Moon Vancouver
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A unique way to tour the city is with Vancouver Photowalks (www.vancouverphotowalks.ca), which offers guided photography tours of Stanley Park, Gastown, and other districts.
Vancouver Foodie Tours (http://foodietours.ca) runs several excellent and entertaining food tours, including an eating tour of Granville Island and an exploration of the city’s food truck scene. Off the Eaten Track (http://offtheeatentracktours.ca) offers local food walks in Main Street and Railtown (east of Gastown), as well as an East Village brunch tour.
samples from Japadog on a Vancouver Foodie Tour
Want to forage in the rainforest for wild edibles or learn to catch your own crab? Contact Swallow Tail Culinary Adventures (http://www.swallowtail.ca), which also organizes pop-up dinners and other food events. Vancouver Brewery Tours (http://vancouverbrewerytours.com) runs regular tasting tours of the city’s craft breweries.
The nonprofit Vancouver Heritage Foundation (www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org) offers periodic walking tours of different Vancouver neighborhoods, focusing on the architecture and history of each community. Other options for architecture buffs are the Architectural Walking Tours that the Architectural Institute of BC (http://aibc.ca) runs throughout July and August.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
JANUARY TO MARCH
Dozens of restaurants offer special menus, and you can join in food events, from chef dinners and wine-tastings to food tours, during Dine Out Vancouver (www.dineoutvancouver.com, Jan.), the city’s annual celebration of dining that has grown into one of Canada’s largest food and drink festivals.
With its large Asian population, Vancouver hosts plenty of festivities to mark the Lunar New Year (Jan.-Feb.), including parades, lion dances, music, fireworks, and other special events held in Chinatown and throughout Richmond.
WHAT’S NEW?
• A Changing Chinatown: Cool cafés, restaurants, shops, and condos are remaking this traditional district. You can still find markets with bins of gai lan (Chinese broccoli) and winter melon piled high, and bakeries selling puffy sweet buns, but you’re equally likely to linger over a cappuccino or dig into eclectic small plates in a cool neighborhood hangout.
• New Destinations for Art Lovers: The Vancouver Art Gallery has unveiled plans for its new downtown home, although as this guide went to press, construction had yet to begin. Near Lonsdale Quay, the Polygon Gallery will give art aficionados a new reason to visit North Vancouver. The striking, modern Audain Art Museum amped up Whistler’s art scene when it opened in 2016.
• Distilleries and Craft Breweries: Recent changes in local alcohol laws have paved the way for new distilleries and microbreweries, which have opened throughout Vancouver and Victoria. So many craft breweries have set up shop in the East Van neighborhood that the area has earned the nickname “Yeast Van.”
• Eating in the East: A growing number of restaurants are opening on Vancouver’s East Side, so for local dining, go east—to Main Street, East Hastings, and Commercial Drive.
APRIL TO JUNE
A good introduction to the region’s growing microbrewery scene, the annual Vancouver Craft Beer Week (http://vancouvercraftbeerweek.com, May-June) includes tasting events and other activities that showcase small brewers and their products.
With nearly two weeks of concerts around the city, from big-name big-ticket shows to free music in the park, the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival (www.coastaljazz.ca, June-July) has tunes for any jazz, Latin, funk, and world music lover.
JULY TO AUGUST
Vancouver celebrates Canada’s birthday, Canada Day (www.canadaplace.ca, July 1), with a parade, outdoor concerts, and celebratory fireworks over Burrard Inlet. Canada Place is the center of the festivities.
It’s not just folk music at the long-established Vancouver Folk Festival (http://thefestival.bc.ca, July). This musical extravaganza draws world beat, roots, blues, and yes, folk musicians from across Canada and around the world to Jericho Beach for three days of always-eclectic music on multiple outdoor stages. It’s great fun for all ages.
