Vancouver Things to Do Tips by Jefie

Back in 1888, Lord Stanley, the Governor General of Canada, dedicated the 405 ha of Stanley Park to "the use and enjoyment of peoples of all colours, creeds, and customs, for all time." More than a century later, it is estimated that about 8 million people visit this beautiful urban park every year, making it one of Vancouver's top attractions. There are many ways to visit Stanley Park: the Seawall promenade that goes around the park is about 9 km long, and it includes a walking trail and a bicycle path (you can rent a bike on nearby Denman Street). During summer, you can also hop on board the free Stanley Park Shuttle Bus which goes around the park, making 14 stops near popular attractions and landmarks. These include some beautiful gardens, statues, children's attractions, three beaches, an outdoor swimming pool, the park's famous Totem poles, a nice view of the Lions Gate Bridge, and four restaurants. It is quite easy to spend an entire day in Stanley Park and the best thing is that it doesn't have to cost a dime! Just make sure to bring your camera and wear good walking shoes - Stanley Park is open year round :o)

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Phone: 604-257-8400
Directions: Northwestern end of downtown Vancouver. You can catch Bus #19 on W Pender St. for a quick ride to Stanley Park!
Website: http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/Parks/parks/stanley/index.htm
Other Contact: pbcomment@vancouver.ca

I hadn't really planned on going to the Vancouver Aquarium but as we woke up to yet another rainy day and were running out of indoors things to do, we decided to hit the Aquarium and we ended up having a pretty good time! A visit to the Aquarium is not exactly cheap ($19.95 for adults) but as we ended up spending the entire afternoon there, I felt I got my money's worth. The Aquarium is divided into two sections - an indoor and an outdoor one. Outdoors is where you'll find the dolphins, beluga whales, sea otters, seals and sea lions - there are shows running every half hour (rain or shine) between 10:30 am and 4:30 pm, just make sure to check the schedule inside. Inside the Aquarium, you'll find a variety of sea creatures and ecosystems and strangely enough, my favorite part was the jelly fish exhibit - it made for some really cool pictures! Definitely a great place to go if you're traveling with children, but grown-ups will probably enjoy it just as much :o)

The Vancouver Aquarium is open year round every day of the week (9:30 am to 7:00 pm during summer; 9:30 am to 5:00 pm during winter).

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Phone: 604-659-3474
Directions: Located in Stanley Park - Bus #19 will take you very close to the Aquarium
Website: http://www.vanaqua.org

If you walk along the Seawall counterclockwise, you'll eventually leave Stanley Park and end up in the beautiful English Bay area. Its nice sandy beach is popular with visitors and locals alike, especially for sunbathing during the day and watching sunsets in the evening. English Bay is also part of the lively West End area - Denman St. and Davie St. begin at English Bay, and on both streets you'll find a great variety of restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars - should you feel like going out for some Indian, Greek, Italian, French, Asian, Brazilian, African or Mexican food, English Bay is the place to go!

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Address: Beach St, at the corner of Denman and Davie St.
Directions: West End Vancouver (downtown), next to Stanley Park.
Website: http://englishbay.com/

Granville Island is a man-made island built around 1915 for industrial purposes. It lies underneath the Granville Street Bridge, in False Creek. Many factories were established on the island, but starting in the 1950s, many closed down, burned down, or simply moved to a new location. Activity on the island dwindled down until a group of citizens decided to give it a new life in the 1970s, and turned it into a great example of urban redevelopment.

Today, the old factories and warehouses are still there, but the have become home to many restaurants, specialty shops, theatres, galleries, a kids market, the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, the Granville Island Brewing Company and the famous Granville Island Public Market. What makes spending a few hours on the island so much fun is that although its purpose has changed, it is still quite easy to picture life as it must have been during its industrial era. There is always plenty of activity going on, whether it be music by street performers or a show organized by a local radio station, kids playing in the park, visitors getting their picture taken, and so on - because another cool thing about the island is that it offers you a really great view of downtown Vancouver so don't forget your camera!

