Vancouver - Overview
The largest city in Western Canada, Vancouver is located between the Pacific Ocean and the Coast Mountains. It is a naturally beautiful city with a population of over 2.5 million in the greater metropolitan area, spread over a distance of nearly 3000 square kilometres. The third largest film production centre in North America its nickname Hollywood North seems appropriate. With many cultural, sporting and outdoor activities on offer as well as frequently being voted the best city in which to live, Vancouver makes for a perfect tourist destination.
One of the major attractions of the city is its closeness to the outdoors whilst offering all the highlights of a big city. Whatever the season Vancouver has an outdoor activity for everyone to get involved in. Having recently held the 2010 winter Olympic and Paralympic games it is clear that the winter sports scene is huge in the city. Skiing and snowboarding are the better known winter sports but ice-skating, tubing and snowshoeing are all popular activities. Many companies rent equipment to visitors as well as running mountain tours. Outdoor summer fun can be had in the form of cycling, rollerblading, walking and hiking and if you love to spend time on the sea why not take a fishing trip, hire a boat or go whale watching?
Vancouver offers much more than outdoor fun, for culture lovers there is a wealth of entertainment on offer. Downtown is home to venues supporting the National Symphony Orchestra and various opera productions. Granville Island and South Granville are the places to catch the vibrant live theatre scene in action. Proud of its performing arts, Vancouver hosts a number of international events attracting major talent from all over the world. For a quieter cultural experience the city boasts several museums and galleries; from the very informative Museum of Anthropology to the modern works of art housed in the Contemporary Art Gallery there is something to suit every taste.
The best areas to find something good to eat are Kitsilano and the West End, both have a number of eateries that accommodate all budgets, but for higher end dining the central business district is the place to be seen. The free city paper Georgia Straight often has cut out coupons offering money off different restaurants for those with tight purse strings. Cuisine in Vancouver is very varied thanks to the multicultural population and the city is well known in particular for its excellent dim sum restaurants in Chinatown.
As with restaurants, the bar and club scene in Vancouver is hugely varied with live music being very popular across the city. The West End and the central business district are hot nightspot areas so if you’re out for a meal there’s not far to go for a drink! For the more popular clubs expect to wait in long queues on weekends, to avoid waiting head out early or by-pass them altogether and check out one of the late night casinos in the city.