Fireworks displays over English Bay bring thousands of Vancouverites and visitors out for the Celebration of Light (http://hondacelebrationoflight.com, July-Aug.) that takes place over several summer evenings. The best viewing spots are at English Bay Beach, but you can see them from Kitsilano Beach and other points around False Creek.
the annual Celebration of Light over English Bay
The Vancouver Pride Festival (http://vancouverpride.ca, July-Aug.) features more than 20 events celebrating the city’s large gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community, culminating in a festive parade through the downtown streets.
SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER
For two weeks, the Vancouver Fringe Festival (www.vancouverfringe.com, Sept.) takes over Granville Island and other stages around town with innovative, quirky, and often surprising theater, comedy, puppetry, and storytelling performances.
The VanDusen Botanical Garden marks the holiday season with its annual Festival of Lights (http://vandusengarden.org, Dec.), illuminating its garden paths with thousands of sparkling lights.
NEIGHBORHOODS
Downtown and the West End
Gastown and Chinatown
Yaletown and False Creek
Granville Island
Kitsilano and UBC
Cambie Corridor
Commercial Drive
Richmond
The North Shore
Downtown and the West End Map 1
Downtown is a vibrant mix of residential and commercial development, dotted with pocket parks and green spaces. Visitors and locals walk and bike the Seawall and play at the beach.
Apartment buildings, historic houses, and a few modern towers line the leafy streets of the West End, bounded by English Bay, Stanley Park, the Burrard Inlet, and downtown. Most of the city’s hotels are located downtown or in the West End, as are plenty of dining and drinking spots. Robson is a major shopping street, Granville Street is the center of Vancouver’s nightclub district, and the city’s LGBTQ community congregates in the bars and cafés along Davie.
TOP SIGHTS
▪ Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art (click here)
TOP RESTAURANTS
▪ Nightingale (click here)
▪ Guu Garden (click here)
TOP NIGHTLIFE
▪ LIFT Bar & Grill (click here)
▪ Prohibition Lounge (click here)
▪ Reflections Lounge (click here)
TOP SPORTS AND ACTIVITIES
▪ English Bay Beach (click here)
TOP SHOPS
▪ Hudson’s Bay (click here)
TOP HOTELS
▪ Fairmont Pacific Rim (click here)
▪ Rosewood Hotel Georgia (click here)
▪ Burrard Hotel (click here)
▪ Listel Hotel (click here)
GETTING THERE AND AROUND
▪ SkyTrain lines: Canada Line, Expo Line
▪ SkyTrain stops: Waterfront (Canada, Expo Lines); Vancouver City Centre (Canada Line); Burrard, Granville (Expo Line)
▪ Bus lines: 5, 6, 19, 23
DOWNTOWN AND WEST END WALK
TOTAL DISTANCE: 2.5 miles (4 kilometers)
TOTAL WALKING TIME: 1 hour
This walking tour takes you from Canada Place on the Burrard Inlet side of downtown, through the city to English Bay, passing numerous landmarks, artworks, and places to eat. You can do this walk anytime, but if you start in the early afternoon, you can wrap up your stroll at west-facing English Bay Beach as the sun is shining over the sea.
1 Begin your walk at Canada Place, the waterfront landmark with its billowing white sails. Follow the Seawall path one block toward the Vancouver Convention Centre’s west building, and note the building’s living roof. Keeping the water on your right side, continue along the Seawall behind the convention center, passing The Drop, a 20-meter (65-foot) bright blue raindrop sculpture that a Berlin-based art collective created in 2009.
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2 At the back of the convention center, after watching the floatplanes taking off and landing on the harbor, turn left up the stairs to Jack Poole Plaza. Look for Digital Orca (2009), by Vancouver artist Douglas Coupland, a sculpture of a whale that appears to be breaching toward the sky. Also on the plaza is the Olympic Cauldron, which was lit when Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
Olympic Cauldron
3 Turn left (east) onto Canada Place, then in one block, turn right (south) onto Burrard Street. Walk one more block to the corner of Burrard and Cordova, and look up. Wrapping around the exterior of the Fairmont Pacific Rim are the words, “Lying on top of a building the clouds looked no nearer than when I was lying on the street.” It’s an art installation by New York artist Liam Gillick.
