Where Mountains Meet the Pacific Skyline
Vancouver is a coastal city in British Columbia, Canada, set between the Pacific Ocean and the Coast Mountains, known for its natural setting, multicultural food scene and outdoor lifestyle. The city is built on Burrard Inlet and the Fraser River delta, with a skyline of glass towers that often has snow-capped peaks behind it. It hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the waterfront legacy of those Games is still part of everyday life.
Stanley Park is the city's great green lung, with a seawall path of around nine kilometres for walkers and cyclists, totem poles at Brockton Point and forest trails beneath tall cedars. Nearby, English Bay and Kitsilano offer beach evenings and sunsets. In Gastown, cobbled streets and the steam clock are reminders of the city's origins, while Chinatown and Richmond are rich in Asian cooking. Travellers often add Whistler or Vancouver Island to make a longer west-coast holiday.
Granville Island, Capilano and Pacific Flavours
Granville Island Public Market, reached by a short ferry from downtown, is the place to taste local salmon, oysters, artisan bread and seasonal produce, and its studios and theatres add creative energy. The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia holds a major collection of Northwest Coast Indigenous art, and the Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain provide forest and mountain views in the North Shore hills.
Seafood sits at the centre of the dining scene, with sushi, West Coast salmon and Dungeness crab in many restaurants. Seaplanes lift off from the harbour for scenic flights to Victoria and the Gulf Islands, and cruise ships depart Canada Place for the Alaska season. For a airline, the city is a natural gateway to the Pacific, with a strong link to Washington State and Hawaii.
Read the full Vancouver guide on Visit Travel Group, or see VisitVancouver.co.uk on Visit Travel Group.