Sebastian White :: Vancouver, Canada's Beguiling Pacific Paradise

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Vancouver: Canada's Pacific Paradise

The Sunday Spectator | July 2006
By Sebastian White

VANCOUVER—"They say that heaven on Earth can be found in British Columbia," my friend James says to me as we stand in the early evening calm, watching the sun dip over Vancouver's glassy skyline and disappear into the Pacific.

In that quiet moment, with the futuristic cityscape aglow and the mountains and urban rainforest as a backdrop, I believe him. Then again, I've been going to Vancouver for years, and the allure of the place never dims.

Like most visitors to Vancouver, my love affair with the city began the instant I laid eyes on the place. That first glimpse, framed beneath the banking wingtip of an Air Canada jet, made it clear why this Pacific Rim paradise has become one of the world's most desirable cities. As I strained to poke my head into a pinhole window as we swooped into the city from the east, over the finger lakes and mountains that edge the city limits, I remember feeling as if I’d finally been let in on a well-kept secret.

Despite its dual blessings of a mild year-round climate and stunning topography, visitors from the U.S. Northeast rarely venture this far west—never mind that New York is actually closer to Vancouver than to California. That will surely change come 2010, when the city hosts the Winter Olympic Games and the world spotlight is shone on British Columbia.

Vancouver’s thumb-shaped downtown peninsula, filled with modern high rises, is surprisingly compact and easy to navigate. A good place to get your bearings is the Vancouver Lookout observatory atop the Harbour Centre Tower, 50 stories above the bustling streetscape. It's also the perfect vantage point to begin to understand the scale of the city, which was once known as a mere “village at the edge of a rainforest.”

While Vancouver was built on the fortunes of the timber industry, these days its material of choice is glass—and the city is obsessed with it. Dozens of shiny residential towers radiate from the city center, oriented west for the best sunset views or north to the overreaching mountains. After years of suburban growth, residents are streaming back into downtown, especially to Coal Harbour, a new neighborhood of million-dollar apartments built atop former piers and vacant lots.

To get a feel for this face of Vancouver, be sure to cruise the waterfront path connecting the various marinas and towers. With its unrivaled views, it doesn’t take long to see how the neighborhood has quickly become one of Canada’s priciest districts. The condos may cost millions, but a walk along the ribbon of green space connecting the harbour’s sights is free—and priceless.

When it’s time for a breather, splurge on lunch at Cafe Pacifica at the Pan Pacific Hotel, atop the city’s impressive cruise terminal overlooking the harbour, where you can watch floatplanes come and go in style. Ever the city tied to sea and its nearby islands, the harbour actually boasts one of the country’s busiest runways, with planes taking off every few minutes for the nearby Gulf Islands and the provincial capital of Victoria on Vancouver Island.

Not far from Coal Harbour is Gastown, the main tourist district and the city’s oldest neighborhood, where architecture enthusiasts will love strolling along old cobblestone streets lined with converted warehouses, galleries and pubs. A reliable fixture for brunch or dinner is The Alibi Room, where one shouldn’t miss the fresh blueberry compote which gets slathered on just about everything. Sadly, however, Gastown is packed mostly with tacky trinket shops and only passable cafes and restaurants, so if you’re pressed for time, skip the neighborhood altogether, despite what guidebooks might say, and concentrate your time on more vibrant areas.

Gastown abuts the city’s huge Chinatown, a maze of pushcarts and groceries that comprises one of the largest Chinese communities outside of Asia. Kids will love the exotic feel of the place, but grown-ups with a hankering for fine Asian cuisine won’t need to limit themselves to the neighborhood. So far-reaching is the Asian influence in Vancouver that one in three residents can trace their heritage to the Far East, providing unbelievable selection and quality in the city’s dining scene; you’d be hard pressed to find better Vietnamese, Indian, or Japanese cuisine this side of the Pacific.

The upscale-feeling (but downscale-priced) Sala Thai on Burrard Street downtown, with its kitchen that turns out flawless variations of traditional Asian dishes using the freshest local ingredients including British Columbia prawns and Pacific squid, is just one among dozens of can’t-miss restaurants.

