---
title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Vancouver, Canada | Wimup"
description: "The 10 best things to do in Vancouver, plus the restaurants, breweries, beaches and North Shore trails worth your time. Mapped, ranked and fact-checked."
url: https://wimup.com/city/vancouver
type: City guide
updated: 2026-10-21
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Top 10 Things To Do in Vancouver

Vancouver, Canada · North America · By Wimup Editorial, 15 min read

Vancouver is a young city in an old landscape. It was incorporated in 1886, burned to the ground ten weeks later and was rebuilt inside a year, which is why almost nothing downtown predates the 1890s while the forest at the end of the peninsula predates the country. The geography does the work.

## Quick answer

Give the first day to Stanley Park: rent a bike, ride the seawall, and finish at English Bay for the sunset. Day two is Granville Island in the morning and the Museum of Anthropology in the afternoon. Day three belongs to the North Shore, twenty minutes over the bridge. Eat in Chinatown and on Main Street rather than downtown.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
- **Ideal length:** 4 days
- **Budget per day:** C$185–330
- **Language:** English
- **Getting around:** SkyTrain, buses, seawall on foot or bike
- **Tourism board:** [Official site](https://www.destinationvancouver.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## The 10 best things to do in Vancouver

### 1. Stanley Park and the seawall

Park · Stanley Park Drive, West End

Four hundred hectares of coastal rainforest at the end of the downtown peninsula, opened as a park in 1888 and still mostly forest rather than lawn. The seawall loop runs roughly nine kilometres and is flat the whole way. The nine poles at Brockton Point are the most visited site in British Columbia.

- **Time:** Half a day
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Early morning, before the cruise crowds
- **Tip:** Wheels go counter-clockwise only on the seawall. Rent at the Denman and Georgia corner and you are pointed the right way.

Links: [Website](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/stanley-park.aspx?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 2. Granville Island Public Market

Market · 1669 Johnston St, Granville Island

An industrial sandbar under the bridge, rebuilt in the 1970s as a market and workshop district and now the most reliable eating in the city: fishmongers with spot prawns in season, a wall of BC produce, and a food hall to eat over the water.

- **Time:** 2 to 3 hours
- **Cost:** Free to enter
- **Best at:** Weekday mornings
- **Tip:** Arrive by Aquabus or False Creek Ferries from the foot of Hornby Street. Driving on is the worst part of the island.

Links: [Website](https://granvilleisland.com/public-market?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 3. Museum of Anthropology at UBC

Museum · 6393 NW Marine Dr, University of British Columbia

Arthur Erickson's 1976 concrete-and-glass building steps down toward the water, and the Great Hall holds house posts and totem poles at the scale they were carved for. Northwest Coast first and global second, with Bill Reid's The Raven and the First Men in its own rotunda.

- **Time:** 2 to 3 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** Thursday evenings, when it stays open late
- **Tip:** It closes Mondays through the winter season. Check the hours before crossing town, and give the Multiversity Galleries in the back half an hour of their own.

Links: [Website](https://moa.ubc.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 4. Capilano Suspension Bridge Park

Landmark · 3735 Capilano Rd, North Vancouver

A 140-metre span hanging 70 metres above the river, first strung in hemp and cedar in 1889. The bridge takes two minutes to cross; what fills an afternoon is the treetop walkway and the cliffwalk cantilevered off the granite. The most commercial attraction here, and still worth doing once.

- **Time:** 2 to 3 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed, and the highest admission in the city
- **Best at:** The opening hour
- **Tip:** A free shuttle runs from Canada Place downtown. If the price puts you off, Lynn Canyon has a suspension bridge of its own and charges nothing.

Links: [Website](https://www.capbridge.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 5. Grouse Mountain

Mountain · 6400 Nancy Greene Way, North Vancouver

The gondola climbs a mile up the North Shore in ten minutes and puts the whole delta, the Gulf Islands and the city at your feet. A lumberjack show, a grizzly refuge, and in winter a working ski hill twenty minutes from downtown. Underneath runs the Grind, which the city treats as a fitness test.

- **Time:** Half a day
- **Cost:** Ticketed, and the Grind is free to climb
- **Best at:** A clear evening, for the lights
- **Tip:** The Grind goes up only, and you still pay for the gondola down. Check the summit webcam before you commit: the peak is in cloud more often than the city is.

