Vancouver

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The seawall path loops around the edge of Stanley Park, which covers about four hundred hectares, Vancouver, Canada

Built in the mid-1980s, the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden was the first garden of its kind outside Asia, Vancouver, Canada

Granville Island Public Market sits on a former industrial peninsula under the Granville Street Bridge, Vancouver, Canada

The Great Hall of the Museum of Anthropology at UBC displays monumental carvings by First Nations artists of the Northwest Coast, Vancouver, Canada

About Vancouver

Vancouver occupies a peninsula between Burrard Inlet and the Fraser River, with the Coast Mountains rising steeply across the harbor. The city is young by global standards, shaped by the railway, the port and successive waves of immigration, especially from Asia, and it pairs a dense, glassy downtown with an unusual amount of shoreline and green space.

The classic first outing is a loop of the seawall around Stanley Park, on foot or by bike, before drifting along Coal Harbour to Canada Place and the cruise terminal. The West End's leafy streets end at the sand of English Bay, a favorite sunset spot. Gastown keeps the brick warehouses and steam clock of the old city, and neighboring Chinatown holds the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, a calm courtyard of rock and water. Small ferries cross False Creek to Granville Island's public market and studios, while Kitsilano Beach and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, with its Northwest Coast carvings, sit farther west. On the North Shore, Capilano Suspension Bridge Park and the free bridge at Lynn Canyon Park lead into tall rainforest.

Outdoor-minded travelers do well here, and transit makes a car unnecessary in the core. Winters are mild but rainy; Whistler and Vancouver Island are popular add-ons.

Best seasonJune through September is the driest, sunniest stretch for the seawall, beaches and mountain trails.

Ideal stayFour days covers downtown, Granville Island, the university area and the North Shore.

ArrivingVancouver International Airport links to downtown by the Canada Line SkyTrain in under half an hour.

WiserMap travel guideVancouver Canada Stanley Park Seawall and Granville IslandExplore Vancouver: the Stanley Park seawall, Granville Island, Gastown, North Shore canyons, the Museum of Anthropology, local food, when to go and how to get a...Read the guide

Your Vancouver Bucket List: 12 Top Picks

Parks 3

Stanley Park and the seawall

Stanley Park covers about 400 hectares of forest, beaches and gardens on the peninsula west of downtown, and is bigger than New Yo...

Lynn Canyon Park

A free alternative to Capilano, Lynn Canyon Park in North Vancouver has its own suspension bridge, built in 1912, swaying about 50...

Queen Elizabeth Park

Sitting on Little Mountain, the highest point within Vancouver city limits, Queen Elizabeth Park was created from an old basalt qu...

Landmarks 1

Canada Place and Coal Harbour

With its five white fabric sails, Canada Place on the downtown waterfront was built as the Canada Pavilion for Expo 86 and now com...

Beaches 2

English Bay and the West End

English Bay Beach curves along the edge of the West End, Vancouver's dense, leafy residential neighborhood of apartment towers and...

Kitsilano Beach

Kits Beach, on the south shore of English Bay, mixes sand, volleyball courts and grassy slopes with one of the best views back acr...

Neighborhoods 3

Gastown

Gastown is where Vancouver began, named after Gassy Jack Deighton, a talkative steamboat captain who opened a saloon here in 1867;...

Chinatown and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

Vancouver's Chinatown is one of the largest in North America, with ornate heritage buildings, bakeries, herbalists and barbecue sh...

Granville Island

Granville Island sits under the Granville Street Bridge on False Creek, a former industrial area of tin-clad warehouses turned int...

Museums 1

Museum of Anthropology at UBC

Set on cliffs at the University of British Columbia, the Museum of Anthropology is famous for its Great Hall, a tall concrete and...

Family 1

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park

This North Vancouver attraction centers on a suspension bridge stretching about 137 meters across, and some 70 meters above, the C...

Viewpoints 1

Grouse Mountain

Rising above North Vancouver, Grouse Mountain is reached by the Skyride aerial tramway, which climbs to a plateau about 1,100 mete...

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