Our City

A lively and vibrant neighbourhood in Vancouver's downtown core, the West End stretches from Coal Harbour to English Bay, with Stanley Park on one side and Burrard Street on the other.

Fifteen minutes after departing downtown Vancouver and threading its way through the towering freighters of the working harbour, the SeaBus pulls into its slip. Vancouverites have been crossing Burrard Inlet by ferry for over 130 years. First Nations' peoples have been making the crossing for considerably longer. Today, when you arrive in North Vancouver on the SeaBus you'll discover a vibrant public market, waterfront parks, working ship yards and some of the best views of the Vancouver skyline.

West Van, as locals call their stretch of home along the North Shore's Coast Range mountains, is a beautiful community missed by most tourists who cross the spectacular Lions Gate Bridge. The bridge connects the City of Vancouver through the 1,000-acre (400-hectare) forest of Stanley Park to the North Shore. West Van is often overlooked as visitors pass by on their way to the Upper Levels Highway, bound for Whistler or the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal to Vancouver Island.

Transient students and singles come and go, but a strong core of long-time residents still anchors in Kitsilano ('Kits' to the locals), one of the city's liveliest and most desirable established neighbourhoods. Overlooking the classic Vancouver skyline of sea, Stanley Park and the North Shore mountains from Cornwall Street, this area was once the counter-culture capital of the region and is now home to many of those hippies who grew up to enter middle-management. It's now a comfortable, liberal paradise of well-heeled vegetarians.

Here's a perfect day for the foodie in your life. After a night at an oceanfront lodge, pick up a pair of bicycles and peddle round to some local wineries, sampling a Merlot, a Pinot Gris, or perhaps a kiwi wine. At noon, spread your picnic blanket under a tree and dig into some fresh baked bread and locally made cheese before wending your way back to the lodge.

We can't think of another world-famous art gallery that occupies an entire courthouse but the Vancouver Art Gallery (or VAG as it is affectionately referred to by locals) also boasts a ghost among its collections.

Deserted beaches, crashing waves, candle-lit dining, starry skies… you get the picture. If you’re looking for a setting to woo your beloved, Vancouver is the place.

Formerly one of Vancouver's roughest neighbourhoods, South Main - or SoMa, as the hippest locals call this area around Main Street and Broadway - has become a funky hangout for Vancouverites who like to take in a Bohemian art gallery after their weekend brunch at a streetside cafe.

The Canadian Pacific Railway developed this well-to-do neighbourhood between 16th and 28th Avenues in 1907. Now expanded to 41st, Shaughnessy remains the city's poshest subdivision, combining families from the city's pioneering past with a smattering of Hollywood movie stars, renting for the duration of a local film shoot or adding a Shaughnessy mansion to their stable of swanky properties.

It is not hard to believe that cities like Tokyo, Paris, New York, London, and Barcelona top the Food and Wine magazine 10 Best Restaurant Cities list for 2008.