A sampling of the many faces of Vancouver, British Columbia
Each of Vancouver’s neighbourhoods boasts a unique character, almost as if Vancouver was a city of many cities, and, yet, wherever you go in this coastal city, it has a distinctly Vancouver feel. Scenic views, temperate climate, a diverse population, cultural activities, love of the outdoors, relaxed vibe, parks and green space, heritage buildings alongside architectural innovations, and environmental awareness. All of which has contributed to Vancouver, British Columbia making it into the top five of the world’s most liveable cities year after year.
Although the many faces of Vancouver cannot be captured in just a few images, I hope a sampling portrays some of the flavour of the city.
Gastown, Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhood Canada Place, where cruise ships dock, in Coal Harbour District. The area was once a commercial area with sawmills and warehouses. Now it contains Canada Place, Vancouver Convention Centre, a hotel, many restaurants, and residences. The Olympic Cauldron in Coal Harbour, a legacy of the 2010 Winter Olympics. (I think it’s a bit ugly, but tourists seek it out.) View of BC Place stadium and Science World, across False Creek from Olympic Village VanDusen Botanical Garden Path through Stanley Park, a 400 hectare park on a peninsula in the northwestern edge of downtown. The park contains gardens, trails, beaches, playground and picnic areas, and cedar, fir, and hemlock trees. Stanley Park autumn colours Driftwood along Stanley Park seawall Lion’s Gate Bridge across first narrows of Burrard Inlet, connecting Vancouver to North Vancouver and West Vancouver Millennium Gate, official entrance to Chinatown. Chinatown dates back to the late 1800s when Chinese immigrants came to work on the railroads and in the mines. They were settled in a ghetto at the edge of the city. Today Vancouver has a significant Chinese population in all areas and in surrounding cities. Vancouver has a large selection of gourmet food trucks. There is a Food Truck Fest in Olympic Village every Sunday in the summer. One of the foodie tours of the city features food trucks. Website Street Food App lets you check which trucks are open at any given time. Vancouver has a thriving film industry. You never know when you might stumble across a filming location. Public art Heritage homes in Mount Pleasant neighbourhood Former church turned into condos Rooftop gardens Community gardens Kitsilano Beach Bard on the Beach is an annual event June through September featuring Shakespeare plays in Vanier Park Walking and bicycle paths along Vancouver’s 22 kilometers of seawall I associate Hydrangeas with Vancouver because every summer I’ve visited their pink and blue blooms have been stunning. In my home province of Manitoba, hydrangeas usually have green or white blooms.
You may have noticed that my images are summer-time images. That is usually when I visit. Although you won’t be laying on the beach, Vancouver’s temperate climate means winter temperatures are above freezing. Snow is rare. Vancouver’s essential nature remains and love of outdoors continues. Just bring an umbrella.
I’ve never had the privilege of visiting Vancouver, but I must say Donna, since I have become regular reader of your blog I am itching to get there! I’d not known that Vancouver was listed as one of the top five moist livable cities, but it stand to reason, given what you’ve shown and taught me, that it is. Great photos again…just love them:)
It’s been a very long time since I’ve been to Vancouver. It comes as no surprise that it is a very livable city. I loved it then and I know I’d love it as much now. You images give me the itch to go again and very very soon.
It’s been years since my husband and I visited Vancouver. It’s one of our favorite places though. Wow – I even recognized Lion’s Gate Bridge in your pics here. Thanks for bringing up so wonderful travel memories.
Love the picture of the church turned into condos. What a great place to live; at least from the outside. Your city is certainly a gorgeous one and easy to see why it consistently ranks in the top 10 cities of the world to live.
I haven’t visited Queen Elizabeth Park yet, just driven past it, but it is on my list for my next visit. I’d hoped to get there last month, but ran out of time.
I love looking at your blog as you always visit lovely places. Vancouver looks really pretty and welcoming. For some reason I thought Vancouver would be very grey and cold so I am pleasantly surprised.
Seeing the driftwood, reminds me of the TV show, Beachcombers I used to watch as a kid. Vancouver looks like a beautiful place; I hope I can get a chance to visit it someday.
