Long Day or Weekend Trips
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go to Whistler, a local ski resort town 3 hours away. On the way there or back, stop off at an oceanside park (Lighthouse?) for a great view of Howe sound. Also go hiking at Garibaldi park and Panorama ridge, or Black Tusk (slightly harder). You can also get helicopter (or even heli-ski) tours from Whistler or Vancouver.
take a ferry ride on a nice day to the Sunshine coast, one of the Gulf Islands, or even Vancouver Island. You can also get a cruise ship ferry from/to Seattle to/from the island, and this might be very scenic. There are also boat cruises of varying lengths, including one to the Queen Charlottes, another to Alaska, and many smaller ones. There is also a combination train/boat tour up the coast on the Royal Hudson/Queen Victoria --- you go by boat one way and train the other way. See the Vancouver Island/Victoria section at the end of the file for more detail on ferries.
Go to the Okanagan Valley, especially during the Penticton Peach festival or Kelowna regatta, and sample the local fruit and wine and the best weather in Canada.
Drive to Harrison Hot Springs.
Drive to Manning park, especially during cross-country ski season.
Go to Golden Ears Provincial Park.
Many regional parks, such as Belcarra, Minnekhada, are also recommended.
visit Victoria and Vancouver Island, especially Long Beach Go whale watching (this might take longer), near Tofino and Uluwet? There may be excursions from Vancouver as well. This is seasonal. Hiking the West Coast Trail is also recommended (I haven't done it). While in Victoria, have tea at the Empress hotel, check out Harpo's for live music. The Royal Theatre is supposed to be nice, too. See the Vancouver Island/Victoria section at the end of this file for more detail on drives, walks, ferries, etc.
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Many of these are suitable for walking or walk/bus combination.
Visit Stanley park, walk, jog or cycle (rentable) around the seawall, and visit the Vancouver Aquarium and one of several fine restaurants in the park. There is a petting zoo and artists have work on display, and do sketches on demand. Short bus trips (10 minutes) take you from downtown core to Stanley Park--buses also go around the park in summertime, with frequent trips, pickup and dropoff at many points so you can walk and ride. Also spend some time at Second Beach.
Go to Grouse Mountain, hike up (difficult) or ride the Skyride for a good view. On the way there or the way back stop at the Capilano suspension bridge. Also, visit Cypress bowl. Lynn Canyon also has a suspension bridge. The Capilano salmon hatchery is near the Capilano suspension bridge and has tours. If you want to turn this into a longer day trip, go north and visit the shores of the Campbell river (good for fishing). Of course, in season you can also do some skiing on Grouse.
Visit the University of British Columbia (4,10,41,25,some 9 buses):
walk some of the surrounding trails,
visit the main botanical gardens and nearby Asian garden. (On the last day of classes, usually the first Friday in April, there is a noon-8 benefit concert in the nearby football stadium with some top-notch Canadian bands. The AMS BBQ, with good local bands, may also be held in the stadium on the first Friday of classes in September. Lollapalooza and the Canada Day Party are often held there too, during the summer (mid-June? and July 1). I think gardens are free on Wednesdays, but maybe not during the tourist season. Free for (UBC?) students.
see the UBC art gallery in the basement of Main library, and an occasional exhibit in the AMS art gallery on the main floor of the SUB building (near bus loop)
stop at the Nitobe Japanese garden for a moment of contemplation. Also see the nearby Asian centre. [The gardens were just renovated and re-opened Apr93 they may be free on Wednesdays. Free for UBC students.]
definitely visit the world class Museum of Anthropology and go behind it for the view. Bill and Boris were here.
drop into the grad centre for refreshments (and usually live music Fridays around 8:00 p.m.). During the spring and summer, service is Koerner's Pub/Patio, open M-F from noon to midnight. This is directly across the road from the Museum of Anthropology, and can be accessed either by walking through the trees or going around the building to the main entrance. During the regular term there should be full service in Thea's. The view is nicer from Thea's (2nd floor) or the Penthouse balcony (third floor) but it gets too hot in the summer. No minors. Near the grad centre, just past the Faculty Club, there is a nice view point, and a beautiful Rose Garden. [However, this has just been uprooted to prepare for installing an underground parking garage. The garden will then be replanted on top.]
on a nice summer day, go to the nearby clothing-optional Wreck beach if you like. Casual environment, vendors selling food, drinks, t-shirts, haircuts, massages, drugs, etc. All types. There is a busy main area, but there are more secluded areas. This has been a nude beach for about 20 years. [The old path through the Place Vanier residences has been blocked off by a fence, so people going to the beach from the bus loop will have to take a more indirect route, to the left or right (near the grad centre) of the residences.]
Also check the Music building for occasional lunchtime or evening recitals, or the Freddy Wood theatre for occasional theatre runs. There are also live rock bands outside SUB most good weather lunchtimes, and live rock bands Thursday night in the Pit Pub in the basement of the SUB. The Gallery Lounge on the main floor of the SUB also has live music Wed.--Sat.
