Visitor Attractions in Greater Vancouver

by Tom Poiker

For the last half century, when world travelers have been invited to name the most beautiful cities in the world, Vancouver has been among the top three. Still, about half of the top visitor attractions in Greater Vancouver were created within the last 25 years! Today, when asked for attractive places, we think not only about mountains, ocean and lakes, but also about trees and gardens, colorful streets and modern buildings, parks and beaches, good restaurants and interesting theatres, festivals, runs and parades.

This is certainly not an exhaustive list. There is too much going on in this corner of British Columbia! And, an important note: addresses and phone numbers change, so we’ve left them out. A call to Tourism Vancouver will get you information on any or all of these attractions.

Abbotsford Air Show on two weekends in August, the community of Abbotsford east of Vancouver swings into action. The first weekend provides hot-air balloon rides, model airplane contests, kite contests, etc. The second weekend is the one everybody talks about: the largest airshow in North America with the Biggest, the Fastest, the Loudest and the Bravest. Nothing beats the spectacle as Canada, the U.S., Britain, Russia and others put their newest aircraft through their paces. Abbotsford isn’t really in Greater Vancouver, but most of the people coming here are from the Lower Mainland. Ambleside Park A favorite beach-walking area with views of downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park and the Lions Gate Bridge, sailboats, freighters and tugboats ... and occasionally the tourist-beloved Royal Hudson, the only steam locomotive in service in Canada. There are playing fields, a pavilion and concessions at the park. Aquarium See article on Vancouver Aquarium B.C. Place Stadium opened in 1983 as the world’s largest air-supported Dome. With 60,000 seats it hosts the B.C. Lions CFL football team (from July to November), as well as major concerts, trade shows and other large gatherings. It was in this enormous building Queen Elizabeth II invited the world to Expo 86. The “Three Tenors” concert (Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras) took place at B.C. Place December 31, 1996. The BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is housed within this giant structure. The Hall is dedicated to honoring the province’s athletes, teams and builders. Hands-on displays and touch-screen computers show the lives and accomplishments of B.C.’s top sportsmen and women. The stadium neighborhood has experienced a boom of new buildings with General Motors Place next door (home to the NHL Vancouver Canucks and the NBA Vancouver Grizzlies), with the big new Vancouver Public Library and the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts a couple of blocks away. B.C. Sugar Museum The company began in 1891, and displays here show interesting old sugar-processing machinery (some of it going back to the 18th century), advertisements, packaging and much else. Fascinating and free. Britannia Beach Home of the B.C. Museum of Mining, open late May to early October. Buddhist Temple The new wave of Chinese immigrants has taken a liking to Richmond where a large number of new immigrants have settled. Testimony of their commercial activity is the Aberdeen Shopping Centre. Their most impressive artistic symbol is the Buddhist Temple on Steveston Highway, a classic example of traditional Chinese architecture. Take your shoes off when you walk into the temple. Burnaby Lake is a large, shallow lake, surrounded by wetland. A rowing pavilion, an equestrian centre, picnic areas and many kilometres of walking trails provide many activities. There is an abundance of wildlife, especially waterbirds. It is said there are more beavers in this lake than anywhere else in southwestern B.C. Burnaby Mountain Park To the west of Simon Fraser University, the park slopes down to the suburb of Burnaby. It offers a splendid view of downtown and the islands through the Playground of the Gods, a monument for Japanese-Canadian friendship, and of Indian Arm to the north. There is a rose garden, some interesting totem poles and a restaurant. Kids: it doesn’t snow very often in Vancouver but when it does, this is the best sliding place in town, on anything from cardboards to high-tech toboggans. Burnaby Village Deer Lake Park contains a multitude of attractions besides those of a city park on a lake. There is the Burnaby Village Museum, a turn-of-the-century village with real people at work in traditional trades, like blacksmithing; the Burnaby Art Gallery, housed in Ceperley Mansion, a stately old home; an arts centre; a theatre complex; a large garden, and a big, splendid vintage carousel with 36 wooden horses and a