Links: [Website](https://www.grousemountain.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 6. Gastown and the steam clock

Neighbourhood · Water St, Gastown

The original townsite, named for a saloon keeper who opened here in 1867 for the mill workers across the inlet. Cast-iron lamps, cobbles and Victorian warehouses. The steam clock is the photograph everyone takes and the youngest thing on the street, built in 1977 over a vent of the steam-heat system.

- **Time:** 1 to 2 hours
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Late afternoon, before dinner
- **Tip:** The clock is a 1977 piece of public art, not a Victorian relic. The warehouses around it are the real history.

Links: [Website](https://gastown.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 7. Vancouver Art Gallery

Gallery · 750 Hornby St, Downtown

Housed in the old provincial courthouse, whose front steps double as the city's protest ground. The reason to come is Emily Carr: the gallery holds the largest collection of her work anywhere, and the forest paintings read differently after a morning in Stanley Park.

- **Time:** 2 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed, and free on the first Friday evening of the month
- **Best at:** Friday evening
- **Tip:** The Free First Friday Nights run from 4pm to 8pm and are busy. Go at four rather than seven.

Links: [Website](https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 8. Science World

Museum · 1455 Quebec St, False Creek

The silver geodesic dome at the head of False Creek is the one building everyone can name, built for Expo 86 and reopened as a science centre on 6 May 1989. Five floors of hands-on galleries aimed squarely at children, an OMNIMAX theatre inside the dome itself, and a plaza outside with the best straight-on view of the downtown skyline across the water.

- **Time:** 2 to 3 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** Weekday afternoons, once the school groups leave
- **Tip:** Even if you skip the galleries, walk the seawall to the plaza at dusk. The dome lights up and the skyline sits behind it.

Links: [Website](https://www.scienceworld.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 9. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

Garden · 578 Carrall St, Chinatown

The first full-size classical Chinese garden built outside China, put up in the mid-1980s by artisans from Suzhou working in Ming methods, with no nails or power tools. It is small on purpose, and it is the calmest half hour in the city.

- **Time:** 1 hour
- **Cost:** Ticketed, with a free public park next door
- **Best at:** Weekday mornings
- **Tip:** The ticketed garden and the free park beside it are two different places. Take the included guided tour, which is what makes the ticket worth it.

Links: [Website](https://vancouverchinesegarden.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 10. Queen Elizabeth Park and the Bloedel Conservatory

Park · W 33rd Ave at Cambie St, Riley Park

The highest ground in the city, a pair of worked-out basalt quarries replanted as sunken gardens, with the skyline and the North Shore mountains lined up behind them. On the summit sits the Bloedel Conservatory, a triodetic dome holding tropical plants and about 120 free-flying birds, which is the one indoor thing to do here on a wet January afternoon.

- **Time:** 1 to 2 hours
- **Cost:** Park free, conservatory ticketed
- **Best at:** Sunset
- **Tip:** The view is from the plaza by Henry Moore’s Knife Edge Two Piece, not from the quarry gardens below it.

Links: [Website](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/bloedel-conservatory.aspx?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best restaurants in Vancouver

The dining rooms the rest of the country flies in for, and the counters three generations of migration built.

