Vancouver: a perfect 10
When I was growing up in an inland British Columbia mill town – where getting fish and chips at the drive-in was the big entertainment – the city of Vancouver was a beacon, a magical place by the sea.
Decades later, most of Vancouver, B.C., looks better than ever to me. It’s become a cosmopolitan city of densely packed condos and cultural attractions, yet has managed to keep almost 60 percent of its waterfront as parkland.
And with Vancouver (and Whistler) hosting the Winter Olympics in 2010, the city promises to become even more world class.
When I go back to Vancouver, I return to some places over and over. Here are some of my favorites, a personal “Top 10.”
Stanley Park
When I was a child, this was my idea of heaven. It still is. The downtown park’s thousand acres of forest are encircled by the six-mile Seawall waterfront walk. Walk, bike, Rollerblade, jog or just sit on a bench or a beach log and enjoy one of the world’s most glorious urban parks. It’s also a great place to people-watch.
Fun stuff: Watch the whales and fish swim in the park’s Vancouver Aquarium. Go swimming yourself at one of the park’s sandy beaches or the giant (and heated) outdoor pool at Second Beach. Take little kids to the park’s petting zoo and miniature railway.
Good eats: Get a seafood meal or traditional afternoon tea at the Fish House, a clapboard building tucked among the trees by the park’s tennis courts. Or have a lavish tea by the park’s rose garden at the Stanley Park Pavilion.
More information: Stanley Park: (604) 257-8400, www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/parks.
Vancouver Aquarium: (604) 659-3400, www.vanaqua.org.
Fish House: (877) 681-7275, www.fishhousestanleypark.com.
Stanley Park Pavilion: (604) 602-3088, www.rosegardenteahouse.com.
Old Hastings Mill Store Museum
You’ll probably have this little local-history museum, tucked away in the Point Grey residential area, all to yourself.
It occupies what used to be a 19th-century sawmill company store. Old-fashioned glass cases are packed with woven baskets, vintage photos and other mementos of Vancouver’s pioneer days and native peoples. Volunteers run the place as a labor of love; a spry 90-year-old woman showed me around.
Fun stuff: The museum sits in a block-square waterfront park that adjoins the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. Drool at the mega-yachts, then go mess around for a few hours in a small boat at the Jericho Sailing Centre; rentals and lessons are offered in windsurfers, sailing dinghies and kayaks.
Good eats: Get a snack near the museum at cafes along West Fourth Avenue. Or go to the Galley Patio and Grill at the Jericho Sailing Centre; the casual burger/salad/beer place has a beachfront deck with one of the best views in the city.
More information: Hastings Mill museum: (604) 734-1212.
Jericho Sailing Centre (and Galley Patio and Grill): (604) 224-4177, www.jsca.bc.ca/ (book rentals ahead).
Spanish Bank/Wreck Beach
Go play on five miles of beach that continue west from Jericho. Walk the sandy beach or the sand bars of Spanish Bank Beach Park; the sand bars stretch a quarter-mile into the bay at low tide, with sun-warmed tide pools. Or sit on the beach and watch the sun set, painting the downtown high-rises across English Bay flame red.
Spanish Bank has free beachside parking lots, grassy lawns, changing rooms and a snack bar. Wreck Beach, which continues to the west, is undeveloped and wilder. It’s accessible only by foot – walk to it from Spanish Bank or take a 15-minute hike down several steep trails from the bluff above (where the University of B.C. campus sits). Tangles of driftwood line Wreck Beach, and thick forest rises above.
Nudists, for whom Wreck Beach has been a widely accepted haven for decades, sunbathe in the buff or join in everything from a “bare-buns” fun run to nude croquet and volleyball tournaments.
Fun stuff: Hike from Wreck Beach up the steep Trail 4 (you’ll see few nudes near the trailhead; most congregate farther west) to the Museum of Anthropology on the UBC campus. The museum’s reconstructed Haida village is a peaceful place of totem poles and traditional plank houses in a forest clearing; inside are extensive displays of Northwest coast native art. Or drive to the museum from Spanish Bank; it takes just a few minutes.
Good eats: Like fish and chips? Then belly up to the Spanish Bank snack bar. Otherwise, take a picnic or eat at one of the cafeterias on the UBC campus.
More information: Spanish Bank Beach Park: www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/parks.