pony-drawn chariot. A place to come back to again and again. April to October 1st and December. CN IMAX Theatre A five-storey-high screen in the Canada Place complex has regular showings of spectacular IMAX movies ... taking you out into space or right into a beaver’s underwater home. Canada Place was built as the Canadian contribution to Expo 86, the hugely successful world’s fair held in Vancouver in 1986 (21 million visits.) It looks like a great ship with the Pan Pacific Hotel as the stack and the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre under the sails. There is a public promenade around Canada Place that gives an excellent view of the Port of Vancouver, with many explanatory plaques. Canadian Craft Museum A small gem of a building, and displays of highest-quality crafts. Even if you don’t buy (the gift shop is pricey, as the best often is) you’ll find this a visually rewarding experience. Canadian Museum of Flight and Transportation At Langley Airport, a “walkman” tour takes you past a fascinating array of dozens of aircraft “from World War I through the jet age.” Capilano Suspension Bridge is the ultimate tourist attraction: wilderness a few minutes from downtown, the hair-raising sense of danger when you walk 70 meters (more than 200 feet) above the yawning chasm of the Capilano River on a 450-foot-long bridge that seems to respond to every step you make, photo stops, a souvenir shop, teahouse, native carving displays, etc. You can take fantastic photos to show the folks back home. The sheer granite cliffs of the Capilano Canyon were carved out more than a hundred centuries ago by natural water courses left behind by glacial action. The first version of the bridge went in in 1889. Nearby is the Capilano Fish Hatchery with excellent glass-windowed displays of the life cycle of the Pacific salmon. You look right into the river to see the living fish. Chinatown in Vancouver is a visitor must. The third largest in North America (after San Francisco and New York City), it’s located along several blocks of Pender Street, with more shops and restaurants on Keefer, one block away, and along Main Street. Chinatown is the centre of the old Chinese shopping and restaurant district. The scene of violent racism a century ago, Chinatown is now one of the city’s liveliest areas for locals and tourists alike. Heritage buildings give the area a unique character of early century Chinese architecture, restaurants and specialty shops. Cloverdale Rodeo Second in size only to the Calgary Stampede, this May event brings calf roping, bronco busting, bull throwing and more with cowboys from all around North America. Cypress Provincial Park Walking up-up-up from Lighthouse Park will eventually get you to the top at Cypress Park. Driving up the mountain might be easier, and both routes give you sweeping views of Vancouver and the Islands. At the Park you’ll find an intricate network of trails for hiking, trails which turn into ski trails--both downhill and cross-country--in the winter. English Bay beach stretches from the Vancouver Aquatic Centre to Stanley Park, offering something for everyone throughout the year: sunbathing in summer; kayak rentals; walking in the winter; watching the sun set over the freighters; an international fireworks competition during summer festival . .. and on New Year’s Day, hundreds of foolhardy locals jump into the chilly water for the decades-long tradition of the Polar Bear Swim. English Bay gets its name because Capt. George Vancouver moored his ships here in 1792 while exploring local waters (like Burrard Inlet) at closer range. Watch for flying Frisbees, roller-bladers, joggers, skateboarders, cyclists, and elderly strollers! Fantasy Garden World A Disneyish attraction in Richmond with gardens, rides, a miniature train, a “castle” from Coeverden, Holland and an Olde World Village. (Coeverden was home to George Vancouver’s ancestors. His father was John Jasper van Coeverden.) Fort Langley Where British Columbia began. A restored version of the third fort (shortly after the fort moved to this site in 1839 it burned down, and had to be rebuilt), active from mid- May to the end of October. Historic buildings and authentically costumed staff take you back to the 1850s, and there are demonstrations by artisans of old-time skills like blacksmithing. The Langley Centennial Museum and the B.C. Farm Machinery and Agricultural Museum are nearby. Fraser Downs There’s a certain charm to harness racing, and this handsome little park is the place to enjoy it. October to April. For flat racing, see the Hastings Park entry. Gastown is where Vancouver started. This area might have ended as the local Skid Road with old warehouses and seedy hotels, had it not experienced a complete recovery and heritage- style Victorian renovation in the