Vancouver's Hottest Neighbourhoods—and Neighbouring Cities—in a Nutshell

Whether it's people watching or window shopping, Vancouver's many locales offer what you're looking for. By Rebecca Philps and Steven Schelling

As any seasoned globetrotter will tell you, the best way to experience a new place is to immerse yourself in the day-to-day habits and activities of the people who live there: eat where they eat, shop where they shop, and you’ll return home with more than just a guidebook description. You’ll have lived it. The good news is we’ve done the legwork for you: here, a cheat sheet on Vancouver’s villages, along with the best places to drink in the culture and observe the locals in their natural environment. Do yourself a favour: ask the shopkeepers and residents what they love about their neighbourhood, and they’ll be quick to tell you why their square of the city is the only place in Vancouver to live.

DOWNTOWN

The downtown core is a virtual forest of glass and steel, an urban centre so livable that Vancouver’s city planners have been sought out to export their “Vancouver Model” of mixed-use, high-density design to international cities. Robson Street, crammed with restaurants and brand-name chain stores, and Granville Street, a pedestrianized thoroughfare lined with pubs, clubs, cinemas and music stores, form the crossroads of the downtown core. Both offer a range of evening entertainment as well: dance clubs and casual live music venues, as well as opera, ballet and theatre at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts (777 Homer St., 604-602-0616) and the Queen Elizabeth Theatre (Hamilton and Dunsmuir St., 604-665-3050). Students from university satellite campuses and ESL schools mingle with the power suits, street vendors and shoppers at Robson and Burrard Streets, one of the busiest intersections for foot traffic in Canada.

Eat: Sample innovative Latin cuisine like the braised oxtail, rabbit and short rib taco while toasting the giant mural of Che Guevara at Century (432 Richards St., 604-633-2700).

Drink: Sip award-winning espresso at Caffè Artigiano, surrounded by writers, struggling actors, jewellery designers and young office workers escaping their cubicles (763 Hornby St., 604-694-7737). Caffeartigiano.com

Browse: Oqoqo on Robson for casual clothing, workout wear and yoga gear made from soy-based sustainable fabric (1100 Robson St., 604-681-4941).

GASTOWN

Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhood is undergoing a quiet revolution: architects, filmmakers, artists and designers have been seduced by heritage properties morphed into live-work spaces. Although it’s the birthplace of Vancouver (John “Gassy Jack” Deighton opened his saloon and the city’s first business in 1867), Gastown was, for a time, little more than a tourist trap of faux heritage sites and schlocky souvenir stores bordering one of Canada’s poorest postal codes, the Downtown Eastside. But plans for swank boutique hotels, an expansion of design haven Inform Interiors and a recently completed revitalization of the Dominion Hotel have given the area a much-needed boost. A formidable fashion scene is cropping up along Abbott Street, and further plans to convert heritage buildings into mixed-use spaces should ensure the continued influx of talent.

Eat: Build your own tasting plate from the constantly changing menu of cured meats, cheeses and condiments at Salt Tasting Room (Blood Alley, 604-633-1912).

Drink: A Shebeen is a hidden, illegal hovel, but there’s nothing illegal or rundown about the Shebeen Whiskey House. Offering the largest selection of whiskeys in B.C., this hidden gem is one of the best celebrity-spotting haunts in town. Go through the Irish Heather (217 Carrall St., 604-688-9779), to the red door across the private courtyard.

Browse: Colourful sweaters designed by Marc Jacob’s former cutter Gauge, graphic shirts by Rogues Gallery and jeans by Meli Melo at One of a Few (354 Water St., 604-605-0685), and Richard Kidd, for one of the most breathtaking retail spaces in the city (65 Water St., 604-677-1880).

COAL HARBOUR

The “it” locale for affluent empty nesters, Coal Harbour is one of the city’s newest master-planned communities, hugging the strip of waterfront that connects the downtown core with Stanley Park. This 50-acre parcel of land is dotted with 24 luxury high-rise towers that crowd around the neighbourhood’s best asset: a seawall with easy access to walk, run, blade or cycle into Stanley Park.

Eat: Contemplate the stunning water and mountain views while savouring the potato-wrapped halibut with corn salsa and beurre blanc at Bravo Bistro (550 Denman St., 604-688-3714).

Drink: Feel like the landed gentry at The Fish House as you take afternoon tea. Offered daily from 2 to 4 p.m., the ritual involves sandwiches, sweets and, of course, tea (8901 Stanley Park Dr., 604-681-7275).

Browse: One-of-a kind invitations and announcements as well as whimsical greeting cards at Zing Paperie and Design (on the Seawall in Coal Harbour, between Jervis and Broughton streets, 604-630-1885).

CHINATOWN

With the completion of the transcontinental railway in 1885, the Chinese labourers who performed much of the most dangerous work settled into this area east of Gastown, founding what is now the largest Chinatown in Canada. Mandarin and Cantonese are the mother tongues in 30 percent of Vancouver homes, making Chinese the largest ethnic “minority” group. Designated a historic district, the distinctive character of Chinatown is evident in architecture that features unique recessed balconies and decorative parapets. A visit should include a tour of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, the only authentic Chinese garden outside of China, and don’t forget to try the amazing dim sum this area has to offer. On weekend evenings in the summer, Keefer and Pender Streets transform into a bustling open-air night market with vendors hawking fake Rolex watches while elderly men engage in heated games of mah jong.

Eat: A fresh-from-the-oven red bean bun while scoping the strange sea creatures in the tanks at T&T Supermarket (179 Keefer Pl., 604-899-8836).

Drink: The Opium martini—vodka, Chambord, sparkling wine and soda—at the stunning bar of the pioneer of Asian fusion cuisine, Wild Rice (117 W. Pender St., 604-642-2882).

Browse: Sleek, modern and functional home furnishings designed and manufactured by local Vancouver firm Bombast (1654 Franklin St., 604-251-2092).

CONTINUE