Vancouver Travel Guide

Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area in Western Canada, and third largest in Canada, with a population of 2.

6 million. Located at the southwestern corner of the coastal province of British Columbia, it is well known for its majestic natural beauty, as it is nestled between the Coast Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. It is frequently ranked as one of the "best cities to live in" and is certainly a beautiful destination to visit.

Vancouverites broadly split their city into three: the Westside, the Eastside and downtown. This split is simply geography -- everything west of Ontario St is the Westside, everything east is East Van and everything north of False Creek is downtown. Each of these areas... (more)

Vancouverites broadly split their city into three: the Westside, the Eastside and downtown. This split is simply geography -- everything west of Ontario St is the Westside, everything east is East Van and everything north of False Creek is downtown. Each of these areas have their own attractions and neighbourhoods, so time permitting, explore as many as you can.

This list covers only the city itself. For its many suburbs, see Lower Mainland.

While Vancouver is a comparatively young city, at just over 120 years, its history begins long before. The Coast Salish indigenous peoples have lived in the area for at least 6000 years, and Vancouver's namesake Captain George Vancouver sailed through the First Narrows in 1792. The first settlement on the downtown peninsula was Granville, located on the spot of today's Gastown. In the year of Canada's confederation a saloon was built on this site and gave birth to a small shantytown of bars and stores adjacent to the original mill on the south shore of what is now the city's harbour. A seemingly endless supply of high quality lumber was logged and sold through the ports of Gastown and Moodyville, across the inlet. Some of the trees were gigantic beams which were shipped to China to construct Beijing's Imperial Palace, and one account maintains that the world's windjammer fleets could not have been built without the trees of Burrard Inlet.

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