early l970s, an initiative of Vancouver’s Community Arts Council. The street is cobblestoned and bordered by young maple trees and antique street lamps. There are art galleries, souvenir shops, fine furniture stores, and a variety of restaurants and bars. Step into oddly-named side streets like Gaoler’s Mews and Blood Alley, and admire the “flat-iron” architecture of the Europe Hotel. Don’t miss the famous Gastown Steam Clock, likely the single most photographed object in Greater Vancouver, that pipes a tune every quarter of an hour. Gastown, by the way, was so nicknamed because of an early (1867 and on) saloon keeper, John Deighton, who talked so much he was called “Gassy Jack.” Early Vancouver grew around his saloon. The famous statue of Gassy at Carrall and Water Streets is a product of sculptor Vern Simpson’s imagination: nobody knows what the famed saloon keeper looked like (except for a contemporary’s description of him as having a “muddy purple” complexion). A photograph of a portly fellow with a beard was plucked at random from a pile of ancient photos by 1970s developers as someone who “looks as if he could be a Gassy Jack.” General Motors Place Guided tours of this newest of the city’s sports halls are available. The NHLs Vancouver Canucks and the NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies play here. Granville Island was once a dilapidated and ugly industrial region in the middle of Vancouver. But, thanks to an imaginative federal government scheme (who would have guessed!) the island--which was originally nothing more than a sandbar that disappeared at high tide, then was built up with silt taken from elsewhere--has been transformed since 1973 into a mecca for shopping and cultural activities. A caution: parking is sometimes virtually impossible. We recommend coming by foot, public transit, bike, taxi or ferry. (A fleet of stubby little Granville Island Ferries brings people over from the south foot of Hornby Street.) The heart of the Island--or perhaps we should say the stomach--is the big, always crowded, Public Market with dozens of stands selling fresh vegetables, meat, fish and the like, and lots of booths selling ready-to-eat goodies. The Market is surrounded by four dozen small shops for food, clothing, art, boating supplies, etc. Look for the unique Kids Only Market. There’s a hotel, pubs, restaurants, bistros. Granville Island is also the seat for several theatre groups, making Vancouver one of the most interesting Canadian centres for the performing arts. Another tenant: the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver’s leading art school. Grouse Mountain Should we call it urban skiing! You never get away from the view of the city and the inlet. It’s like taking off from the slopes and flying over the town. A popular spot for local skiers for decades. You could have dinner at famed Grouse Nest with an unsurpassed view 1,100 meters (about 3,600 feet) above town. Or you could just go to a lookout and look over the city for a place to have dinner after a long walk. The famous gondolas lift you to mountaintop in six minutes, and when the skies are clear the views are jaw-dropping. Horse- drawn wagons are a visitor favorite. (The horses come up in the gondolas, too.) Grouse’s Theatre In The Sky shows locally-themed videos. Harbour Centre is one of the more interesting modern buildings in Vancouver, as if a flying saucer had landed on top of a high-rise. The two highest levels are an observation deck, called The Lookout, and a revolving restaurant called Top of Vancouver. The restaurant rotates 360 degrees in an hour. The Lookout has knowledgeable young guides and lots of plaques describing distant buildings and landmarks. You glide to the top of this 167-metre-high building, tallest in the city, in 50 seconds in glass-walled elevators on the outside of the building. Take your friends out for lunch for a glorious, panoramic view of the city and its mountains. The first two storeys of Harbour Centre were donated to Simon Fraser University as its Downtown Campus, the venue of many high-tech conferences with superb technical installations. Hastings Park Raceway Thoroughbred racing from early April to early November. A covered grandstand and genuinely good food. There’s been racing here from 1889, and since 1961 all Lower Mainland flat racing has been concentrated at Hastings Park. (For harness racing, see the article on Fraser Downs.) Irving House Captain William Irving had this house built in New Westminster in 1865, when it was still the capital of the mainland colony of British Columbia, and furnished it opulently. it’s been lovingly maintained, and looks as if the Captain had just moved out. (One odd feature: a crack in the wall caused by a 1946 earthquake.) Lighthouse Park The North Shore is an area of