i'm going to be in vancouver from 4th to the 11th of august. just wondering if anyone's got any recommendations on things i shouldnt miss, like nice places i should visit, eateries i should stop by, etc. will be attending the white stripes concert on the 8th. very excited about it. i read something on this forum a long time ago, that hakeem olajuwon spends his summer in vancouver. is there any chance i could meet the greatest NBA center of all time??!
I can't think of the name of the area, but there is a beautiful place to visit near the water. It has hotels and shops around there. I'm sure someone knows where I'm talking about.
I was there in 1972. My brother and I spent some time on Vancouver Island-- ogling large-breasted women in wet T-shirts.
take a ferry from Vancouver to Victoria, its about an hour away and you can also put your car on it...it's a very beautiful place with alot of history. there's also stanley park in vancouver which is very big, very wooded, and very nice. go there...
scenery: STANLEY PARK, white rock beach, kits beach, grouse mountain (take the tram up and hang out), whistler, victoria, any golf course, and probably a bunch more i'm missing. shopping: ROBSON STREET, pacific mall, just wander around that area and hastings (not east hastings unless you wanna hand out sandwiches to homeless drug addicts), ummm...main street, chinatown, yaletown, commercial drive...lots more. entertainment: any theatre, BC Lions (top team in the Canadian Football League this year, unbeaten), Vancouver Canadians (very solid AAA baseball team), Vancouver WhiteCaps (soccer, they beat an English Premier League team last week), concerts (free ones every friday early evening just outside the Fox Building aka "black tower", and of course you're going to the white stripes), Bard on the Beach (if you like shakespeare), MUST SEE THE FIREWORKS (the only day that you can see it during your stay is on the 6th) aka HSBC Celebration of Light...and more. oh, and if you like watersports, then you gotta get on the boat but yeh, there's more at www.tourismvancouver.com , but the above are some of my suggestions...oh, i forgot about food: you gotta check out some of the sushi places, i forget the names, but there's a really good one across from the virgin records store. hell, they're all good. okay...i found this link to help ya out: http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/boritz/food/restmain.html hope you have a good trip - the weather has been beautiful for about 2 weeks now...but before that it wasn't so good - hopefully you catch some sun. oh, and about Hakeem - he did used to come to vancouver in summers, i really don't know if he still does or not - i've seen shaq here one summer (he owns a house in north van -- and canadian musicians walk the streets like anybody else, bump into them all the time -- also, you have a chance of meeting an actor or two, as there's almost always a movie being shot somewhere in the vancouver area.
3814 said it best. Vancouver is a magnificent city. You won't be disappointed. I love Anchorage to death and wouldn't live anywhere else, but if I had to move, Vancouver would be #1 on places to move to. If you've ever been to Portland, it's everything that Portland aspires/claims to be.
Have the Salmon at The Stanley Fish House in Stanley Park (next to the tennis courts) A great choice for Sunday brunch. I believe the little island under the bridge South of Downtown is Granville Island where there are a lot of shops restaurants and micro-breweries. Our boutique hotel was down there. If you roller skate, the track by the water around Stanley Park is great. It's a couple of miles long. Do the ferry to Victoria Island as a day trip. The Buchart Gardens there is one of the most beautiful manmade spots on Earth. The half day drive up to Whistler is quite dramatic. If you play golf at all , stop along the way to play Fuzzy Creek golf course. It just hangs off the side if the mountain. Wayward shots can end up 2 or 3 holes down below. It has some awesome views into a fijord.
wow. i knew i could always count on this board. thanks alot for all the suggestions. i do have a travel book, but nothing beats actual word of mouth from local residents.
I was there last weekend and I agree with everyone that's mentioned Stanely Park as a place you should check out.
Not to mention about walking along the seawall in Stanley Park... it takes about 2.5 hours (without stopping for breaks that is) to walk around the park... each section of the seawall will surely eat away a lot of memory space (if you're using a digital camera)... anyways, refer back to 3814 post...
Continued from my previous message... if you want nightlife, why not stroll along Granville St. in downtown? There are a lot of nightclubs there... Jericho Beach/Spanish Banks, which is close to University of British Columbia, is a must if you want to get a good look at the downtown peninsula and the local life during a hot sunny day. Nowadays I see many cars with license plates from Washington state and Oregon in the parking lot. If you want a local shopping experience in a pedestrian-friendly environment, Kerrisdale (located at the Vancouver's West Side - 41st Ave and West Blvd) is your best bet. If that's too far in your opinion from downtown, be sure to check out Granville Island (accessible via car, transit, or one of the aquabuses that ferry passengers across False Creek) Vancouver has two Chinatowns - one near downtown, which has a lot more history, and another close to the airport in the Richmond Area (No. 3 Rd - Hazelbridge Way)
Oh yes, there is one more thing to mention about... Vancouver is increasingly referred to as the City of Glass due to the presence of many buildings, residential or commercial, that use glass to enhance natural lighting. For more info, please refer to the wonderful book by Douglas Coupland titled, not surprisingly, The City of Glass. In addition to Asian food that is well-renowned, crusines from other parts of the world can also be tasted in Vancouver. Have a nice stay in Vancouver! Hopefully the sunny streak, which is now into its third week, will continue by the time you visit!
go to East Hastings which is the seedy rundown part of the city, populated by vagrants, drug users, thieves, prostitutes and all kinds of lowlife. I felt right at home there.
fba34: promise me 3 things: -you will go to the BC Lions game on friday the 5th, they are unbeaten this year and are playing the 2nd best team in the league, meaning, this is the biggest game of the year so far - they've opened to upper deck and it will be a VERY exciting game. -you will go to the HSBC Celebration of Light on saturday the 6th. -you will walk (or bike or rollerblade) around stanley park.
Granville Island? I visited Vancouver 3 years ago, since my parents are both UBC alums. They say it's changed a hell of a lot since the 70's, but it's still an amazing city with some great natural scenery and lots to see. I'd also recommend taking a ferry over to VI to visit Victoria, which is small but very scenic.
I went on an Alaskan cruise this summer that made its last stop before final debarkation in Victoria, CA and I thought that the city was beautiful. I would seriously consider a vacation to Victoria itself.