1. **Vij’s** (Indian · 3106 Cambie St · Cambie Village): The room where Indian cooking in Canada stopped being a buffet and started being a restaurant. Indian technique on British Columbian ingredients rather than a recreation. [Website](https://www.vijs.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Tojo’s** (Japanese · 1133 W Broadway · Fairview): Hidekazu Tojo has been behind this bar since 1988 and is the chef who claims, with a good case, to have invented the California roll. Sit at the counter. [Website](https://tojos.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **St. Lawrence** (Québécois · 269 Powell St · Railtown): A Québécois dining room done as a Montreal bistro of the 1940s, in a Railtown block that looks like nothing from the street. Book well ahead. [Website](https://www.stlawrencerestaurant.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Kissa Tanto** (Japanese-Italian · 263 E Pender St · Chinatown): Japanese-Italian on the top floor of a Chinatown walk-up, styled as a 1960s Tokyo jazz cafe and one of the highest-ranked rooms in the country. [Website](https://www.kissatanto.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Published on Main** (Contemporary · 3593 Main St · Mount Pleasant): The tasting-menu restaurant that put Mount Pleasant on the national list, cooking British Columbian produce with a very light hand. [Website](https://publishedonmain.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Osteria Savio Volpe** (Italian · 615 Kingsway · Fraser): A wood-fire osteria on Kingsway with hand-rolled pasta and spit-roasted meat, in a room loud enough that nobody minds children in it. [Website](https://www.saviovolpe.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Anh and Chi** (Vietnamese · 3388 Main St · Main Street): The Nguyen family's second-generation Vietnamese room on Main Street. The menu explains regional differences properly, and the shaking beef is worth the wait. [Website](https://anhandchi.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
8. **Phnom Penh** (Cambodian · 244 E Georgia St · Chinatown): A Chinatown institution run by a Cambodian-Chinese family. Order the butter beef and the fried chicken wings, which the city argues about in absolute terms. [Website](https://www.phnompenhrestaurant.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
9. **Miku** (Japanese · 200 Granville St · Waterfront): The room that introduced aburi sushi to Vancouver in 2008. Waterfront tables look out at Canada Place and the North Shore. [Website](https://mikurestaurant.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
10. **Ask for Luigi** (Italian · 305 Alexander St · Railtown): Thirty-odd seats in a Railtown clapboard house, pasta made that morning, and a queue on the pavement most nights. Lunch is the civilised way in. [Website](https://www.askforluigi.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best outdoors & beaches in Vancouver

Nine city beaches, a rainforest across the bridge, and the trail the city uses as a fitness test.

1. **Kitsilano Beach** (Beach · Cornwall Ave at Arbutus St · Kitsilano): The city's social beach, looking back at downtown with the mountains behind. The saltwater pool beside it is the longest outdoor pool in the country. [Website](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/kitsilano-beach.aspx?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **English Bay Beach** (Beach · Beach Ave at Denman St · West End): Downtown's own beach, three minutes from Denman Street and the best sunset in the city. The fourteen oversized bronze figures stand behind it. [Website](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/english-bay-beach.aspx?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Lynn Canyon Park** (Park · 3690 Park Rd, North Vancouver · North Vancouver): Two hundred and fifty hectares of North Shore rainforest with a suspension bridge from 1912, waterfalls and swimming holes. All of it free. [Website](https://lynncanyon.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Spanish Banks** (Beach · NW Marine Dr · West Point Grey): The furthest west of the city beaches, with a tidal flat that walks out several hundred metres. Quieter than Kits and better for a fire-pit evening. [Website](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/spanish-bank-beaches.aspx?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Pacific Spirit Regional Park** (Forest · W 16th Ave at Blanca St · University Endowment Lands): The 874-hectare forest that separates UBC from the rest of the city, with 73 kilometres of trail. Ten minutes from the museum and usually empty. [Website](https://metrovancouver.org/services/regional-parks/pacific-spirit?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Deep Cove and Quarry Rock** (Village and hike · Deep Cove, North Vancouver · North Vancouver): A village on Indian Arm with rental kayaks, a donut shop people queue for and a short steep climb to a lookout. Check the trail is open before driving out. [Website](https://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/quarry-rock/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **The Grouse Grind** (Trail · Nancy Greene Way, North Vancouver · North Vancouver): Two point nine kilometres and 853 metres of climbing, almost all of it stairs. Uphill only, and the gondola down is a separate ticket. [Website](https://www.grousemountain.com/grousegrind?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
8. **Jericho Beach** (Beach · 3941 Point Grey Rd · Jericho): Grass, driftwood and a sailing centre, with the smallest crowd of the westside beaches and the best angle on the freighters in English Bay. [Website](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/jericho-beach-park.aspx?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best breweries & bars in Vancouver

Mount Pleasant made this a brewery city. Chinatown and Gastown handle the cocktails.