parks, from the coast to the tip of the mountains. This is where the story (true) originated that, in summer, you can ski Whistler or Blackcomb Mountain in the morning and, on your way back to Vancouver, go for a swim in the ocean on one of the North Shore’s beaches--and dine at a fine restaurant in the evening. Lighthouse Park is 75 hectares of the most original and most rugged of the North Shore’s parks. Stunning views, and more than 60 bird species have been spotted here. Hikes through one of the few remaining original forests in Greater Vancouver end at Point Atkinson with its lighthouse. The lighthouse has been staffed without interruption since 1875, although a recent trend toward unmanned stations may have now put an end to that tradition. Lonsdale Quay A handsome shopping, restaurant and food market complex at the foot of North Vancouver’s Lonsdale Street. A big seafood restaurant in the area was once a working ferry on the inlet. The SeaBus, which crosses Burrard Inlet every few minutes, docks here. Lynn Canyon Park Lynn Canyon’s Suspension Bridge, built in 1912, is 50 metres above scenic Lynn Creek, and it’s free. There is a very pleasant Nature Walk through 250-hectare Lynn Canyon Park, past deep water pools. It starts with a fine introduction at the small Ecology Centre (interactive displays and educational programs), near the bridge. Scattered here and there throughout the park, the stumps of once mighty forest giants, some with loggers’ springboard notches still visible. The park began with a 12-acre donation of land by the logging McTavish brothers. For hardier hikers, Lynn Headwaters Regional Park beckons. Maplewood Farm A year-round North Vancouver location, five acres of fun for the little ones: there are pony rides, milking demonstrations, and more than 200 domestic animals and birds to see. Minter Gardens Another big, beautiful collection of themed gardens (11 of them), this 27-acre specimen is near Chilliwack 65 kilometres east of Vancouver. There are witty topiary displays, a maze and--unique in North America--Penjing Rock Bonsai (dwarf plants). Mount Seymour Provincial Park First, you have to drive 1,000 metres (about 3,300 feet) up. But stop at the two viewpoints, one overlooking Indian Arm and, on clear days, Washington State’s Mount Baker, the other looking west towards downtown and the Islands. Then you arrive at a large parking lot to start some beautiful skiing in the winter and equally enchanting hiking in the summer. The Museum of Anthropology If a city is lucky it gets something special, what we might call a gift of the gods. Vancouver has the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. It is inspired--and inspiring--architecture, by Vancouver’s Arthur Erickson. The museum is filled with some of the world’s most beautiful and striking native art, and is surrounded by magnificent views. The building is a combination of concrete and glass creating an openness matching the grandeur of the native art inside. Centrepiece is Bill Reid’s Raven and the First Men, a large carving-- a masterpiece--depicting a native story of the creation of men. Don’t have time to include this in your itinerary! Make time. You’ll remember it forever. Museum of the Royal Westminster Regiment A small museum devoted to the regiment is housed in an 1895 Armory gun room. Free, year-round. Pacific National Exhibition This big annual late-summer fair was planning a move as our book was going to press. The 1997 PNE will be at its longtime home, Hastings Park. After that, who knows! See Mark Leiren-Young’s article on the Exhibition. Park & Tilford Gardens Eight separate theme gardens on the North Shore, created in 1968 by a privately-owned distillery. In the Rose Garden there are nearly 300 plants, in 24 varieties. Free admission and parking, and open seven days a week. The Port of Vancouver is Greater Vancouver’s bustling heart, one of the three largest North American harbors, and busiest on the Pacific coast of North America. It occupies much of Burrard Inlet west of the Second Narrows bridge. From docks for luxury liners to grain elevators, from large lumber loading areas to huge mountains of sulphur, there is everything that has to do with international shipping. The port can be viewed from many points in greater Vancouver, from Stanley Park to Burnaby Mountain and from the SeaBus Terminal to the North Shore Mountains. Queen Elizabeth Park Greater Vancouver is a hilly place, and one of the most unique of the “hills” is this strikingly landscaped 150-metre (500foot) high extinct volcano. Queen Elizabeth Park, named in 1939 for the Queen Mother (the present Queen’s mother), is the public garden of the city. Once a rock quarry, now a riot of color, with flowers, shrubs, rare trees, and more on every side. A favorite for wedding parties, it’s