Vancouver is not a city which offers
or requires lots of relentless
sightseeing. Its breathtaking
physical beauty makes it a place
where often it's enough just to
wander and watch the world go by -
"the sort of town", wrote
Jan Morris, "nearly everyone
would want to live in." In
summer you'll probably end up doing
what the locals do, if not actually
sailing, hiking, skiing, fishing or
whatever, then certainly going to
the beach, lounging in one of the
parks or spending time in waterfront
cafes.
In addition to the myriad leisure
activities, however, there are a
handful of sights that make
worthwhile viewing by any standards.
You'll inevitably spend a good deal
of time in the downtown area
and its Victorian-era equivalent, Gastown
, now a renovated and less than
convincing pastiche of its past. Chinatown
, too, could easily absorb a
morning, and contains more than its
share of interesting shops,
restaurants and rumbustiously busy
streets. For a taste of the city's
sensual side, hit Stanley Park
, a huge area of semi-wild parkland
and beaches that crowns the northern
tip of the downtown peninsula. Take
a walk or a bike ride here and
follow it up with a stroll to the beach
. Be certain to spend a morning on Granville
Island , by far the city's most
tempting spot for wandering and
people-watching. If you prefer a
cultural slant on things, hit the
formidable Museum of Anthropology
or the museums of the Vanier Park
complex, the latter easily
accessible from Granville Island.
At a push, you could cram the
city's essentials into a couple of
days. If you're here for a longer
stay, though, you'll want to venture
further out from downtown: trips
across Burrard Inlet to North
Vancouver, worth making for the
views from the SeaBus ferry alone,
lend a different panoramic
perspective of the city, and lead
into the mountains and forests that
give Vancouver its tremendous
setting. The most popular trips here
are to the Capilano Suspension
Bridge, something of a triumph of PR
over substance, and to the more
worthwhile cable-car trip up Grouse
Mountain for some staggering
views of the city.