4 Ready for refreshments? In front of the Fairmont, stop for gelato or sorbetto at Bella Gelateria.
5 When you’ve finished your treats, continue walking south on busy Burrard Street, away from the water. After three blocks, turn left (east) onto Dunsmuir Street and take your first right (south) onto Hornby Street. In the middle of the block is the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, one of the best places downtown to explore aboriginal art. Allow about an hour to walk through the gallery.
6 Exit the gallery and turn right (south) on Hornby. In one block, at the corner of Hornby and Georgia Streets, cross the street and go into the HSBC Building (885 W. Georgia St.). Why stop at a bank office? In the lobby is a massive, swinging stainless steel pendulum, an art piece called Broken Column (1987) by Alan Storey. The building’s air circulation system powers its movement. Also in the lobby, the free Pendulum Gallery mounts small changing art exhibitions.
7 Diagonally across Hornby and Georgia Streets is the landmark Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, built in 1939. Duck into the lobby for a quick look, and then exit the building, turning left (south) onto Burrard Street.
Fairmont Hotel Vancouver
8 In one block, cross Burrard and turn right (west) onto Robson Street. Robson is one of downtown’s main shopping streets, and while many of the stores are international chains, it’s still a lively district. This retail route gradually gives way to restaurants, primarily noodle shops, Korean eateries, and other Asian spots. If you’d like to pause for lunch, line up for a bowl of tokusen toroniku ramen at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, on Robson six blocks from Burrard.
9 After your meal, continue on Robson for one more block, and turn left (south) onto Denman Street. You’re now in the heart of the West End, with more small food spots and neighborhood shops along Denman. Stay on Denman for six blocks to Morton Park, where you’ll spot 14 grinning bronze figures. That’s A-maze-ing Laughter, the popular public art piece by Chinese artist Yue Minjun.
10 Cross Beach Avenue to English Bay Beach, where you can sit in the sand and do some people-watching, resting up from your downtown explorations.
English Bay Beach
Gastown and Chinatown Map 2
Gastown, which centers on Water and Cordova Streets between Richards and Main Streets, is one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, with brick and stone buildings dating to the early 1900s. Beyond its historic facades, Gastown is known for its stylish boutiques and aboriginal art galleries.
The ornate Millennium Gate on Pender Street marks the entrance to Vancouver’s fast-changing Chinatown. Though a few traditional herbalists, tea shops, and produce markets remain, more and more hip eateries are moving in. Many of Vancouver’s most innovative restaurants have opened here.
TOP SIGHTS
▪ Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden (click here)
TOP RESTAURANTS
▪ Chambar (click here)
▪ L’Abbatoir (click here)
TOP NIGHTLIFE
▪ The Pourhouse (click here)
TOP ARTS AND CULTURE
▪ Coastal Peoples Fine Arts Gallery (click here)
▪ Hill’s Native Art (click here)
TOP SHOPS
▪ Lululemon Lab (click here)
▪ John Fluevog (click here)
TOP HOTELS
▪ Skwachàys Lodge (click here)
GETTING THERE AND AROUND
▪ SkyTrain lines: Expo Line
▪ SkyTrain stops: Waterfront, Stadium-Chinatown
▪ Bus lines: 4, 7, 14, 16, 20, 22, 23
GASTOWN AND CHINATOWN WALK
TOTAL DISTANCE: 1.8 miles (3 kilometers)
TOTAL WALKING TIME: 45 minutes
This walk takes you through two of Vancouver’s oldest neighborhoods. Begin with lunch, stop to explore aboriginal art galleries, the city’s serene Chinese garden, and the unusual Police Museum, and then wrap up your afternoon with cocktails in Gastown.