For more casual fare, the best place to lunch and rub elbows with locals is at the Public Market on Granville Island, a once-grimy industrial area that is now among the city’s top tourist draws. Getting there is half the fun: the island is accessed by a 5-minute mini-ferry ride (the Aquabus) across False Creek from downtown.

The market’s chaotic but fun collection of food stalls bursts with fresh fruits and vegetables, local beers and wines, and the freshest catch of the day. Its wide selection of eateries is sure to please even the most finicky of tastes, with everything from Indian curry dishes to Japanese ramen and even Alberta beef burgers on the menu.

The once-derelict warehouse area includes bustling studios and shops like the BC Wood Co-op where local artisans sell their wares and provide demonstrations of their craft. Fans of microbrews won’t want to miss a tour of the Granville Island Brewing Company, which includes tastings of their signature lagers and pilsners.

Enjoy a pint of Gastown Amber Ale as you pan your eyes northward to the towers of Yaletown, another converted industrial district downtown that is often lauded as a prime example of urban rebirth. The SoHo-style neighborhood is full of chic restaurants and shops, all worth a walk-through on your way up the hill toward fashionable Robson Street, the city’s main shopping thoroughfare. Lined with boutiques, bars, and restaurants, Robson is the place to see and be seen – and to eat, sleep, and play, as well.

As you cut a swath through the downtown’s glass jungle, stop by the largest art museum west of Toronto, the Vancouver Art Gallery on Robson Square, which features a fine collection of works by Marc Chagall as well as the world’s largest collection of landscapes by Emily Carr, Canada’s preeminent female artist. The museum is small enough that a tour of it can easily fit into even the most abbreviated of itineraries, but any visit should include a peek at the one-time courthouse’s classic architectural details.

Likewise, the castle-like Hotel Vancouver next door, with its distinctive rooftop patina which crowns the city skyline, is a sight to behold. Visiting monarchs can often be found, ensconced in the hotel’s suites, but it doesn’t take a royal pedigree to wander the shops or dine in the restaurants that ring the lobby.

If art-gazing is not your pleasure, stick to Robson Street, which slices across town through the West End, Canada’s most densely populated neighborhood. At its intersection with Denman Street, competing rental shops do a brisk business hawking by-the-hour bikes to tourists seeking the best way around the adjacent Stanley Park, the largest municipal park in North America.

Spokes Bicycle Rentals is closest to the park and offers both tandems and mountain bikes (beginning at about $5 U.S. per hour) as well as expert tour guides for those looking to explore the park. With its aquarium, seven mile Seawall—a paved path that courses around the perimeter and overlooks the mountains and the sea—the massive park is an excellent spot in which to while away a few hours or even a full day. At a leisurely pace, it takes about two hours to cycle the entire Seawall.

Less athletic souls can drive the park route or simply meander the area around Lost Lagoon, an unspoiled pond on the edge of the park, but all must keep an eye out for galling squirrels and mallards; constant feeding by humans has increased the population of both.

Visitors who take the time to traverse the park are rewarded with a panorama stretching from the North Shore mountains to the peaks of Vancouver Island, dozens of miles offshore. The final leg of the park loop cruises by English Bay Beach, one of the city’s most popular stretches of sand. Here, in the early evening, life comes to a standstill as the sun sets over the Pacific, while onlookers wander in twos and threes down to the beach to take in the streaked skies and lapping of the waves.

For the best views of the setting sun and of cruise ships easing their way out of port en route to Alaska, linger over dinner on the outdoor patio at the Denman Street Free House, or at any of the many restaurants that cluster across the street from English Bay along Beach Avenue. But skip the house dessert menus and head instead to Cupcakes, a trendy bakery a few blocks up Denman Street, for pastel-frosted treats.

With a bounty of waterfront spaces like English Bay, Vancouverites are drawn out of doors in all seasons, lending a democratic and energetic feel to this constantly changing city. Vancouver is barely 100 years old, a place unencumbered by the constraints of history and proud of its relaxed personality as it learns to define itself. It may lack the punch and fizz of places like Hong Kong or even San Francisco—two cities with which it’s often compared—but whatever Vancouver lacks in the more hectic aspects of urban living it makes up in its beauty.

