We'll have a car on Friday night, our last night in Vancouver. Will it be worth driving to the Richmond Night market? Is it easy to find and park? Or will we get stuck in a huge friday night traffic jam?

Topping this question for carrom.

Yes, it'll definitely be worth it. Don't bother eating dinner - just buy the food from the stalls at the market. There's about 40 stalls to choose from, selling all kinds of dishes - mostly Asian street food.

The neighbourhood is an underwhelming industrial/big box store part of Richmond. It's next to Home Depot and Ikea, for example. There's not much going on there at night, other than the market (and the few fast food chains open).

For $2 you can park in the designated parking lot (there should be signs and there will be an attendant at the entrance), or you can attempt to park on a side street for free and walk a few minutes extra. I normally pay the $2 simple because I can't be bothered to stake out parking further out. Although that shouldn't be a problem.

I should also mention that while it can certainly be busy, it's not to the extent where I'd avoid going or avoid bringing the car. You could definitely get there by bus if you really wanted, but it's somewhat of a drag as buses are less frequent on Friday evenings in Richmond, and it would involve a transfer (with a potential half hour wait extra), and it would take a lot longer. You can otherwise drive from downtown to the Richmond in less than half an hour.

There generally aren't huge Friday night traffic jams anywhere in Vancouver after rush hour (4pm-6pm), with exception to Robson Street (where kids cruise at a snail's pace in their flashy cars blasting loud music). Traffic will be coming into downtown Vancouver, not out. As a former Richmond resident who now lives downtown, I'd estimate you'll get to the Richmond night market in 20 minutes.

Parking is now 5.50

I usually go there early. It will get crowded by 8:30 pm. It is open at 7:00pm.

Yikes! Thanks for the update fchen123. I haven't been there in 2 years now.

Okay, funny enough, I actually went to the night market last night. Got there at 10pm. More people were leaving than were arriving. We easily found a parking spot across the street from Ikea for free. We then walked to the market (follow the stream of people - the walk takes about 10 minutes from Ikea).

We spent the first hour looking at all the merchandise, then spent the next half hour getting food. While is was very busy, there were no long lineups for the food (unlike the last time, where you'd wait 5-10 minutes for some popular items). I really love those Korean sweet rice pancakes at the booth in the far corner of the food section - they ooze with cinnamon and brown sugar!). By 11:30pm a lot of the food vendors bring out signs saying, "closing sale! everything $1!" - so if you're into meat/seafood on skewers, you get a deal. The only problem with staying right up until closing is that they repeat the same, "The Richmond Night Market will be closing in 30 minutes" message in English and then in Cantonese, followed by a really annoying sound clip. By the 10th time, it makes you go insane! But all in all, a good fun time.

Thanks a lot Carmanah and others. Very helpful.