Vancouver -
Canada Travel Guide,
Tourism,
Vacation
World Travel https://www.youtube.com/user/World1Tube
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada http://goo.gl/APc2nq
Shimmering skyscrapers and colourful heritage homes, culturally diverse neighbourhoods crammed with indie stores, cool eateries and nanobreweries, kayaking on the ocean and skiing in the mountains: this is Vancouver.
It's no wonder the successful host of the
2010 Winter Olympics features near the top of the world's most liveable cities surveys, with its meld of stylish
21st-century architecture, regenerated industrial districts and laid-back beachside neighbourhoods
. Look down any street downtown and there's a strong chance you'll catch a glimpse of the
North Shore Mountains, the sea or both.
The West End is chock-a-block full of juice bars and coffee shops, with colourful
Davie Street home to a large gay community. In revitalised
Yaletown, designer boutiques and trendy restaurants fill former warehouses, with diners spilling onto busy patios in summer. Historic
Gastown and the adjacent
Downtown Eastside are undergoing a stratospheric gentrification, with new condos, restaurants and high-end shops taking over decrepit or demolished buildings, sometimes controversially; hipsters and homeless rub shoulders in this rapidly evolving district.
Wave after wave of new immigrants have given Vancouver its cosmopolitan feel -- a whopping 40% of its population is foreign-born, meaning you can uncover an eclectic array of cuisines and cultures. In particular, arrivals from mainland
China mean one in five of the city's residents is now of
Chinese origin.
Chinatown is jammed with noodle houses, bakeries, medicine shops and a lively market.
Meanwhile, multicultural
Commercial Drive is lined with
Italian cafés and delis, and vibrant
Punjabi Market is a bustling
South Asian hub.
Vancouverites live for the outdoors. Year-round, hordes of joggers, in-line skaters and cyclists jostle for space on the seawall while hard-core runners pound up the lung-bustingly steep
Grouse Grind trail. There are countless opportunities for rafting, mountain biking, camping and skiing; sports junkies can ski one of three local mountains and sail in
English Bay on the same day.
Visitor attractions are world class too, whether you choose to edge your way round the vertigo-inducing
Cliffwalk at
Capilano Bridge Suspension Park, eye up ethereal jellyfish at the
Vancouver Aquarium or take to the skies in a simulated helicopter ride at Flyover
Canada.
Locals are known for being environmentally conscious. Vancouver has the smallest per capita carbon footprint of any
North American city.
Greenpeace was founded here, the public transit system is excellent and well used, bike routes are being created and improved, and the population embraces the culture of growing and buying locally. Through its Greenest
City plan, Vancouver aims to become the greenest city in the world by
2020 with an ambitious vision for sustainability, zero waste and zero carbon.
All this does come at a cost to locals however: Vancouver is the most expensive place in Canada to buy a house. In
2013, the penthouse unit at the
Fairmont Pacific Rim sold for a record
C$25 million. Even the average detached house sells for over
C$1 million. Fortunately, if you're here on holiday, you can forget about spending your life savings on a pied-à-terre and instead check in to one of Vancouver's many super-chic hotels.
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British Columbia === Vancouver - British Columbia - Canada Travel Guide, Tourism, Vacation, Travel Tips, Attractions
- published: 20 Nov 2013
- views: 1205