How would you like to spend an afternoon
biking through wooded hills along a peninsula with a view
of the sea, then grab a cocktail before heading to the theatre?
It may be a vibrant metropolis of two million, but Vancouver
integrates its natural spaces like no other city. Lucky Vancouverites
take full advantage of magnificent Stanley
Park, a thousand-acre haven of virgin forest and clean
sandy beaches, and a multitude of smaller city parks, beaches,
and botanical gardens mean Mother Nature’s never more
than a few blocks away.
Much of Vancouver is accessible on foot,
and the public buses are clean and relatively efficient. Stanley
Park crowns
Quick References
Vancouver Hotels Online hotel reservations and reviews
Shopping Find out where to go shopping
Restaurants Where to go for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or drinks
Attractions Info about the top tourist attractions
Vancouver Tours Tours for individuals and groups
downtown Vancouver, whose
neighborhoods include Yaletown, West End, historic Gastown,
and Chinatown; Kitsilano to the southwest, a former hippie
haven which offers a lovely beach on English Bay; and Granville
Island, an industrial-waterfront-turned-arts-mecca first created
from the dregs of neighboring False Creek during World War
I and fully revitalized in the late 1970s. North Vancouver,
across the Burrard Inlet, is easily accessible by car or SeaBus,
a quick ferry service out of downtown Waterfront Station.
Because its economy is still based in natural resources—logging,
fishing, and the like—Vancouver isn’t dependent
on tourism. There are plenty of information and opportunities
for visitors, of course, but the more laid-back vibe makes
you feel like a native; let’s just hope the 2010 Winter
Olympics won’t change that.
On your next vacation you don’t have to choose between
the excitement of the city and the serenity of the outdoors—Vancouver
offers an abundance of both.
