The 400-metre-wide (1,300 ft) strait between Prospect Point and the sandbanks just east of the Capilano River mouth, which connects the inlet's outer and inner sections, is known as the First Narrows, traversed by the Lions Gate Bridge.

In 1791, the first European explorers in the region, Juan Carrasco and José María Narváez, sailing under orders of Francisco de Eliza, entered the western part of the inlet in their ship, Santa Saturnina.

Burrard inlet differs from most of the great sounds of this coast in being comparatively easy of access to steam vessels of any size or class, and in the convenient depth of water for anchorage which may be found in almost every part of it; its close proximity to Fraser river, with the great facilities for constructing roads between the two places, and its having become the terminus of the Pacific and Canadian Railway, likewise add considerably to its importance.

Aside from just east of the inlet's mouth (where it includes English Bay), it is widest (about 3 km or 1.9 mi) between the First and Second Narrows, also the busiest part of Vancouver's port.

Protected from the open ocean, the calm waters of Burrard Inlet form Vancouver's primary port area, an excellent one for large ocean-going ships.

While some of the shoreline is residential and commercial, much is port-industrial, including railyards, terminals for container and bulk cargo ships, grain elevators, and (towards the eastern end) oil refineries.

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.