1. **Brassneck Brewery** (Brewery · 2148 Main St · Mount Pleasant): A small Main Street tasting room with a chalkboard that changes weekly and no television anywhere. Order a taster flight and let the bar tell you what is on. [Website](https://brassneck.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **33 Acres Brewing Company** (Brewery · 15 W 8th Ave · Mount Pleasant): White walls, plants and a brunch menu, which is the Mount Pleasant house style taken to its conclusion. The lagers are the reason to sit down. [Website](https://33acresbrewing.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Parallel 49 Brewing** (Brewery · 1950 Triumph St · Hastings-Sunrise): The biggest of the east-side breweries, with a canteen, a patio and a rotating list long enough to make a decision difficult. [Website](https://parallel49brewing.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **The Keefer Bar** (Cocktails · 135 Keefer St · Chinatown): An apothecary-styled cocktail bar in Chinatown, working with Chinese herbs and bitters, and on the continent's best-bar lists for over a decade. [Website](https://thekeeferbar.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Steamworks Brew Pub** (Brewpub · 375 Water St · Gastown): Gastown's brewpub since 1995, and it takes its name literally: the kettles are fired by the same steam line that runs the clock two blocks away. [Website](https://steamworks.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **The Diamond** (Cocktails · 6 Powell St · Gastown): Up an unmarked staircase on Maple Tree Square, with tall windows over the oldest corner in the city and a list that has held its standard since 2009. [Website](https://di6mond.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best museums & galleries in Vancouver

Beyond the Museum of Anthropology: photography, neon signs, a police schooner and a blue whale.

1. **Museum of Vancouver** (City museum · 1100 Chestnut St · Vanier Park): The city's own museum, strongest on the twentieth century: the neon sign collection, and a clear-eyed account of how the city was built and on whose land. [Website](https://museumofvancouver.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art** (Gallery · 639 Hornby St · Downtown): A small downtown gallery devoted to the Haida artist and to contemporary Northwest Coast work. The best introduction to the art you then see everywhere. [Website](https://www.billreidgallery.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **The Polygon Gallery** (Gallery · 101 Carrie Cates Ct, North Vancouver · Lower Lonsdale): A photography and contemporary art gallery in a mirrored shed on the North Vancouver waterfront. The upper gallery looks back at the skyline. [Website](https://thepolygon.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Vancouver Maritime Museum** (Museum · 1905 Ogden Ave · Vanier Park): Built around the RCMP schooner that was the first vessel to cross the Northwest Passage west to east, now sitting indoors under an A-frame. [Website](https://vanmaritime.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Beaty Biodiversity Museum** (Museum · 2212 Main Mall, UBC · University of British Columbia): Two million specimens under the UBC campus, and a 26-metre blue whale skeleton in the glass lobby, the largest on display in Canada. [Website](https://beatymuseum.ubc.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **H.R. MacMillan Space Centre** (Science centre · 1100 Chestnut St · Vanier Park): Planetarium shows, an observatory and a hands-on gallery. Aimed at families, and the one indoor plan that survives a wet afternoon in Kitsilano. [Website](https://www.spacecentre.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Contemporary Art Gallery** (Gallery · 555 Nelson St · Yaletown): A public non-collecting gallery showing new commissions from Canadian and international artists, free to enter and usually the sharpest programme downtown. [Website](https://cagvancouver.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best neighborhoods in Vancouver

Six districts that each answer a different question about the city.

1. **Gastown** (Historic core · Water St and Maple Tree Square · Downtown): Cobbles, cast-iron lamps and Victorian warehouses on the site of the original settlement. The blocks east of Carrall run into the Downtown Eastside. [Website](https://gastown.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Chinatown** (Historic quarter · Pender St and Keefer St · Chinatown): One of the oldest and largest in North America, with the Millennium Gate, the Sun Yat-Sen garden and herbalists. Worth walking while it is still itself. [Website](https://www.vancouver-chinatown.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Mount Pleasant and Main Street** (Independent shops and breweries · Main St from 2nd to 30th · Mount Pleasant): Breweries, vintage shops and the best mid-priced eating in the city. If you have one evening away from downtown, spend it here.
4. **Commercial Drive** (High street · Commercial Dr from Venables to 12th · Grandview-Woodland): The old Italian quarter, still full of espresso bars, now layered with Ethiopian and Vietnamese kitchens. The least polished street in the city.
5. **Kitsilano** (Beach neighbourhood · W 4th Ave and Cornwall Ave · Kitsilano): Vancouver's counter-culture neighbourhood in the 1960s, where Greenpeace was founded, now a beach suburb of yoga studios and heritage houses.
6. **The West End and Davie Village** (Residential downtown · Davie St and Denman St · West End): Dense, leafy and walkable between Stanley Park and English Bay, with the country's best-known gay village along Davie Street.

## Best day trips in Vancouver

The Sea to Sky Highway north, the ferries west, the Fraser Valley east.