a great place to stroll around, and the views are magnificent wherever you are. Watch for a dramatic sculpture by world-famed Henry Moore. Also in the park, the Bloedel Conservatory, a year-round tropical paradise under a “triodetic” dome ... with parrots and tiny tropical birds, more than 50 kinds, flitting between the exotic plants, and the soothing splash of waterfalls. Japanese carp glide beneath the waters. A bonus: it’s warm year-round. Seasons Restaurant in the Park hosted a summit lunch April 3, 1993 for U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Rainforest Reptile Refuge A year-round display in Surrey of more than 300 reptiles and amphibians. Redwood Park This lovely 32-hectare Surrey park is rich in exotic trees from around the world. Two profoundly deaf and gently eccentric brothers, Peter and David Brown, owned this property and built themselves a multi-level treehouse in it where they could be away from the rest of the world. A “replica” (nothing like the rude original) of the treehouse can be seen. The Browns gathered seedlings of trees from other countries and planted them here. George C. Reifel Bird Sanctuary This 850-acre sanctuary on Delta’s Westham Island, 10 kilometres west of Ladner, is a resting place for thousands of migratory birds on their way south to warmer places in fall and their way back in spring. With three kilometres of hiking trails and a nature house, there is much to see--and hear--all year long. More than 1.5 million birds pass through here annually (240 species have been spotted!), many thousands just stopping to rest and feed, others to spend the winter. Some species make this their home year-round. Operated by the B.C. Waterfowl Society, a non-government, self-supporting non-profit organization. The Sanctuary has been called a “rural remnant of the once vast Fraser estuary marshes.” Robson Square Robson Square starts with the New Courthouse, a massive slope of glass covering the Law Courts. The Courthouse opens up into a public space with a waterfall, trees and many stairs--the gathering point of young people in the summer--that descend to a lower level with restaurants, conference rooms and a skating rink. Arthur Erickson, the complex’s architect, showed the world with this structure that high-rises are not the only solution for inner cities. Robson Street, busiest pedestrian thoroughfare in Greater Vancouver, used to be called “Robsonstrasse” when it was more European-themed, but it’s been homogenized in recent years. High energy street, and great for people-watching. Roedde House Museum This little charmer is set in a West End block (bounded by Barclay, Nicola, Haro and Broughton Streets) called Barclay Heritage Square and featuring nine historic houses built between 1890 and 1908. Roedde House, built in 1893 for Vancouver’s first bookbinder, Gustav Roedde. has been owned by the city since 1966. It’s operated by the Roedde House Preservation Society, a non-profit volunteer group, and has been handsomely restored. There are guided tours and afternoon tea. Royal Hudson Steam Train Canada’s only steam-operated locomotives, the beautifully-restored 2860 and 3716, take travelers along more than 60 kilometres of spectacularly scenic Howe Sound from North Vancouver to Squamish. (The 2850 Hudson drew King George VI and Queen Elizabeth across Canada in 1939, and the King was so impressed with its power he gave his approval for the Hudson locomotives to carry the “Royal” designation.) At Squamish you can visit the West Coast Railway Heritage Museum, with more than 50 locomotives-- including the only surviving Pacific Great Eastern Railway steam engine--and cars on display, one of them a handsomely restored Executive Business Car. Also in or near Squamish, the Howe Sound Brewing Co., logging shows and scenic Shannon Falls. To vary your trip, you can return by sea on the MV Britannia, or go up on the boat and return by rail. Science World Housed in what is sometimes nicknamed the “golf ball,” this former Expo pavilion at the east end of False Creek is a delight for children of all ages. In three major galleries (biology, physics and sound) it presents a scientific view of the earth and life in B.C., with lots of hands-on displays to illustrate scientific concepts in fun ways. There’s a Natural History Gallery, the “Mine Game,” a 3D Laser Theatre, and the Omnimax Theatre, presenting spellbinding films on the world’s largest domed screen. Seymour Demonstration Forest See the article on the GVRD. Simon Fraser University Just turned 30, with one of the livelier histories of any university in North America (a hotbed of student and faculty unrest in the turbulent Sixties), Simon Fraser is a dynamic centre of studies and research located atop Burnaby Mountain. The attraction here (for the non-student) is