In a single generation, a place once derided as an isolated backwater has transformed itself into a cosmopolitan center with broad appeal that is continually maturing and evolving. The emergence of the Coal Harbour neighborhood and the vitality of places like Yaletown and Granville Island are reflective of the renaissance that has made Vancouver such an appealing place. With the Olympics just four years out, the pace of change will only accelerate.

IF YOU GO

For more information, including details about discount travel packages, contact Tourism Vancouver, 200 Burrard St., Vancouver, BC, V6C 3L6; Tel. (604) 682-2222.

How to Get There

From Buffalo or Rochester, American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United and US Airways all offer daily connecting flights to Vancouver. Air Canada also flies daily from Rochester. Fares are notoriously expensive to western Canada, so expect to pay $400-$500 roundtrip (all prices in U.S. dollars). Fare sales often bring ticket prices as low as $300 roundtrip; bargains can be had by instead flying to Seattle (3 hours south of Vancouver) or direct from Toronto or Hamilton, Ontario, on low-cost carriers Harmony Airways or WestJet.

Where to Stay

Vancouver hotels are a relative bargain by big city standards, and the favorable currency exchange rate (the Canadian dollar, on average, is worth about four-fifths of a U.S. dollar, though the exchange rate continues to slip) makes staying here even more of a deal. Prices fluctuate rapidly and deals are easy to find for those who are flexible.

Budget: The Sylvia Hotel, 1154 Gilford St., (604) 681-9321, is just steps from Stanley Park and the beaches of English Bay. The hotel features small, simple rooms, but boasts grand views of Pacific. Rooms run $75-150.

Moderate: The Listel Vancouver, 1300 Robson St., (604) 684-8461, is an art-filled boutique hotel in the heart of downtown, near shopping and museums, and just a few blocks from Stanley Park. The hotel features a “Museum Floor,” with rooms showcasing contemporary art of the Pacific region. Prices begin at about $125 for a comfortable double room.

Classic luxury: The regal Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, 900 W. Georgia St., (604) 684-3131, dominated the city skyline when it was built in 1939 and remains the grande dame of Vancouver hotels. The hotel is a magnet for celebrities and visiting royalty, and offers rates as low as $175 for luxurious double rooms.

Contemporary luxury: The sumptuous Metropolitan Hotel Vancouver, 645 Howe St., (604) 687-1122, was originally built as a no-expense-spared Mandarin Oriental, and it retains the chain's famous Asian elegance. Across the street from the Pacific Centre shopping mall and two blocks off Robson, the Met is convenient to everything. Luxurious rooms designed to Feng Shui standards begin at about $150 per night.

Where to Eat

The Alibi Room, 157 Alexander St., (604) 623-3383, in Gastown. Expect to pay $25-$40 for brunch for two.

Cafe Pacific, 300-999 Canada Place, (604) 895-2480, offers an extensive Asian fusion menu atop the Pan Pacific Hotel overlooking Coal Harbour. Expect to pay $30 per person for lunch. Reservations recommended.

Cupcakes, 1116 Denman St., (604) 974-1300 near English Bay Beach has a fine selection of treats. Expect to pay about $2.50 for a cupcake.

Denman Street Free House, 1780 Davie St., (604) 801-6681 has an extensive bistro menu in a fine setting overlooking the beach. Expect to pay about $25 per person for lunch or dinner, with one of the their signature mojitos.

Granville Island Public Market, (604) 666-5784, on False Creek just south of downtown. The Aquabus ferry to the island departs every few minutes from the foot of Hornby Street. Expect to pay $5-10 per person for lunch.

Sala Thai, 102-888 Burrard St., (604) 683-7999, downtown near Robson Street shopping. Expect to pay $30-$50 for dinner for two, with wine. Reservations recommended.

How to Play

Spokes Bicycle Rentals, 1798 W. Georgia St., (604) 688-5141, offers a variety of cycles perfect for poking around Stanley Park, just two blocks away. Expect to pay $5-$10 per hour, depending on the type of bicycle.