1. **Whistler** (Resort town · 135 km north on Highway 99 · Sea to Sky): A hundred and thirty-five kilometres up the Sea to Sky Highway. Two mountains joined by a gondola, and enough in summer to justify the drive out of ski season. [Website](https://www.whistler.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Sea to Sky Gondola, Squamish** (Gondola · 36800 Highway 99, Squamish · Squamish): Under an hour from the city and the best value on this list: a gondola to a platform above Howe Sound, with granite opposite and trails at the top. [Website](https://www.seatoskygondola.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Victoria** (Ferry and city · Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay · Vancouver Island): The provincial capital on Vancouver Island, reached by a ferry crossing through the Gulf Islands. A long day trip and a better overnight. [Website](https://www.bcferries.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Steveston** (Fishing village · Steveston, Richmond · Richmond): A working fishing village at the mouth of the Fraser. Buy salmon off the boats, then tour the cannery, built in 1894 and now a National Historic Site. [Website](https://gulfofgeorgiacannery.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Bowen Island** (Island · Horseshoe Bay to Snug Cove · Howe Sound): A twenty-minute ferry from Horseshoe Bay, walk-on and hourly. A pub, a bookshop and a lake trail in an afternoon, with no car needed. [Website](https://www.tourismbowenisland.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Fort Langley** (Historic site · Fort Langley, Township of Langley · Fraser Valley): The Hudson's Bay post where British Columbia was proclaimed in 1858, now a Parks Canada site with palisades and gold-panning. An hour east. [Website](https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/bc/langley?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best markets & shopping in Vancouver

Beyond Granville Island: a quay market, a vintage strip and two summer night markets.

1. **Lonsdale Quay Market** (Public market · 123 Carrie Cates Ct, North Vancouver · Lower Lonsdale): A two-floor public market at the North Vancouver SeaBus terminal, with the harbour out the windows. The crossing is half the reason to go. [Website](https://lonsdalequay.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Main Street** (Shopping street · Main St from Broadway to 30th Ave · Mount Pleasant): The independent shopping strip: vintage clothing, record shops and bookshops. Nothing here is a chain and most of it opens late morning.
3. **Robson Street** (Shopping street · Robson St, Downtown · Downtown): Downtown's flagship strip between Burrard and Denman, with a heavy Japanese and Korean presence in the food. Useful rather than characterful.
4. **Richmond Night Market** (Night market · 8351 River Rd, Richmond · Richmond): Several hundred stalls of street food on a lot beside Bridgeport station, weekend evenings from late April. Take the Canada Line. [Website](https://richmondnightmarket.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Shipyards Night Market** (Night market · Shipbuilders’ Square, North Vancouver · Lower Lonsdale): Friday evenings through the summer by the Lonsdale Quay terminal: food trucks, makers and live music on the old shipyard apron. Free. [Website](https://shipyardsdistrict.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Festivals & annual events in Vancouver

- **Dine Out Vancouver Festival** (January): Canada's largest restaurant festival, three weeks from late January, with prix-fixe menus across hundreds of restaurants.
- **Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival** (March to April): The city has tens of thousands of ornamental cherry trees, and for three weeks from late March the festival hangs events off them.
- **Vancouver International Jazz Festival** (June to July): Ten days and hundreds of performances from mid-June, with a large free programme at Granville Island and the downtown plazas.
- **Bard on the Beach** (June to September): Shakespeare in tents in Vanier Park with the mountains behind the open back of the stage, running all summer since 1990.
- **Vancouver Pride** (Late July to August): A week of events ending in the parade down Robson and Denman to the Sunset Beach festival site.
- **PNE Fair** (August to September): The Pacific National Exhibition at Hastings Park, running since 1910: agricultural shows, a 1958 roller coaster and concerts.
- **Vancouver International Film Festival** (October): Eleven days of features and documentaries in early October, with a long-standing focus on Canadian and East Asian work.
- **Vancouver Christmas Market** (November to December): A German-style market beside the Convention Centre from mid-November, with wooden huts, mulled wine and a carousel.

