» Attraction Stories
Vancouver is home to dozens of well-known visitor attractions, activities and landmarks as well as hundreds of deserving sites that are less well-known. Here are some distinctive story angles, covering popular and little-known features of the city.
Capilano Suspension Bridge
(www.capbridge.com)
Alongside its giant and justly famed suspension bridge, Capilano added "Treetops Adventure" in 2004 - a series of seven suspended walkways between some of its towering trees. At heights of up to 30 metres - still far from the top of many of the 250-year-old trees - they include viewing platforms where naturalists hold court on the area's ecological attributes. Respecting this rich ecological heritage, the new attraction has had little impact on its fragile environment - cables and platforms are attached to collars around each tree, a solution that barely touches the trunk and enables the trees to continue growing.
Vancouver Aquarium
(www.vanaqua.org)
Anyone can watch the fish through the glass, but marine-savvy visitors who like to get up close and personal with their favourite wildlife at the Vancouver Aquarium can also try a host of unusual "encounters." Adventures include hanging out with and feeding the belugas; learning what it takes to become a trainer; helping to feed the playful sea otters; and having a sleepover among the fish tanks - although you'll likely be too excited to sleep much.
Port Of Vancouver
(www.portvancouver.com)
A hundred years ago, it was so quiet on Burrard Inlet you could holler across the water to fetch a rowboat ferry to take you across. Today, this teeming stretch of Vancouver waterfront is home to Canada's largest port - it's also the largest on North America's West Coast for total foreign exports. Aside from its giant container traffic - much of it coming to and from the country's main Asian trading partners - the port includes three cruise ship terminals serving the ever-popular Alaska run. Canada Place - the city's ship-sail-shaped waterfront landmark - is the main cruise terminal. It's also home to a unique interpretive centre where kids can learn about the port and how it works.
Grouse Mountain
(www.grousemountain.com)
Groups of six or more who like to earn their supper can work up a sweat with a guided night time snowshoe trek through the trees atop Grouse Mountain - lamp-fitted helmets are provided so you know where you're going. After a one-hour trawl through the snow, you can head back to the alpine lodge for a multi-course fondue feast at Altitudes Bistro. These snowshoe fondue treks are one of Grouse's most popular winter activities - alongside skiing, snowboarding, ice-skating and sleigh riding.
Christmas Carol Ship Parade
(www.carolships.org)
During the first three weeks of December, around 80 Vancouver boat owners and charter companies decorate their vessels with colourful lights, switch on the Christmas soundtracks, crank-up the Yuletide cheer and parade around the waterfront. Visitors can watch the boats from shore-side restaurants or enjoy an evening aboard one of the ships. Some vessels offer gourmet dinners, while others serve-up professional carollers for passenger sing-a-longs. Either way, it's a unique Vancouver maritime tradition.
Vancouver Art Gallery
(www.vanartgallery.bc.ca)
We can't think of another world-famous art gallery that occupies an entire courthouse but the "VAG" also boasts a ghost among its collections. "Charlie" is said to live in the catacombs, where the holding cells of the former courthouse were located, and is also said to be the spirit of William Charles Hopkinson, an immigration officer who was murdered there in 1914. Hangings are still a major feature here - the gallery offers changing exhibitions of historical and contemporary art by regional, national, and international artists, plus a permanent collection of Emily Carr masterworks.
Trivia:
Vancouver is renowned for its photographers, with artists including Jeff Wall, Stan Douglas, Roy Arden, Ian Wallace and Ken Lum enjoyed and exhibited around the world.
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