The Granville Island Public Market probably is the island's biggest draw. With over 100 stands, it offers an amazing selection of fresh products (fruits, vegetables, fish, cheese, cold cuts, pasta, bread, desserts, flowers and more) at a reasonably good price. There are also some crafts stands, and a food court that offers a great selection of food from all around the world. The market is open every day of the week, from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. I would strongly suggest going to Granville Island on foot as driving and parking on the island is no easy task!

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Phone: 604-666-5784
Directions: Located under the south side of the Granville Street Bridge. From downtown Vancouver, it can easily be reached by Aquabus.
Website: http://www.granvilleisland.com
Other Contact: info@granvilleisland.com

The Granville Island Brewing Company was established in 1984. It is British Columbia's oldest microbrewery and they offer brewery tours to visitors every day at noon, 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm. The tours cost $9.75 and include four tasters. If you don't feel like going on a tour, you can simply go to their tasting room and try out a few beers - most of their beers have been named after local neighborhoods (English Bay Pale Ale, Gastown Amber Ale, Kitsilano Maple Cream Ale, Robson Street Hefeweizen...) and thus make for pretty cool souvenirs (you can get them at the brewery's store). The Kitsilano Maple Cream Ale turned out to be my favorite one!

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Phone: 604-687-2739
Address: 1441 Cartwright Street
Directions: Located on Granville Island, under the south side of the Granville Street Bridge.
Website: http://www.gib.ca
Other Contact: info@gib.ca

Even though it now ranks as the third largest city in Canada, Vancouver is still fairly young. Its origins can be traced back to the area called "Gastown", Vancouver's most historic district. In 1867, "Gassy Jack" Deighton opened up a saloon near a lumber mill and just like that, a city was born! For a few decades, Gastown remained at the heart of the new city of Vancouver but when businesses started moving away to new areas, practically the entire district was left to fall into disrepair. In the 1960s, a group of citizens got together to save and restore Gastown, which has now become a very popular tourist attraction.

Gastown is basically one street (Water Street) lined with historical brick and stone buildings dating back to the end of the 19th century (all of the town's wooden buildings were destroyed in the great fire of 1886). Most of them are now filled with restaurants and souvenir shops. Another big attraction seems to be the Gastown Steam Clock around which people gather to take pictures and hear it whistle every quarter hours (the clock was added in 1977 when the area was restored). But for me the most interesting thing to do in Gastown was to go on the free guided walking tour which runs every day at 2:00 pm, from June 15 to August 30 (tours start near the statue of Gassy Jack, at the corner of Water and Carrall St). The tour was 90 min long and our guide was very interesting, giving us plenty of information about the area's history and architecture, and he kept on with the tour even when rain started pouring down!

One thing to keep in mind while visiting Gastown is that the rather infamous Downtown Eastside area begins not far from the corner of Water and Carrall St. Nothing to keep you from visiting Gastown, but you might not want to venture too far out up Carrall St.

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Phone: 604-683-5650
Address: Water Street
Directions: Downtown Vancouver, begins at the corner of Water and Richards St.
Website: http://www.gastown.org/
Other Contact: info@gastown.org

Over 30% of the population of Vancouver is of Asian decent so as you can imagine, not all of them live in the area officially known as Chinatown. It usually doesn't take long for visitors to discover the influence Chinese-Canadians have had on the city, nor does it take long to find a good Chinese restaurant! Perhaps for this reason (and also because my friend Catherine still wasn't over the shock of finding herself surrounded by junkies in Downtown Eastside on her way to Chinatown) I hadn't really planned on going to Chinatown, but when Rob, Dennis and Dave suggested going to the Chinatown Night Market as part of our VT meeting, I was happy to accept their invitation! We did have to walk through what Rob rightly compared to a scene from "The Night of the Living-Dead" as we made our way from Gastown to Chinatown, and had to make way for drug dealers fleeing the scene as the cops showed up. Nothing at all happened to us, but I was still glad not to be by myself.

When we did make it to the market, however, we were treated to a whole new scenery: there were lights and colours everywhere, music, kids running around, and delicious smells coming from all the food stands. Apparently, the night market in Richmond is much bigger, but I was still quite happy with the one in Vancouver. On top of all the traditional Asian snacks, you can shop around for some well-priced handicrafts, clothes, CDs, DVDs and so on. Dennis treated us all to some delicious dragon's beard candy, and Rob took quite a few amazing pictures, which he kindly shared with me. It was a really fun and different nightlife experience!