There are free campus tours, starting in the Student Union Building, during the summer, but they probably don't hit all the places I mentioned. The SUB also has several eating and two drinking establishments and a movie theatre.
Visit Queen Elizabeth park, Van Dusen Gardens and the Bloedel conservatory. Minter Gardens and Fantasy Gardens may also be of interest to some. Queen's Park (Burnaby) is also nice. Simon Fraser University (Burnaby mountain) has interesting architecture. Queen Elizabeth park has a good restaurant Seasons in the Park (ask Bill Clinton or Boris Yeltsin--they liked it, [but they brought in the chef from Bishop's]) and possibly the best night-time view of Vancouver from Vancouver-- no need to go up any mountains, just the top of the park.
Visit the main Vancouver Art Gallery, downtown, and a host of smaller art galleries downtown, on Granville Island and South Granville. These are listed in the final issue of the month of the Georgia Straight, since the first Thursday of each month there is a showcase (but many of the shows continue for a while). The other (weekly) Georgia Straight issues have a smaller listing. There is also a new craft gallery attached to the Cathedral Place building, downtown.
Visit Granville Island, sample food from the public market, check the Arts Club Theatres and Waterfront theatre, numerous art galleries, and lots of touristy shops and restaurants. Also tour the Granville Island brewery and get some free samples. The Arts Club Backstage Lounge has a good beer selection, food, and some really good bands on weekend nights, plus a patio for the daytime.
Visit Gastown (near downtown) and check out many touristy shops, several bars and restaurants, and several art galleries. See the famous steam clock. Also, Harbour Centre (nearby, at the SFU downtown campus) has a tower with an observation deck. (But someone recommends going to the restaurant for a coffee instead.)
Visit the Vancouver Museum and Vancouver Maritime Museum and Heritage Harbour, and the nearby Kits beach. For sunsets go to Sunset beach in English bay (downtown) or Wreck beach (at UBC). Vanier Park (at the Museums) hosts kite-flying festivals and a children's festival, and sometimes there is live music there or at Jericho. It is also a good vantage point to view the fireworks festival. The planetarium, which has educational and laser rock shows, is in the same building as the main museum. The Planetarium-Museum also has a good gift shop and is a 10 minute bus ride from downtown. Vanier Park is a great walking park on the water with kite flying, boats, views of the downtown area, etc.
Visit the second largest Chinatown in North America. It is close to Gastown. Check out the restaurants, Chinese bakeries, exotic food stores, and colourful streets. However, it is not far from a seedy area (along Hastings, near and east of Main) that should probably be avoided after dark. The On-On Tea Garden is very good, fast, and reasonably priced. For very good fish and chips, go to the Only, nearby on Hastings, west of Main (closes at 7 p.m.). It also has lots of more expensive seafood, including good oysters. Chinatown has a huge selection of chinese goods, and feels like a small piece of Hong Hong. There are also smaller chinese malls in the suburbs, including the Aberdeen mall in Richmond. There are many chinese movie theatres, herbal shops, and traditional medicine practitioners. On a hot sunny day, take a book to the Dr. SunYatSen gardens in the Chinese Cultural Centre in Chinatown. They also have Tai Chi classes, I think.
Go to Richmond (near the airport) and visit Steveston, eat fish and chips, and walk or cycle along the Richmond dike (I haven't done this). Also do some beachcombing along the White Rock beach.
Visit Science World in the geodesic dome near downtown.
For architecture (Vancouver doesn't have much since it is new), see Hotel Vancouver, Cathedral Place, Science World, SFU campus, the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, the Vancouver Planetarium, the Expo site re-development, the UBC Asian centre, the Hong Kong bank building lobby, Chinatown, the Chinese Cultural centre, the world's narrowest office building, an earthquake resistant building on a pedestal, another suspended from a cable. The Vancouver courthouse/art gallery (downtown, near Robson Square) may also be of interest.
Walk down Robson Street between Granville and Bute any night around 9:00 pm. The place and time to see and be seen, especially for young teens (including gangs), the fashion conscious, flashy sports cars (don't drive, it's a gridlock), boom boxes, buskers. OK if you like that scene.
Other nature stuff: hiking (there is a book called `101 hikes in the Lower Mainland'), diving, windsurfing, ocean kayaking, whale watching, rock climbing, cycling, kite flying in Vanier Park, downhill skiing at Whistler, Blackcomb, Grouse, Seymour, cross-country skiing at Cypress bowl or Manning Park, telemark skiing on backcountry trails,...
Kid's parks, etc: Playland has rides, near the PNE, for much of the summer. There is a Flintstone Bedrock City, a Game Farm, lots of waterslides, and plenty of children's attractions at some of the above-mentioned parks (Stanley, Queen's, Fantasy, etc.).
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(some mentioned already:
south/west side beaches, listed E-->W
Kits Beach --- young neon crowd, beach volleyball, muscle, bodies. |
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