Day 1

Morning: Check into the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel's "Honey Bee Suites" - where outside your door is a 2,100 square-foot herb garden and home to a friendly colony of honey bees. Special chef-led tours of the herb garden and beehives can be arranged by the hotel. Don't miss sampling the fresh honey at Heron's Restaurant in the hotel.
www.fairmont.com

Mid-day: Shop with a chef. Join one of Vancouver's top chefs for a guided culinary tour of the bustling Granville Island Public Market, organized through Edible British Columbia. After shopping, the group goes into the kitchen and prepares a tasty lunch with the purchased ingredients.
www.edible-britishcolumbia.com

Afternoon: Head over to the Vancouver Aquarium to learn about Ocean Wise - a program that promotes sustainable seafood choices in local restaurants. While you're there, get friendly with the whales on a Beluga Encounter.
www.vanaqua.org

Dinner: Tonight your group enjoys dinner at one of Vancouver's many Ocean Wise restaurants (such as C Restaurant, Aurora Bistro or Fuel). You should also sample a glass (or two) of British Columbia's award-winning wine.
www.crestaurant.com
www.aurorabistro.ca
www.fuelrestaurant.ca

Day 2

Morning: Take a culinary and cultural tour of Vancouver's Chinatown and find out why the New York Times said: "For Chinese food, there's nowhere on this continent like Vancouver". Your "Wok Around Chinatown" tour begins at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, meanders through diverse specialty shops, and concludes with a much-deserved dim sum lunch.
www.awokaround.com

Afternoon: Fly and Wine! Step aboard a West Coast Air floatplane and depart Vancouver's Coal Harbour for a 30-minute scenic flight to Saturna Island Winery - nestled amid the southern Gulf Islands. Your one-hour visit includes a vineyard tour and varietal wine tasting.
www.westcoastair.com

Dinner: Some people say Tojo's Restaurant is the best Japanese restaurant in Vancouver. Others say it's the best in Canada. Still others say it's the best in North America. You decide with an "omakase" dinner - meaning your menu selections are made by the chef, often Tojo himself.
www.tojos.com

• Vancouver will be one of the largest cities to ever host a Winter Olympic Games (we've got 2.1 million people in our metropolitan area).
• Vancouver has one of the mildest climates and warmest average temperatures of any Winter Olympic host (temperatures range from a balmy 0 to 5 degrees Celsius - mid-40's Fahrenheit - in winter).
• Encircled by both ocean and mountains, Vancouver is one of the most geographically diverse cities ever to host a Winter Games.
• The Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games mark the first time in history that Indigenous peoples have been recognized as official partners in hosting the Olympic Games. The Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, known collectively as the Four Host First Nations, are official Games hosts.
• In February 2003, Vancouver's residents were asked in a referendum whether they would accept the responsibilities of being a Host City should Vancouver win its bid. This was the first time such a referendum was successful.
• Vancouver, the birthplace of Greenpeace, will continue a tradition of environmentalism by setting the gold standard for environmental sustainability during the Games. Vancouver 2010 is the first Olympic Games to enforce a rigorous set of environmental criteria for any new venues. We've also adopted a zero waste policy for the Games.

Haunted Vancouver Trolley Tours
October 17 to November 1
Tour Vancouver's spookiest haunts with the Vancouver Museum and Vancouver Trolley Company. An annual offering, the "Haunted Vancouver Trolley Tours" dare brave visitors to board a decorated trolley bus and travel through the city listening to experienced storytellers spin spooky tales of treachery and intrigue. This tour is recommended for the big kids (not for children nine and under) and reservations are required. More details will be available on the following websites soon.
www.vancouvertrolley.com
www.vanmuseum.bc.ca

Stanley Park Ghost Train
October 10 to November 1
Vancouver's autumn must-do family event is back this October. Every night, from October 10 to November 1, thousands of people flock to Stanley Park for a spooky train ride deep in the forest. Grab some popcorn and clamber aboard as the train goes "off the rails". This year's theme is pirates - with wicked scoundrels returning from the dead to plunder Stanley Park in search of treasure.
www.vancouverparks.ca