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Vancouver’s Stunning Setting amidst Mountains and Water 1
One only has to look around to be inspired in Vancouver.
Spectacular
mountains reach up out of the ocean and rub shoulders with gleaming
urban high-rises, stunning coastal waters intermingle with a vibrant
cosmopolitan centre and its people embrace each other, the environment
and a healthy dose of culture. Not surprisingly then, Vancouver is
consistently ranked as one of the
best cities in the world in which to live by United Nations quality of
life surveys.
Collecting
such accolades as host to the 2010 Winter
Olympic Games, the city offers an impressive number of shops,
galleries,
restaurants,
parks
and paths
and whether visitors want to enjoy the city’s outdoor environs or its hip, city
lifestyle, Vancouver has no shortage of options. Highlighting the
city’s best, therefore, is at once limitless and daunting but the
following are a few of Vancouver’s finest places, spaces, jaunts and
haunts.
THE BEST OF SCENIC VANCOUVER
Renowned for its temperate marine climate, Vancouver boasts a
remarkable natural setting and as a result, the outdoors play a large
role in the city’s appeal. From beaches
and seawalls to
gardens
and hiking
trails, not to mention those ever-present
mountains,
Vancouver is an outdoor splendour as good as it gets.
There is no shortage of vantage points from which to view Vancouver’s
mix of
city lights, sparkling waters and coastal mountains. And
while views are often best from above–and those from a 40-plus floor
of a hotel or lounge like Cloud
Nine are impressive–many agree that
Vancouver is best viewed through the lens of a sunset at English
Bay
Beach.
The beach, less than a 10-minute walk from the city’s downtown, isn’t
Vancouverites’ favourite beach for no reason. Whether it’s a sunny
afternoon in summer or a drizzly morning in winter, Vancouver’s notable
sights never fail to converge at English Bay. The skyscrapers of the
West
End and Denman
Street, the beauty of Stanley
Park and the dazzling
mountains are striking at any time but perhaps never more so than when
the sun’s rays are dipping behind the distant shores of Vancouver
Island and basking the city in a warm
radiance.
Runner up: the year-round slopes of nearby Grouse
Mountain,
Vancouver’s winter playground
Best Outdoor Attraction
Tranquil surroundings, 15th century garden architecture and Chinese
culture all come together at the Dr.
Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese
Garden, a Vancouver gem and perhaps the most
Zen-like place in
Canada.
The garden is known for being the first
full-scale Ming Dynasty-style garden outside of China and is a careful
study of rocks, wood, water and plants brought together to create a
landscape masterpiece. Its covered walkways, tranquil pools of
jade green water and imported rocks from Shizhou Province not only
offer a
peaceful respite from Vancouver’s big-city buzz, but also an outdoor
space of balance, harmony and natural wonder. The garden can
be enjoyed via private strolls, guided tours or during its summer
concert series, winter festivals and Chinese New Year celebrations.
Best Waterpark and Market
The ever popular Granville
Island has a free Waterpark as well as an
indoor Kids
Market, which features clowns,
magicians,
face-painting and toy stalls.
Best Petting Zoo
One of Stanley
Park’s many attractions, the Variety
Kids Farmyard is
home to over 200 animals and introduces children to rural life and its
inhabitants.
Best Sleepover with Beluga Whales
The Vancouver
Aquarium offers the unique experience
of sleeping in
front of its charming Belugas with family and children sleepover
programs.
Best Playground
While Vancouver is well-endowed with more than its share of green
spaces, its best playground is also its most popular. Stanley
Park is
said to be adored by the city’s residents and no tourist trip to
Vancouver would be complete without a visit to this urban oasis. The
404 ha (1,000 acre) sanctuary is one of North America’s largest city
parks and is home to a combination of towering ancient evergreens,
totem poles, hiking, biking and jogging trails, a scenic seawall,
beaches and so much more. The 10 km (6.2 mi) seawall encircles the
entire park and grants views of the landmark Lions
Gate Bridge, the
Strait
of Georgia and the North Shore Mountains, making it
especially
popular with cyclists, in-line skaters and pedestrians. A free shuttle
bus operates within the park during summer months.
Honourable mention: Kayaking, cycling and in-line skating
around the False
Creek area
Best Nature Tour
Vancouver is surrounded on three sides by water so a harbour tour is
practically a must-do and getting on the ocean and rivers is not
difficult. Tour-goers need not settle for a run-of-the-mill
harbour cruise shared with hundreds of other passengers when Sewell’s
Sea Safaris combine the city, scenery,
wilderness and action all in
one trip. Leaving from Horseshoe
Bay in West Vancouver,
the
two-hour, eco-friendly nature tours contrast the spectacular scenery of
Howe
Sound with city views of Vancouver, coastal
wildlife with
extravagant waterfront residences and adrenalin-packed, high-speed boat
travel with exploring quiet caves.