Museum of Anthropology: (604) 822-3825, www.moa.ubc.ca/.
Wreck Beach: www.wreckbeach.org.
Commercial Drive
Ready for street life? Head to Commercial Drive in East Vancouver, once a neighborhood of Italian and Portuguese immigrants and now the lively hangout of alternative types.
In the blocks on either side of East First Avenue, old-fashioned espresso bars such as Cafe Calabria and Joe’s still endure amid vintage shops selling 1950s housewares and trendy clothing stores. Along “The Drive,” there’s almost always someone protesting something with petitions or political placards.
Fun stuff: Choose from more than 200 flavors of ice cream at La Casa Gelato, just a few blocks off “the Drive.” See edgy theater at the nearby Vancouver East Cultural Center.
Good eats: Snag an outside table (with gas-lamp heaters) at the Havana restaurant on the Drive for Cuban cocktails and food – and check out its small art gallery and theater in the back. Indulge in elaborate Italian pastries at Fratelli Bakery.
More information: www.thedrive.ca has a detailed map showing shops and more.
La Casa Gelato: (604) 251-3211, www.lacasagelato.com.
Vancouver East Cultural Center: (604) 251-1363, www.vecc.bc.ca.
Havana restaurant: (604) 253-9119, www.havana-art.com.
Fratelli Bakery: (604) 255-8926, www.fratellibakery.com.
Granville Island
This islet, reached by a causeway, used to be an industrial backwater of decaying warehouses and docks. Now it and the adjoining False Creek neighborhood are hot spots of waterfront walkways, snazzy condos and the Granville Island Public Market, packed with produce stalls – and people.
When the market crowd gets too intense, stroll around the three-block-long Granville Island. It’s dotted with art galleries, craft shops and, for the thirsty, two microbreweries. Or for a scenic ride, board one of the mini passenger ferries that putter around False Creek and to small docks in adjoining English Bay.
Fun stuff: Watch the street entertainers – musicians, mimes, magicians – at the wharf adjoining the market. In summer, take kids to play at Granville Island’s water park, a small but fun and free place with water cannons, spurting fountains and slides. Catch local musicians at the Backstage Lounge, adjoining the Arts Club Theatre.
Good eats: Graze at the market’s small eateries and produce stalls or choose among a half-dozen restaurants on Granville Island, including Bridges, a youth mecca.
More information: See www.granvilleisland.com for details on the market, shops, restaurants and more.
Passenger-only mini ferries: False Creek Ferries (604-684-7781, www.granvilleislandferries.bc.ca/) or the Aquabus (604-689-5858, www.theaquabus.com).
Backstage Lounge: (604) 687-1354.
Sun Yat Sen Garden/Chinatown
Behind its high walls, the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden is a cultural oasis, a walled garden of reflecting pools, sculptured rocks and tile-roofed pavilions. I go for its calmness, then for the material stuff in its small but tempting gift store, including jewelry and ceramics.
Want more history? The Chinese Cultural Center adjoining the garden has exhibits on Chinese-Canadian life.
Want local life? Chinatown’s shops, bakeries and restaurants, mostly along Keefer and Pender streets, get nicely busy on weekends.
Fun stuff: Chinatown’s Night Market is tiny compared to the nighttime street markets in Asian cities, but on summer weekend nights its outdoor stalls offer food, electronics and clothing. Chinese-Canadian shoppers and diners keep the 19th-century Chinatown lively, although many now go to flashier Asian-oriented shopping areas in the suburbs.
(An un-fun note: You will not enjoy the street life if you stray a few blocks north of Chinatown to East Hastings Street, a gritty area of tough bars and street drugs.)
Good eats: Almost anywhere in Chinatown, which abounds in restaurants and bakeries. I often end up at Hon’s Wun Tun house, long a locals’ favorite, for its massive noodle dishes and soup.
More information: Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden: (604) 662-3207, www.vancouverchinesegarden.com.
Chinatown events/businesses: www.vancouverchinatown.ca/.
Hon’s Wun Tun House: (604) 688-0871.
Queen Elizabeth Park
Vancouver’s garden-loving British heritage blossoms in the lovingly manicured flowerbeds and lawns of this hilltop park, with 360-degree views of the city. On chilly days, I warm up in the park’s glass-domed conservatory, a steamy enclave of palms, orchids and free-flying tropical birds.