its architecture by the young Arthur Erickson, with partner Geoffrey Massey. The campus buildings hug the mountaintop in a dramatic sprawl. SplashDown Park Three minutes from the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, this 13-slide 10-acre fun spot is Vancouver’s only waterpark. Stanley Park is the jewel of Vancouver, the envy of every city planner in the world. It is unique as a city park, not only for its size (408 hectares, or 1,000 acres) and its closeness to the downtown area but also for its beauty and the variety of amenities it offers, from the forest-like interior of the park (criss-crossed by safe walking trails), to the ocean beaches, to kids’ playgrounds, to the built-up area of the world-famed Vancouver Public Aquarium. The park follows a wise rule of recreational planning: to protect an area from being overrun by users, set aside a small section and make it high-density, with intensive use. Of course, with nearly two million people able to use the park, not to mention out-of-area visitors, we cannot expect it to remain an untouched wilderness. By concentrating people in the southern reaches and around the rim of the park, a large area has been kept in a relatively natural state. The park’s walking trails, by the way, were originally “skid roads,” used by early loggers who greased them with whale oil to permit teams of oxen to drag massive, felled trees to the water’s edge. There are hour-long horse-drawn tours of the park’s highlights, using teams of giant Clydesdales and other big horses, and look for the charming miniature railway and Children’s Farmyard. There are many attractions within the Park: The Seawall walkway, affording you one of the world’s great walks, wraps entirely around the park, giving pedestrians and cyclists nine kilometres of breathtaking views of the city, the harbor and the mountains beyond. Stroll a portion, stroll it all. The hiking trails in the interior of the Park guide people through thick forests, with manychances to get out to the Seawall and join in with the crowd. The Stanley Park Causeway winds gently around the perimeter of the park, giving drivers (don’t go too fast!!!) a general glimpse of what can be seen in detail, with many chances to stop and enjoy. The Nine O’Clock Gun. It’s been in the park for a century, once used to signal the end of theday’s legal fishing, but for decades now a famed nightly time signal. Ever since the gun was “kid- napped” by University of British Columbia engineering students (who returned it when a"ransom" was paid to the Children’s Hospital), there has been a protective fence around it. Thegun is fired electronically from the harbormaster’s perch high atop a downtown skyscraper. Beaches and swimming pools. The Royal Vancouver Yacht Club with its myriad of boats Brockton Point with a famous old Lighthouse and picturesque (and genuine) totem poles Prospect Point with striking views of Lions Gate Bridge, the north shore and the mountains. No, they’re not the Rockies! Those are along way away to the east. These are the Coast Mountains. Ferguson Point and the Teahouse The Tennis Courts and Pitch and Putt area . . plus the Hollow Tree, Giant Checkerboard, and much, much more. Steveston Village Once a centre of Japanese fishing activity before World War II, Steveston is home to a big, colorful commercial fishing harbor. Visitors buy the sea’s bounty directly from the boats at the public fish sales dock. A series of shops and restaurants has developed on and near the wharf, making this a very pleasant outing throughout the year. A relic of fishing’s glory days, the century-old Gulf of Georgia Cannery on the Steveston waterfront, was restored in the 1990s and is now a National Historic Site; guided tours show how this important industry once operated. Nearby are the Britannia Heritage Shipyards, the oldest remaining structures on the Fraser River, weathered by a century of exposure to a silvery grey. Dr. SunYat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is a beautiful, quiet oasis in the heart of a busy city, a “refreshment for the heart.” Behind the Chinese Cultural Centre, this first full-sized classical Chinese garden ever built outside China (created by experts flown in from that country) provides a glimpse into another world of symmetry of architecture, rocks, trees and water, unknown in the West. Every square inch of the space has been exquisitely designed ... even the eaves on the roofs have been shaped to turn rain showers into beaded curtains of water. Handsome, porous “Taihu” rocks and jade green water add to the quiet, exotic beauty. The garden is a genuine must see. Docent-guided tours. Trev Deeley Motorcycle Museum More than 200 classic and antique motorcycles, representing 43 makes, have been gathered at this Richmond site. UBC Botanical