Not so shabby: A luncheon cruise to the Indian Arm
coastal
fjord aboard Harbour
Cruises & Events
THE BEST OF CULTURAL VANCOUVER
As impressive as Vancouver’s setting is, it is not all that the city
has going for
it. With a menu of cosmopolitan experiences that rival the best of
cities,
a vibrant and diverse atmosphere courses through the
streets and while some cities are packed with energy and
frenetic activity, Vancouver’s cultural identity takes on a more
relaxing persona.
When Canada was founded, so was Gastown
and it quickly became the
country’s third largest city. Named after John "Gassy Jack"
Deighton, a gold prospector, saloonkeeper and storyteller of the time,
the area is now a mere district of Vancouver but retains the dreams,
charm and intrigue of its namesake.
From famed cobbled streets to the summertime guides dressed in
period costumes, Gastown is rich with Victorian history. What
makes it the best district, however, is its present-day blend of old
and new. Century-old buildings and streets adorned with
old-fashioned lamp
posts are now home to the city’s hottest restaurants,
trendy art galleries and cool shops such as Dream–a
fashion boutique,
Koolhaus–for
furniture and home decor and Kimprints–a card and gift
emporium. This is a wonderful place to amble along taking in
the sights and sounds, stop at a street-side café
or lounge
for a James
Bond-style martini or people-watch the eclectic mix of business
executives, out-of-town tourists and the occasional celebrity.
Not so shabby: Kitsilano,
the city's former hippie hang-out is
now a trendy
neighbourhood with side-walk cafes, alternative stores, a popular beach
and a laid-back
vibe
Best Cultural Attraction
Given that Vancouver has developed into a cosmopolitan city while still
nurturing the natural and stunning setting from which it sprang, it
would be almost rude not to visit the Museum
of Anthropology. The
spectacular cliff-top facility, overlooking the ocean, is something of
a modern man-made wonder that celebrates the very people who came
before it.
The attraction, which is also Canada’s largest teaching museum, has a
reputation for providing unprecedented access and information about
indigenous communities around the globe, most specifically the culture
and history of British
Columbia’s own First Nations peoples. The Great
Hall–a glass-fronted space with commanding views of the sea and the
mountains–features a magnificent collection of carved feast dishes and
massive totem poles, while other galleries showcase renowned Haida
sculptures, masks, textiles, ceramics and precious metals.
A Merry Evening of
Opera (2007) at the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival 4
Best Festival
Festivals seem to be on the up and up and nowhere is this more the case
than in ever-festive Vancouver. One of the city’s best annual
events is Bard
on the
Beach, an affordable,
entertaining Shakespearian
theatre in a fabulous natural setting. While the Elizabethan
playwright and the beach might seem at odds with each other, year
after
year Shakespeare has been performed on the waterfront in Vancouver’s
Vanier
Park to wide acclaim.
Accommodating over 500 theatre-goers in a huge open-ended tent, Bard on
the Beach is no tin-pot production. The professional theatre
company presents four or five different Shakespeare plays from May
through September and–combined with a second smaller stage for
lesser-known productions and several ancillary tents providing
concessions, bars and boutiques–the festival has become a veritable
village for over 80,000 attendees each year. Whether for its
Shakespeare productions or the festival's word and music concerts, this thespian
experience is truly unmatchable.
A close second: the Powell
Street Festival in early August is
the
city's largest community festival as well as being Canada's biggest
Japanese celebration
Best Place for Retail and Celebrity Therapy
Hip, trendy, highly fashionable and star-studded–Robson
Street is, without
doubt, Vancouver’s premiere place to see…to be seen…and yes, to shop,
shop, shop.
BEST OF LIBERAL VANCOUVER
Best (and only) Nude Beach Wreck
Beach is where the city’s
live-and-let-live attitude is popularly applied to sunbathing au
naturale.
Best Little Amsterdam West Hastings Street is home to cafes and
shops where smoking is the
key activity but there’s hardly a
cigarette in sight.
Best Gay and Lesbian Scene
While the gay and lesbian scene is found throughout the city, the main
concentration of cafes, bars and clubs is on Davie
Street
between
Jervis and Burrard.
Its origins as a shopping locale date to 1895, when the laying of the
railway down Robson brought storefronts to the street, and since then
the area has indeed become the place to shop until you drop. Likened to
Fifth
Avenue in New York
and Oxford
Street in London,
Robson Street
features exclusive shops like Armani,
Dolce Amore and El Kartel, as well as independently-owned boutiques,
bookstores and souvenir stalls. And if shoppers become jaded
in pursuit of the perfect purchase, there are dozens of culinary
experiences along the way at which to stop, recharge the batteries and
watch celebrities and mere mortals pass by.
Canada