The Chinatown Night Market runs from mid-May to mid-September, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night from 6:30 pm to 11:00 pm.

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Phone: 604-682-8998
Address: Keefer Street
Directions: Downtown Vancouver, between Main and Columbia St.
Website: http://www.vcma.shawbiz.ca
Other Contact: vcma@shawcable.com

The Vancouver International Jazz Festival takes place every year during the last week of June. The only other Jazz festival I'd been to before was the one in Montreal, and I found the one in Vancouver to be quite different. It is not as big, and most concerts are indoor ticketed events, which makes it less visible. However, I was lucky enough to go to the free outdoor show presented at the David Lam Park. The music presented there had more to do with world music than jazz per se, but that was fine by me. We were treated to some folk, swing and Latin music, and there was a nice atmosphere all around. Some people danced, but most people had brought camping chairs or beach mats and were just enjoying a nice afternoon out with friends. There were some stands offering food and drinks, but the one thing that felt a bit weird for me was that you weren't allowed to bring alcoholic beverages to the park, which made for a much more subdued crowd. I still had a really good time, I very much enjoyed the music and ate some delicious corn on the cob!

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Phone: 604-872-5200
Address: David Lam Park
Directions: Pacific Blvd. & Drake St., Downtown Vancouver
Website: http://www.coastaljazz.ca/index.cfm?page_id=3
Other Contact: cjbs@coastaljazz.ca

I guess most tourists don't necessarily make it to Commercial Drive but since my friend Catherine lives just off The Drive, I got to spend a fair bit of time in that area. Commercial Drive stands out thanks to its diversity (it used to be known as Little Italy, but I guess it's more like a Latin Quarter now, with many Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French-speaking residents), funky shops and restaurants. It is one of the oldest residential "surburbs" in Vancouver, and the streets bordering Commercial Drive are full of centennial houses which have now been taken over by young families. The Drive itself is not the prettiest street in Vancouver, but if you take the time to shop around between Broadway and Venables St., you'll discover cool used bookstores, unique clothing stores, and plenty of cafes and restaurants with sidewalk terraces. There is a strong sense of community in this area, and many events are organized by residents throughout the year - feel free to join them! I guess you could compare The Drive to Boulevard Saint-Laurent in Montreal? It's got a great atmosphere all day long, but it might be best to avoid the area surrounding the Broadway/Commercial Dr skytrain station at night - not that it is particularly unsafe, but junkies tend to gather around there at night.

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Phone: 604-251-2884
Address: Commercial Drive
Directions: Between Broadway and Venables St.
Website: http://www.thedrive.ca
Other Contact: info@thedrive.ca

Kitsilano, better known as "Kits", turned out to be one of my favorite neighborhoods in Vancouver. It started out as a hippy neighborhood in the 1960s, back when housing didn't cost quite so much in the area. It has changed a good deal over the years, but its proximity to the Kitsilano and Jericho beaches, two of the city's most popular beaches, still gives it a bit of a beach bum-type of atmosphere, sort of trendy but casual at the same time.

But the main reason why I enjoyed the area so much was for its amazing secondhand bookstores!! There are two shopping strips in Kitsilano, one being on West 4th Avenue, between Burrard and Balsam St, and the other on West Broadway St, between Macdonald and Alma St. W 4th Avenue offers a wide variety of cool clothing stores, along with some good restaurants, and two great used bookstores: "Duthie Books" and "Canterbury Tales". West Broadway didn't seem to be as popular, but there were even more used bookstores! And there also were some really nice little cafes and bars.

Unfortunately, it was rather cool and rainy the day we made it to Kits Beach so there weren't that many people around, but I can picture how this must be a popular spot on a sunny summer day :o)

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Phone: 604-263-6443
Address: West 4th Avenue and Broadway
Directions: Kitsilano (West Side)
Website: http://www.kitsilano4thavenue.com
Other Contact: info@kitsilano4thavenue.com