One of the most beautiful places in the world, when the sun comes out (Sights & Attractions in Vancouver in general)

Member Name: robqueen

Product:	Sights & Attractions in Vancouver in general
Date:	06/06/01 (91 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful scenery, friendly locals, few bad areas

Disadvantages: Weather is unreliable

Like the title says, Vancouver is set in some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. To the west, there's English Bay, which leads to Vancouver Island, which leads to the Pacific Ocean. To the north are the North Shore mountains and the Coastal Range, some of which are snow-covered even at the height of summer. To the east are the Cascades. To the south, the scenery is less spectacular, but is nonetheless green and pleasant. All this is invisible when it's raining (which it does as much as in England), but when the sun comes out, my god, you're in for a treat!

And what of the city itself?

Well, for me the best thing about Vancouver is the sheer amount of land given over to parks. In the centre is Stanley Park (where, incidentally, I had my wedding nearly 2 years ago, so I'm biased). This consists of a peninsula, stretching out towards the Lions Gate Bridge, which takes you into North Vancouver. The park consists mostly of woodlands, with a road which takes you all the way around the park. There is also a footpath, which makes for an extremely pleasant walk / cycle / rollerblade. It's 10 miles long, and goes mostly down by the water, but also takes in some of the woodlands.

Stanley park is one of the best parks in the 'lower mainland' (as the area around Vancouver is known), but it's by no means the only one worth visiting. Around 6 miles from downtown Vancouver is Burnaby Mountain. The name is misleading because it's not a mountain and it's not in Burnaby, but we'll forgive them. It is a hill which you can drive almost to the top of. Up there, you get magnificent views of the city, of the inlet, and of the mountains all around. Absolutely stunning. And at times, it can be cloudy and miserable in town, but beautiful and sunny up there. To get there from downtown, get on Hastings St and keep going east until you see the signs for Simon Fraser University. The University is at the top of
the 'mountain', but there's a public parking area up there too.

Another area well worth visiting is the area around the University of British Columbia. This is in the western corner of Vancouver, and includes woodlands, beaches and pretty residential areas. Great for walking.

For the more shopping-minded people, upscale shops can be found in the Kitsilano district. Bargains and curios are on sale at Granville Island. And for those who just want to take advantage of the relative cheapness of Canadian shopping, thanks to the relatively weak Canadian $, the best places are Metrotown (easily reachable by Skytrain, which is the local metro service), or the downtown area. Clothes are cheap and generally good quality, and CDs can be as cheap as £5.

Vancouver's not noted for it's nightlife, particularly since relatively few people live downtown, but there are plenty of good bars dotted around. For a more lively night out, it's probably best to head for Kitsilano.

For eating out, you're spoilt for choice. Thanks to Vancouver's ethnic diversity, there's no shortage of great Indian, Chinese, Japanese, etc, etc restaurants. The best ones tend to be away from downtown. One of the great things about Vancouver is that there are very few bad areas, so you can feel free to get out and explore the neighbourhoods to find good places to eat, or just to have a wander round.

Having said that, there are a couple of places that it's best to stay away from. Chinatown has a reputation for being unsafe after dark, and Metrotown can be a magnet for youth gangs in the evenings, especially around the Skytrain station. The area around Hastings and Main is also best avoided, being a junky's paradise. In general, though, if an area doesn't look dangerous, then it probably isn't.

In all, I'd certainly recommend a visit to Vancouver, and it can be used as a base to visit plenty of other w
orthwhile places - Whistler, the Cascades, Vancouver Island, Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula, to name a few. Just don't complain if it rains all the time!

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