Burrard Inlet is a relatively shallow-sided coastal fjord in extreme southwestern British Columbia, formed during the last Ice Age, and dividing the City of Vancouver and the rest of the low-lying Burrard Peninsula from the tall North Shore mountains in North Vancouver and West Vancouver, which extend north into the Coast Range.

The inlet runs almost directly east from the Strait of Georgia to Port Moody and is urbanized on most of its shores. About two-thirds of the way east from the sea, a secondary, much steeper-sided glacial fjord, Indian Arm, extends straight north from the main inlet, between Belcarra and Deep Cove in North Vancouver, then on into mountainous wilderness. (Indian River, a small dock at the north end of the arm, can be reached by logging road from Squamish.)

From Point Atkinson and Point Grey on the west to Port Moody in the east, the inlet is about 25 km (16 mi) long; Indian Arm extends about 20 km (12 mi) north. Settlements on the shores of Burrard Inlet include Vancouver, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Burnaby, and Port Moody. Two bridges, the Lions Gate Bridge (built in the 1930s) and Ironworkers' Memorial Second Narrows Crossing (from the 1950s), and the SeaBus passenger ferry, cross the inlet. It is widest (about 3 km) between the two bridges, also the busiest part of Vancouver's port.

Protected from the open ocean, the deep, calm water of Burrard Inlet forms Vancouver's primary port area, an excellent one for large oceangoing ships. While some of the shoreline is residential and commercial, much is port-industrial, including oil refineries, railyards, terminals for container and bulk cargo ships, and grain elevators.

On the main inlet, a few park areas remain forested as they were centuries ago, but the steep slopes of Indian Arm are so impassable that most have seen no development, despite the proximity of such a major city. Only in 2003 was a rough wilderness hiking trail around the whole of Indian Arm completed, and it was the work of one man over many years.

References

• Early Trails of the Burrard Peninsula, 1945
• Map of Burrard Inlet and Indian Arm, Village of Belcarra
• 2002 Aerial Photos of Vancouver, including several views of Burrard Inlet and its shores