard by all.
This tour is exactly what I was looking for.
lynn_b, Oct 2022
Excellent & humorous guide who gave us the most interesting evening.I would highly recommend this tour.
Douglas_B, Oct 2022
History of the area.
The guide was excellent.
Rob was very entertaining
No more. No more
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
Karen_C, Aug 2022
Glenn was a great guide, bringing the stories of prohibition and old Gastown to life. The 2 hour tour flew by, can highly recommend.
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