Canada · British Columbia · Vancouver
Dunbar-Southlands, Vancouver — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Dunbar-Southlands is a Vancouver neighbourhood on the city's western side, running north from the Fraser River toward English Bay.
About Dunbar-Southlands
Where to stay in Dunbar-Southlands
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Few travellers sleep here. Dunbar-Southlands stretches north from the Fraser River without a hotel row of its own, which pushes most visitors toward Kitsilano, the University Endowment Lands or the downtown blocks and leaves the neighbourhood as a daytime destination reached by bus or car. Arbutus Ridge and Kerrisdale sit closest of the alternatives, both a short run across the western side of Vancouver. That distance is the trade a stay here accepts, in exchange for the river edge and the stretch of ground running up toward English Bay.
About Dunbar-Southlands
What are the main landmarks in Dunbar-Southlands?
No monument register attaches to Dunbar-Southlands, and the features a visitor actually walks to are the Fraser River edge and the long stretch of ground running up toward English Bay. Kitsilano holds the nearer attractions. West Point Grey and the University Endowment Lands carry what this street grid does not, which is why an itinerary built around the neighbourhood looks outward across the western side of Vancouver. Arbutus Ridge and Kerrisdale round out the list.
What is the history of Dunbar-Southlands?
No charter fixes the start of Dunbar-Southlands. The compound name pairs two older labels for this part of Vancouver, and the record carries the pairing without a date to hang it on, leaving the Fraser River and English Bay as the fixed points instead. British Columbia lists it as a neighbourhood. Whatever happened on this ground before Vancouver reached it belongs to the wider provincial story rather than to any separate settlement history under the Dunbar-Southlands name.
Where is Dunbar-Southlands?
The Fraser River anchors Dunbar-Southlands, which covers most of the ground between the river mouth and English Bay on the western side of Vancouver.
More areas in Vancouver
Updated September 2026