The Perfect 10

Whether you're an accidental tourist or a seasoned traveller, your Vancouver visit isn't complete without a stop at these top attractions. By Tyee Bridge

Even by North American standards, Vancouver is a young city. We have a few prized heritage sites, but glassy condo towers, fresh as unwrapped sticks of gum, predominate over bricks and marble. Maybe this is why Vancouverites like to show off the mountains and forests to visiting guests, and also why we're eager to take them to performances by our creative luminaries: we're determined to instil awe by whatever means necessary. Fortunately there's more than enough local substance to impress. Public markets and ballet companies may seem unrelated, but like the many other attractions in the following section, they hint at Vancouver's elusive, still-forming character. The point, of course, is the fun you'll have discovering it.

1. STANLEY PARK
When then-mayor David Oppenheimer officially opened Stanley Park in 1888, he christened it a place for Vancouver’s 6,000 citizens to “spend some time amid the beauties of nature, away from the busy haunts of men.” Despite the rather drastic increase in population since then, the park retains its wild integrity and offers urban residents and visitors a place to refresh their senses and get their ya-yas out. Over 400 hectares of mixed evergreen forest and open green spaces are bounded by the 8.8-km seawall, an essential experience beloved by local runners, in-line skaters and first-date couples. Circumnavigation by bicycle is allowed as well, but be sure to ride it counterclockwise—the path is narrow, and going against the flow could result in an unexpected swim. Along the way you’ll be treated to occasional sculptures, totem poles, plenty of seabirds, close-ups of the Lions Gate Bridge and, if your timing is right, an ice cream sandwich at the Second Beach concession. Stanley Park: Downtown Vancouver, 604-257-8400.

2. ENGLISH BAY
Bring a blanket and lounge on the grass with your book, or walk the seawall path and see how many dog varieties you can name. Afterward stop in to the Sylvia Hotel for tea or something stronger (1154 Gilford Street, 604-681-9321): the grand dame of heritage hotels in the West End provides the perfect (licensed) resting point with a water view. English Bay: Denman St. at Davie St.

3. BALLET BRITISH COLUMBIA
Before taking over as Ballet British Columbia’s artistic director, John Alleyne was warned by friends in Toronto that Vancouver was too beautiful a city to inspire worthwhile art. But in the 13 years since Alleyne took the job, the company has managed to impress and startle audiences worldwide with performances of commissioned works by Alleyne and acclaimed Canadian choreographers like James Kudelka and Serge Bennathan. The 16-member company was established in 1986 with the covert intention of overthrowing any vestiges of Vancouver’s reputation as a cultural lightweight, and it has succeeded to great fanfare. Innovative and uncompromising productions of such works as A Streetcar Named Desire and The Faerie Queen have wowed critics from Tokyo to New York City and attracted attention to Alleyne’s collaborative approach to choreography. Now a confirmed Vancouverite, Alleyne still appreciates working with an intimate core of artists: “When there are only 16 dancers in a company, there is no place to hide.” Ballet British Columbia: 604-732-5003.

4. VANCOUVER ART GALLERY
Under the leadership of director Kathleen Bartels, the Vancouver Art Gallery has attracted world attention for its original and innovative programming. Massive Change, the brainchild of celebrity designer Bruce Mau, got its start at the VAG before travelling to the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, with the Danish Architectural Centre and London’s Victoria and Albert Museum both hot for a spot on the tour. More recently, works from hometown hero Brian Jungen—most famous for his aboriginal masks crafted from Nike Air Jordans—and the sensitive and moving landscapes of Takao Tanabe graced the building, as well as a
retrospective of prefab architecture. Even if the featured exhibits at one of the continent’s leading contemporary-art venues don’t ring your bell, the ongoing display of significant works by Emily Carr justifies the $15 admission alone. Vancouver Art Gallery: 750 Hornby St., Downtown, 604-662-4719.