Fun stuff: Catch a baseball game at the old-fashioned Nat Bailey outdoor stadium by the park. It’s home to the Vancouver Canadians, the farm team of the Oakland Athletics. Want more gardens? Go to nearby Van Dusen Botanical Garden, another lush city park.
Good eats: Seasons Bistro in the park has elegant dining and big city views, and a pleasant outdoor patio.
More information: Queen Elizabeth Park: www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/parks/.
Nat Bailey Stadium: (604) 872-5232, www.canadiansbaseball.com.
Seasons Bistro: (800) 632-9422, www.vancouverdine.com.
Denman Street/English Bay Beach
For a people-watching beach and street, it’s hard to beat English Bay Beach at the foot of bustling Denman Street. They’re the playgrounds for the residents of the city’s high-rise West End neighborhood.
Denman is lined with little restaurants – Japanese, Greek, Italian, Chinese. English Bay Beach, with its promenade and broad stretch of sand, is full of walkers year-round and sunbathers and swimmers in summer. Street musicians and magicians play to the crowd.
Fun stuff: The neighborhood explodes with fireworks, and hundreds of thousands of spectators, for the annual Celebration of Light, a four-night international fireworks competition on July 26, July 29, Aug. 2 and Aug. 5 this year.
Good eats: The old-fashioned Sylvia Hotel by English Bay Beach offers a quiet bistro and a bar, both with beach views.
More information: English Bay Beach Park: www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/parks.
Celebration of Light fireworks: www.celebration-of-light.com/.
Sylvia Hotel bar/bistro: (604) 681-9321, www.sylviahotel.com.
Vanier Point/museums
For a bit of culture and local history, the Vanier Point area in the trendy Kitsilano neighborhood has a trio of museums.
My favorite is the Vancouver Maritime Museum, whose centerpiece is the dry-docked St. Roch, a 1928 Arctic supply ship. Clamber through the officers’ tiny wood-paneled cabins and the crews’ crude bunkroom, and imagine living aboard for months.
The other museums, a two-minute walk away, are the Vancouver Museum, with city-history exhibits and more, and the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, which includes a planetarium theater.
Fun stuff: Vanier Point’s waterfront lawn is full of culture in spring and summer. Circus-like tents house the Vancouver Children’s Festival in mid-May; in summer, the Bard on the Beach presents Shakespeare plays in the big tents.
Good eats: Walk 10 minutes west along the waterfront to Kitsilano Beach, past the beach volleyball games, to the Watermark Restaurant, a beachfront eatery with a second-floor view patio that draws the young and trendy.
More information: Vancouver Maritime Museum: (604) 257-8300, www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com/.
Vancouver Museum, (604) 736-4431, www.vanmuseum.bc.ca/.
H.R. MacMillan Space Center (adjoining the Vancouver Museum): (604) 738-7827, www.hrmacmillanspacecentre.com/.
Watermark Restaurant: (604) 738-5487, www.watermarkrestaurant.ca.
Cypress Mountain
To get a taste of the wild side plus sweeping views of the city and beyond, drive up to the 7,400-acre Cypress Provincial Park in the North Shore mountains that loom above Vancouver. Just a half-hour from downtown, the broad, paved road climbs to 3,000 feet to dead-end in the park.
Miles of hiking trails (cross-country ski trails in winter) lead off from the road, winding through thick forest to tiny lakes. Rustic 1920s log cabins, the legacy of early hikers and skiers, still dot some trails. For alpine skiers and boarders, Cypress Bowl within the park has lifts; it will get bigger and better as it prepares to host the snowboarding and freestyle skiing events of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Fun stuff: Once the snow’s melted, walk the mile-long Yew Lake Trail, a self-guided interpretive route that begins by the downhill ski area and winds through sub-alpine meadows and old-growth trees. The energetic can hike up the steep Hollyburn Peak trail for views of the sea of mountains to the north. Mountain-bikers can ride in the new lift-assisted bike park.
Good eats: The park’s rustic, 80-year-old Hollyburn Lodge serves hot drinks and food during ski season (and there’s food service at the downhill area). In summer, bring a picnic – and pick blueberries along the trails.
More information: Cypress Provincial Park: www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/, www.cypresspark.bc.ca/.
Cypress Bowl ski area (downhill and cross-country): (604) 926-5612, www.cypressmountain.com.