1 Fuel up for your walk with lunch at Chambar, adjacent to the Stadium-Chinatown SkyTrain station. In a heritage brick building on Beatty Street, this restaurant creatively mixes flavors of Belgium and North Africa with local ingredients.
2 After lunch, turn right out of the restaurant, following Beatty Street one block to Pender Street. Turn right onto Pender, and go east two blocks. On the left side of Pender, stop at the Urban Aboriginal Fair Trade Gallery, inside Skwachàys Lodge, Canada’s first aboriginal arts hotel, for a look at their works by native artists. As you leave, notice the large aboriginal sculpture atop the hotel building.
3 Turn left out of the gallery, cross under the ornate Millennium Gate, which marks the entrance to Chinatown, and walk one more block east on Pender.
4 At Carrall Street, turn right, walk half a block, and turn left at the garden wall to find the entrance to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. It’s worth stopping to tour this peaceful retreat, the first authentic Ming Dynasty garden created outside of China.
5 From the garden, retrace your steps back north toward Pender Street and turn east (right) to find the Rennie Collection at Wing Sang, a private art museum. The brick building that houses the museum, constructed in 1889, is the oldest structure remaining in Chinatown.
6 Continue one block east on Pender to Main Street and turn right. As you walk south on Main, notice Chinatown’s mix of new condos and old-time shops. Stay on Main three blocks, then turn left onto Union Street. Midway down the block is Crackle Crème, a café that specializes in crème brûlée.
7 After your break, turn left out of the café, and in half a block, turn north (left) onto Gore Avenue. Follow Gore five blocks north. At Cordova Street, turn left to find the entrance to the Vancouver Police Museum on your left. The exhibits at this museum, in the former city morgue, detail Vancouver’s seamier side.
8 When you leave the museum, turn left onto Cordova, take the first right onto Main, and in one block, turn left onto Powell Street, which will take you toward Gastown. Follow Powell Street two blocks west to Maple Leaf Square, where Water, Alexander, Powell, and Carrall Streets meet. Stop for a photo at the statue of Gassy Jack, the British sailor for whom Gastown is named.
9 Continue west on Water Street, the main street in Gastown, where several galleries specialize in works by aboriginal artists. A block and a half west of Maple Leaf Square is Hill’s Native Art, which has one of the city’s largest collections of First Nations arts and crafts.
10 Take a right out of Hill’s, and just across Cambie Street (at the corner of Water), you’ll see the Gastown Steam Clock, which toots its whistle every quarter hour.
11 Ready for a drink? Retrace your steps two blocks east on Water Street to Maple Leaf Square, where you can wrap up your walk with a cocktail on the patio at Chill Winston.
Yaletown and False Creek Map 3
Yaletown’s renovated brick warehouses, once part of an industrial district, today house a chic mix of restaurants, boutiques, and drinking spots. Browse the fashionable shops, meet for cocktails on streetside patios, and dine on local seafood in the upscale restaurants. The city’s sports arenas, including the home ice of the Vancouver Canucks, are also nearby.
False Creek is home to Science World, the family
-friendly science museum in a geodesic dome. Also here is the Olympic Village, where athletes stayed during the 2010 Winter Games, now a complex of pubs, cafés, and condos. South of False Creek is an emerging district of craft breweries and beer-centric pubs, perfect for a day of strolling and sipping.
TOP SIGHTS
▪ Science World (click here)
TOP RESTAURANTS
▪ Ancora Waterfront Dining and Patio (click here)
TOP NIGHTLIFE
▪ 33 Acres Brewing (click here)
▪ Tap & Barrel (click here)
▪ Opus Bar (click here)
TOP SPORTS AND ACTIVITIES
▪ Vancouver Canucks (click here)
TOP SHOPS
▪ Fine Finds Boutique (click here)
TOP HOTELS
▪ Opus Hotel Vancouver (click here)
GETTING THERE AND AROUND
▪ SkyTrain lines: Canada Line, Expo Line