Garden Seventy acres of plants from around the world, set in a coastal forest at the University of British Columbia. You’ll find 400 species of rhododendron here, and a 16th century “Physick Garden.” Established in 1916, this is the oldest university botanical garden in Canada. The University of British Columbia is the oldest and largest university in the province. Its haphazard mix of architecture is one of its visitor attractions. Walk along the Main Mall, down to the rose garden, with its beautiful views across the Strait of Georgia, or go to the Asian Centre and the beautiful Japanese Nitobe Gardens, an authentic Japanese “Tea and Stroll” Garden. Don’t miss the new Centre for Native Studies with its impressive and massive beam structure, look for the dramatic new Koerner Library and visit the world-famed Museum of Anthropology The campus is adjacent to big (763 hectares), attractive and undeveloped Pacific Spirit Regional Park, and it’s possible to climb down to the beach. (Caution! Wreck Beach is clothing optional.) There are 50 kilometres of walking/ hiking trails in the park, 35 km of equestrian trails and another 35 km for cyclists. This area was logged by Hastings Sawmill from 1860 to 1923, then endowed to the university. You’ll see second-growth Douglas fir, western red cedar, western hemlock and more. Vancouver Aquarium is famous the world over, with pools for Orcas (killer whales), plump white Beluga whales, Steller sea lions and enclosures for sea otters, seals and other water animals of the Pacific. The many galleries within, including an Indonesian Reef exhibit, feature hundreds of different species of Pacific marine life. Kids will enjoy the Graham Amazon Gallery, with its giant fishes and hourly rainstorms. The Vancouver Art Gallery is a heritage building that once was the Courthouse. With the neoclassical exterior preserved, the new interior houses, among other Canadian and international artists, the largest collection of Emily Carr paintings anywhere in the world. The building’s original architect, Thomas Rattenbury, also designed the Legislative Buildings and the Empress Hotel in Victoria. (p.s. Rattenbury was murdered by his wife’s young lover.) Touring shows bring a mix of modern and traditional. Vancouver East Cultural Centre A former church in an East Vancouver residential neighborhood, the “Cultch” offers a wide variety of theatre, music and dance, with a focus on contemporary performing arts. There are also special childrens’ programs. VanDusen Botanical Garden This relatively young, but already well respected, big botanical garden is a joy for everybody who likes plants, There is much to see, to learn and to do: 22 acres of beauty, tranquil ponds and great views. Right in the centre of the city, the garden (once a golf course) has areas representing different parts of the world. There are sculptures, and an Elizabethan hedge maze. Vanier Park There is always something happening at Vanier Park when it’s sunny, and often when it’s not: the Beautiful People jogging along the beach; fighter kites rushing up to challenge airborne competitors; model sailboats chasing ducks and being chased by them in the pond; catamarans and sailboarders in the water; and in the summer, Bard on the Beach, a local professional Shakespeare company under artistic director Christopher Gaze offering, in a huge red-and-white tent, excellent productions of Will’s classics. Overlooking all of this, and sharing the same distinctively-shaped building, are the Vancouver Museum and the Pacific Space Centre, which includes the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium. The shape of the building was inspired by the hats of Haida natives. The Planetarium has regular multimedia shows on its 20-metre domed screen on the planets, galaxies, comets and such. Nearby Gordon Southam Observatory (free) lets you look through telescopes at the heavens--when the weather cooperates. The Planetarium and Observatory are evolving into the Pacific Space Centre, being developed as this book went to press. “We will be renovating the Star Theatre,” says president and chair Stephen J. Miller, “with sophisticated new control systems, video projection units and a live performance stage. We will be offering a new exhibit hall with hands-on, interactive experiences and learning systems employing technologies developed right here in British Columbia. Our new Centre will also feature a Cosmic Simulator taking visitors on explorations into outer space, and Groundstation Canada, a multi-screen theatre and demonstration lab for visitors and schoolchildren.” The gleaming crab fountain in front of the Museum/Planetarium was created by sculptor George Norris, and is worth a visit by itself. Also in this spacious park, the Maritime Museum and the Vancouver Academy of Music. The