5. DR. SUN YAT-SEN CLASSICAL CHINESE GARDEN
The Chinese characters inscribed on the plaque near the entrance to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden are translated as “Yi Yuan” or “Garden of Ease.” This authentic re-creation of a Ming-dynasty-era (1368-1644) scholar’s garden was the first to be built outside its cultural homeland. Its prevailing tranquility evokes another time and place, making it a magnet for poets, painters and residents of the surrounding Chinatown district. It was built in the mid-’80s by 52 master artisans from Suzhou who eschewed the use of nails, screws and power tools in favour of 15th-century methods. The result is a sanctuary laden with Taoist symbolism and intricate landscaping, as well as a venue for ongoing cultural events like painting exhibitions, classical music performances and traditional seasonal festivals. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden: 578 Carrall St., Chinatown, 604-662-3207.

6. KITSILANO BEACH AND POOL
Kits Beach, as it’s known to locals, is densely populated in summer with distractingly attractive volleyball players, Frisbee flingers and sunbathers. There’s also a giant heated saltwater pool (137 metres) where you can swim a mile in only 11 laps. For yoga buffs, local guru Eoin Finn offers outdoor classes at the Kitsilano Showboat on Saturday mornings, and Tuesday and Thursday evenings all summer long (604-732-3108, www.vancouveryoga.com). Kitsilano Beach and Pool: 2305 Cornwall Ave., Kitsilano, 604-731-0011.

7. GROUSE GRIND & SKYRIDE
The Grouse Grind is the summer hike of choice for resident masochists, but the view-heavy Skyride is the year-round preference for those who want to do more than gasp once they reach the top (Grouse has an 853-metre elevation gain in only 2.9 kilometres). About $30 buys an adult round trip plus admission to various seasonal resort activities. While you’re up top, be sure to check out the Refuge for Endangered Wildlife, home to two orphaned bears and a pack of grey wolves—the latter are retired movie stars, raised in captivity and ill equipped to be released to the wild. Grouse Mountain: 6400 Nancy Greene Way, North Vancouver, 604-984-0661.

8. VANCOUVER AQUARIUM
Swimming with the sharks at lunchtime might be familiar to anyone corporate, but the Vancouver Aquarium’s blacktip reef sharks perform a much more elegant and entertaining version. Visitors aren’t allowed to participate, but the Aquarium does offer them a chance to get hands-on with less formidable creatures like horseshoe crabs, sea stars and even nonaquatic residents like a red-tail hawk. Open seven days a week year-round, its 166 displays feature over 70,000 animals, from west coast mammals (sea lions, sea otters and harbour seals, among others) to exotic species like Amazonian caimans and electric eels. For a fee you can go behind the scenes on a Trainer Tour ($25-$40 for one adult-and-child pair) to interact with sea otters or Steller sea lions, or help train a whale on a Beluga Encounter ($150/person, $210 per adult and child). The Aquarium also offers a unique Sleepovers program: after-hours adventures that put a new spin on the mobster expression “sleeping with the fishes.” Vancouver Aquarium: Stanley Park, 604-659-3400.

9. GRANVILLE ISLAND
If Stanley Park is Vancouver’s wild heart, Granville Island is a large chunk of its soul. The public market is an excellent place to spend a couple of hours seeking out local gourmet items before treating yourself to the best food-court meal around. Just don’t linger too long watching the seagulls: the market and many of the Island’s galleries and stores close every day at 7 p.m. Granville Island: Under the Granville Bridge, 604-666-5784.

10. UBC MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY
The informal founder of the Museum of Anthropology was a Scottish immigrant named Frank Burnett who, some might say, couldn’t resist souvenirs. Between 1898 and 1920 he travelled throughout the South Pacific accumulating over a thousand artifacts, most of which he donated to UBC in 1927. This first endowment snowballed into the Museum of Anthropology’s present collection of 570,000 ethnological and archaeological pieces from around the world, with special focus on B.C.’s First Nations. In 1976 the collection was moved from the basement of the main library to its current home, an 84,000-square-foot space designed by renowned Canadian architect Arthur Erickson. The Great Hall’s post-and-beam architecture opens up to 15-metre glass walls accommodating totem poles from Nisga’a, Haida and other First Nations; the rotunda displays Bill Reid’s famous sculpture The Raven and the First Men, carved from a massive block of yellow cedar formed of 106 planks. Unique “visible storage” areas allow viewing of masks, basketry, weapons and thousands of other objects. UBC Museum of Anthropology: 6393 N.W. Marine Dr., UBC Campus, 604-822-3825.