## Must-try dishes in Vancouver, Canada

- **BC spot prawns**: A fixed point in the calendar: the fishery opens in early May and runs six to eight weeks.
- **Wild Pacific salmon**: Sockeye, spring and coho, grilled on a cedar plank or smoked. Candied salmon is the version to take home.
- **Aburi oshi sushi**: Pressed rectangular sushi finished with a blowtorch, introduced here in 2008 and now on menus across the city.
- **Japadog**: A hot dog with Japanese dressings: nori, bonito, teriyaki, daikon.
- **Cantonese dim sum**: Some of the best outside Hong Kong, and mostly not downtown. Order the har gow to judge the kitchen.
- **Dungeness crab**: Pulled from the tanks live in Chinatown and Richmond and cooked ginger-and-scallion or salt-and-pepper.
- **The California roll**: An inside-out roll with the seaweed hidden, invented here for customers who would not eat nori or raw fish.
- **Nanaimo bar**: British Columbia's contribution to dessert: a crumb-and-coconut base, yellow custard, chocolate on top.

## Vancouver transport & airports

- **Vancouver International Airport (YVR)** (YVR): Twelve kilometres south of downtown, and consistently rated among the best airports in North America. The Canada Line runs from both terminals to Waterfront station in about 26 minutes. [Website](https://www.yvr.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **SkyTrain, buses and the SeaBus** (TransLink): Three driverless SkyTrain lines, a dense bus network, and the SeaBus across Burrard Inlet in twelve minutes. Fares are zone-based on a Compass card, and single-zone at weekends. [Website](https://www.translink.ca/transit-fares?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Pacific Central Station** (Rail): The 1919 neoclassical terminus next to Main Street-Science World SkyTrain. VIA Rail leaves here for Toronto, Amtrak runs south to Seattle, and the coaches use the same building. [Website](https://www.viarail.ca/en/explore-our-destinations/stations/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Walking, bikes and the little ferries** (Bikes): Downtown is small enough to cross on foot in half an hour, and the seawall network makes cycling the fastest way along the water. Small boats run between Granville Island, Yaletown and Hornby Street. [Website](https://www.mobibikes.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Vancouver at a glance

- **Country:** Canada
- **Region:** British Columbia · Metro Vancouver
- **Population:** 662,248 in the city (2021 census) · about 2.64M in the metropolitan area
- **Founded:** Incorporated 6 April 1886, on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations
- **Nickname:** Terminal City · Raincouver · Hollywood North
- **Language:** English · Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi widely spoken
- **Currency:** Canadian dollar (CAD)
- **Time zone:** UTC-8 · UTC-7 from March to November
- **Calling code:** +1 604 and 778
- **Airports:** YVR
- **Power:** 120V · Type A & B
- **Emergency:** 911 police, ambulance and fire

## Interesting facts

- The Great Vancouver Fire destroyed the city in June 1886, ten weeks after it was incorporated. Rebuilding began within days.
- A freeway through downtown was defeated in the late 1960s, and Vancouver is the only major North American city with none into its centre.
- Two things outlived Expo 86: the geodesic dome that became Science World, and the SkyTrain line built to carry visitors.
- Vancouver is the third-largest film and television production centre in North America, which is where Hollywood North comes from.
- The Lions Gate Bridge was privately financed by the Guinness family to open their land in West Vancouver, and opened in 1938.

## Watch

[Vancouver Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/vancouver.md), 8:42

## Vancouver travel FAQ

### How many days do you need in Vancouver?

Four. One for Stanley Park and the downtown peninsula, one for Granville Island and the Museum of Anthropology, one for the North Shore mountains and bridges, and a fourth for Squamish or Whistler up the Sea to Sky Highway. Three works if you drop the day trip.

### What is the best time of year to visit Vancouver?

July and August are the warmest and driest months, with highs around 22°C and the festival calendar at full stretch. June and September are nearly as good with fewer people. November through January is the wet, dark end of the year: expect rain most days and short afternoons.

### Do you need a car in Vancouver?

Not for the city. SkyTrain, buses and the seawall cover downtown, the west side and Richmond, and downtown parking is expensive. A car helps on the North Shore and is close to essential for Squamish, Whistler or the Fraser Valley, though coaches run to Whistler and buses reach Grouse Mountain and Lynn Canyon.

### Is the Capilano Suspension Bridge worth the money?

Once, if you want the Treetops walkway and the Cliffwalk as well as the bridge, and it is the most expensive attraction in the region. If you only want a suspension bridge in a rainforest, Lynn Canyon has one 50 metres above its creek and charges nothing.

### How do you get from Vancouver airport to downtown?

The Canada Line SkyTrain, from stations at both terminals to Waterfront in about 26 minutes. A YVR AddFare is charged on top of the normal fare for journeys starting at the airport, which does not apply on the way back out. Taxis and rideshare work from the arrivals level and take longer in traffic.

