96-hours in Vancouver
Posted on 31 July 2011 with 1 comment from readers
The perfect climate for a Gulf summer getaway is to be found in Vancouver. Bright sunny days, the odd shower and temperatures under 25C with a cool breeze.
Voted the world’s most liveable city by The Economist for five years running, downtown Vancouver is a delightful urban environment with every convenience and facility. It’s on a peninsula almost surrounded by water with mountains to one side, a spectacular natural setting.
Excellent shopping
Shopping would cheer any Gulf shopper in this season. The summer sales mean Tommy Hilfinger at a quarter of Dubai prices. There is also a huge variety of shopping to suit all tastes.
Head to the Robson Road for the shops and lively restaurants where local students work as waitresses and waiters. You will never have any trouble meeting people as everybody is so friendly, especially when working for tips.
Granville island is the place for a market focused entirely on local art and handicrafts, and the standard is high.
Or go down to Yaletown, a restored Dockland district with funky bars and restaurants and the excellent boutique hotel Opus (click here). You are never far from water in the downtown and giant liners dock at Canada Place.
Harbour Cruises from this location are popular, although for a really fun trip go up in a seaplane from the airport on this side of the downtown, or jump on a helicopter from the heliport.
Hire a bicycle if you want to get around quickly or get some exercise in the huge Stanley Park. There are a variety of horsedrawn carriages too and a section full of native totem poles. And don’t miss the amazing beluga whales of the Vancouver Aquarium.
On a rainy day try the Museum of Vancouver for its fine recreation of past family life in the city or the adjacent planetarium and HR Macmillan Space Centre and the Maritime Museum. You could also take in the Vancouver Art Gallery which has some interesting visiting exhibitions.
Vantage points
To see the downtown from a high-point there is the Vancouver Lookout, set to be surpassed by a new hotel and condo building very soon. Alternatively if you drive 20 minutes out of the city you can scale Grouse Mountain which is a ski resort in the winter.
North America’s most popular ski resort Whistler is only a few hours away by bus or car along the superbly scenic Howe Sound with the chance to see black bears in their natural habitat.
The Metro Vancouver infrastructure is superb with a grid system of streets, elegant condo towers and a metro to the airport built for the recent winter Olympics. Is there anything missing?
Only really the visitors from the Gulf. ArabianMoney spotted a few enjoying the cool summer climate. It is a long flight of course but then few places can be virtually guaranteed to be cool and sunny in July and August.
1 Comment posted by readers:
Don’t forget, Vancouver is very close to a subduction zone boundary, just like the one off Japan. The North American plate is being forced under the Pacific plate, or the opposite. I forgot. Geologists have found concrete evidence of massive earthquakes and tsunamis in the past.
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