Vancouver Favorite Tips by rmdw Top 5 Page for this destination

Georgia Street Downtown Vancouver Review

Favorite thing: Here's a view of downtown Vancouver, looking West along Georgia Street. Along with Howe Street, it constitutes one major part of the business area of the city.

High Speed Wireless Connectivity (WiFi)

Favorite thing: Vancouver is blessed to have numerous wireless "hotspots" throughout the city. They've been installed by a great company with a strange name: FatPort.

To connect all you need is WiFi card (also known as 802.11b). These can generally be found for much less than $75 at stores such as London Drugs and Future Shop.

Fondest memory: My favourite wireless location in Vancouver is also my favourite coffee shop: Seattle's Best Coffee at 11th & Granville.

The best location is by the window in the NW corner, looking out at the stream of pedestrians along Granville Street. Wonderful memories!

Addresses in Vancouver

Favorite thing: Many visitors to the City of Vancouver get very confused about finding an address. Here's a quick guide:

- Avenues run East-West, with each new block representing 100 more in the address
- The divide between East and West occurs at Ontario Street; 1 blk west would be the West 100 block and 1 blk east would be the East 100 block
- Streets run North-South
- For some historical reason, the cross avenue does not match the numbering scheme of the street. For example, if you have to go to 4500 Granville, you wouldn't go to 45th Avenue. Instead, you divide the address by 100 and then subtract 15 to figure out what Avenue to look for. Thus, 4500 Granville would be at 30th Avenue (ie. 45 - 15 = 30).

Fondest memory: Another key thing to remember is that to find North just look to the mountains!

Currency Exchange

Favorite thing: Most non-Canadians coming to Vancouver will need to convert their money into Canadian Dollars. There are generally 3 ways to do this:

1. Go to a bank and give them non-Canadian money (most often US dollars).

2. Go to an ATM and withdraw funds, which will be in Canadian currency.

3. Go to a currency exchange retailer.

Please do compare rates with each, but I've found that the best rates can be found at one of the "Vancouver Bullion & Currency Exchange" outlets. They have 4 locations:
- Downtown Vancouver
- South Granville (just south of downtown)
- Richmond
- Burnaby

The savings you get will generally only be a few dollars for every $100 but if you're exchanging a lot of money then it is worth it to get the very best rate!