museum features exhibits highlighting this area’s rich marine past, with a Children’s Maritime Discovery Centre where kids can take the helm of a scale-model tugboat and “navigate” it around English Bay. Next door is a unique structure specially built to house the St. Roch, a ship built for the RCMP (nicknamed “horse sailors") which became the first to go through the Northwest Passage in both directions, and was also the first ship to circumnavigate North America. There are regular tours. In the western reaches of Vanier park, the Vancouver City Archives, a huge and fascinating collection of material from the city’s past. West End This has been called the most populated square kilometre in North America, but that’s not quite true: there are areas in New York City that are considerably more packed. Still, the population is high for such a small area. More to the point is that Vancouver’s West End is one of the most livable areas in Canada for singles and couples. Even though crammed with high rises, two- and four-storey apartment buildings and (a very few) family houses, there are still trees, parks and playgrounds and a lot of neat shopping and entertainment. The West End is a great place to live, bordered by the great Stanley Park, lively English Bay, the city’s energetic downtown and the busy harbor. There is a large gay population. Take a walk along English Bay, have tea in the old-world Sylvia Hotel, go shopping on crowded Robson Street and on Davie Street see The Mansion, a fine old home converted to a popular restaurant. Westminster Quay Shops, restaurants, a broad boardwalk, an authentic paddlewheeler, and excellent views of the working Fraser River: tugboats, log booms, barges, freighters and more. One of New Westminster’s real attractions. Whistler Village Ski magazine named Whistler the number one ski resort in North America, and Snow Country Magazine gave it the same title four years running. Golf magazine chimes in by rating it “one of the best golf resorts in the world.” There are four courses here, three with designers even duffers have heard of: Arnold Palmer, Robert Trent Jones, Jr., and Jack Nicklaus. Whistler, 120 kilometres north of Vancouver, with 1,600 metres of vertical drop, highest on the continent, is a gateway to skiing on a grand scale. Two adjacent mountains, Whistler and Blackcomb attract skiers from all over the world. But a first class ski resort cannot exist on natural attributes alone. Whistler has developed an excellent infrastructure: eating, lodging and shopping locations are all within easy walking distance in the no-car village. If it’s good (and expensive) the Village has it. Snowboarding and cross-country skiing in the winter, hiking, mountain biking and water sports in the summer are offered to the energetic visitor. And for everybody else, there are conventions and festivals galore, with symphony concerts in summer right at the top of the skiing area. B.C. Rail has train service there. White Rock A favorite summer resort for Vancouverites since the turn of the century, White Rock is now a busy and attractive suburb. Thanks to its beautiful waterfront location, it brings Vancouverites and foreigners to enjoy a day at the beach, a swim in the ocean or merely a leisurely stroll along the shore. A famous old (1914) pier here was once a landing dock for coastal steamships, now offers scenic strolling and fishing. White Rock was once the site of an international Sandcastle competition (cancelled because of rowdyism) in the summer that lured hundreds to the broad expanse of the beach here to try their hand at sand sculptures. The town is named for a huge (486.63 ton) white rock on the beach, deposited millennia ago by a glacier. Wreck Beach Vancouver is blessed with about 56 kilometres (35 miles) of beaches, all of them public, most of them developed. They are all worth visiting, but Wreck Beach, just some hundred steps below the University of British Columbia, is the most beautiful, the least developed and the most controversial because it is clothing optional. On sunny days more than a thousand naked sun worshipers can congregate here. The beach’s name was given it for the now vanished hulk of a wrecked vessel here. Yaletown was a Vancouver warehouse district only a decade ago, but has now evolved into an attractive quarter of sophisticated cafes, restaurants and upscale shops. A favorite locale for the growing film industry. The name comes from the nickname for this area a century ago, from CPR workers (who had come down from the railway town of Yale) who moved here in the mid-1880s to help bring the railway into Vancouver.

Additional material provided by Kirstin Brundin and by Heather Chapman, Elvira Quarin and Tracey Corbett of Tourism Vancouver.

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