## Nearby guides

- [Whistler](https://wimup.com/city/whistler.md): Day trip · 10 picks
- [Kelowna](https://wimup.com/city/kelowna.md): Canada · 10 picks
- [San Francisco](https://wimup.com/city/san-francisco.md): United States · 10 picks
- [All of North America →](https://wimup.com/north-america): 38 cities

Part of the [Canada guide](https://wimup.com/country/canada.md) · [North America](https://wimup.com/north-america.md)

## Sources

- [Vancouver tourism board](https://www.destinationvancouver.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Stanley Park and the seawall (official site)](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/stanley-park.aspx?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Granville Island Public Market (official site)](https://granvilleisland.com/public-market?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Museum of Anthropology at UBC (official site)](https://moa.ubc.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Capilano Suspension Bridge Park (official site)](https://www.capbridge.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Grouse Mountain (official site)](https://www.grousemountain.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Gastown and the steam clock (official site)](https://gastown.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Vancouver Art Gallery (official site)](https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Science World (official site)](https://www.scienceworld.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden (official site)](https://vancouverchinesegarden.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Queen Elizabeth Park and the Bloedel Conservatory (official site)](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/bloedel-conservatory.aspx?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Vij’s (official site)](https://www.vijs.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Tojo’s (official site)](https://tojos.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [St. Lawrence (official site)](https://www.stlawrencerestaurant.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Kissa Tanto (official site)](https://www.kissatanto.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Published on Main (official site)](https://publishedonmain.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Osteria Savio Volpe (official site)](https://www.saviovolpe.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Anh and Chi (official site)](https://anhandchi.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Phnom Penh (official site)](https://www.phnompenhrestaurant.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Miku (official site)](https://mikurestaurant.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Ask for Luigi (official site)](https://www.askforluigi.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Kitsilano Beach (official site)](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/kitsilano-beach.aspx?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [English Bay Beach (official site)](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/english-bay-beach.aspx?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Lynn Canyon Park (official site)](https://lynncanyon.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Spanish Banks (official site)](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/spanish-bank-beaches.aspx?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Pacific Spirit Regional Park (official site)](https://metrovancouver.org/services/regional-parks/pacific-spirit?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Deep Cove and Quarry Rock (official site)](https://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/quarry-rock/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [The Grouse Grind (official site)](https://www.grousemountain.com/grousegrind?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Jericho Beach (official site)](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/jericho-beach-park.aspx?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Brassneck Brewery (official site)](https://brassneck.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [33 Acres Brewing Company (official site)](https://33acresbrewing.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Parallel 49 Brewing (official site)](https://parallel49brewing.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [The Keefer Bar (official site)](https://thekeeferbar.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Steamworks Brew Pub (official site)](https://steamworks.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [The Diamond (official site)](https://di6mond.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Museum of Vancouver (official site)](https://museumofvancouver.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art (official site)](https://www.billreidgallery.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [The Polygon Gallery (official site)](https://thepolygon.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Vancouver Maritime Museum (official site)](https://vanmaritime.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Beaty Biodiversity Museum (official site)](https://beatymuseum.ubc.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [H.R. MacMillan Space Centre (official site)](https://www.spacecentre.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Contemporary Art Gallery (official site)](https://cagvancouver.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Chinatown (official site)](https://www.vancouver-chinatown.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Whistler (official site)](https://www.whistler.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Sea to Sky Gondola, Squamish (official site)](https://www.seatoskygondola.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Victoria (official site)](https://www.bcferries.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Steveston (official site)](https://gulfofgeorgiacannery.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Bowen Island (official site)](https://www.tourismbowenisland.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Fort Langley (official site)](https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/bc/langley?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Lonsdale Quay Market (official site)](https://lonsdalequay.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Richmond Night Market (official site)](https://richmondnightmarket.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Shipyards Night Market (official site)](https://shipyardsdistrict.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Vancouver International Airport (YVR) (official site)](https://www.yvr.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [SkyTrain, buses and the SeaBus (official site)](https://www.translink.ca/transit-fares?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Pacific Central Station (official site)](https://www.viarail.ca/en/explore-our-destinations/stations/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Walking, bikes and the little ferries (official site)](https://www.mobibikes.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.