It’s been years (and years) since we’ve been to Vancouver. Your photos have inspired me to make a return trip one day. The artistic director of Bard on the Beach, Christopher Gaze, and his wife stayed with us at our B&B in Oregon. They are lovely people and we told them one day we’d visit them on the beach, so I guess we better give it some thought!
Vancouver is a beautiful city. I attended Bard on the Beach for the first time when I visited last month. It is a lovely seating for the plays. You are under cover so you don’t get wet should it rain, although my daughter said the noise on the roof can make it harder to hear (it was clear when I attended, but my daughter has been to other performances when it rained). There is a view out behind the stage of the beach and city skyline.
Hi Donna, Thanks for sharing these images of Vancouver. I have many of the same ones. We parked our car at King George in Surrey and took the Sky Train into Chinatown, coming out at the Millenium Gate. My brother Ken worked in the film industry for fifteen years. Another great post. Perhaps Tourism BC or Hello BC will be interested in reading your posts. It’s been a while now since getting into the big V. I really don’t care for the Port Mann parking lot at rush hour.
Thanks Bill. I know traffic getting into and out of Vancouver from the surrounding cities can be an issue. I’ve not had to contend with it, at least not in my most recent visits. I’ve stayed with my daughter in either Kitsilano or Mount Pleasant.
We lingered in Vancouver for a few days after an Alaska cruise that ended there—docked at Canada Place. Stanley Park is such a wonderful asset to the city. Your post brought back fond memories.
I will be coaxing my husband to visit this wonderful city and your photos will help my case. That driftwood is huge and I would love roaming around looking for the perfect piece to bring home.
What a wonderful post reflecting on so many varied aspects of this vibrant city! Street sculptures and gourmet food vans, china town and trees growing on roofs! Although as a nature lover I’m drawn to the sea wall you can walk along and Stanley Park š
It’s fun to check out the food trucks and see what they have to offer. Things I would never have expected to be offered from a food truck. I think the app where you can check which food trucks are where and currently operating is pretty cool.
Vancouver is gorgeous! What is the weather like at this time of year. I’m sure they don’t get exceptionally hot. The architecture is nice. I must put it on my list of places to see.
Vancouver summer weather is nice and you’re right – it doesn’t get exceptionally hot like in the southern U.S. According to a tourist site, July and August temperatures typically reach 72 Fahrenheit (22 Celsius) up to 86 Fahrenheit (30 Celsius), perhaps a little cooler right by the water. I just checked the weather for the next few days. Sunny with highs ranging from 77 to 79 Fahrenheit, but will feel like 84 – 88.
Beautiful. I’m thinking hubby and I might be able to make it that way next summer if we are able to do some preliminary house hunting in Seattle to figure out if and when we’ll move there. I love temperate rain forests. A lot of people don’t realize that the northwest corner of Montana has a similar micro-climate like Vancouver and Seattle, only with harsher winters. All that green!
I didn’t realize that the northwest corner of Montana had a similar micro-climate to Vancouver and Seattle. Hope you enjoy your visit next summer if you get there.
Oh how wonderful to view home from your perspective. Now how did I miss that public art! Unless they have erected it in the last 2 years whilst I have been travelling ! Would you agree about Vancouver being the cleanest city you have ever been to – to date?
Some of the public art has gone up in the last couple of years, but there is a lot that has been around for longer. Sometimes we walk by without even realizing it. Once I learned more about Vancouver’s public art, I paid more attention and found it everywhere.
It is amazing how much diversity you can find in one city. I’m definitely a sucker for pictures like the one at the post you posted that depict old city charm. I also like the autumn colors as we don’t really experience that where I live. It is amazing you can have beaches, and city all in one place. We have that in Los Angeles too, but it takes seeing a bunch of pictures together to realize how amazing that is.
I haven’t spent much time in Vancouver, but can’t wait for a chance to really get to know the city. Loved what I saw there and found it totally photogenic. Beautiful and interesting scenes everywhere I went. I’ll be sure to keep an eye open for film scenes next time I visit — always fun to come across them when I travel.
Gorgeous pictures Donna! I have happy memories of two visits to Vancouver, and it was fun to relive them. I’d love to see the interior of that church-turned-condos.
Donna, thank for sharing so many wonderful pictures. I’ve been to Vancouver only once, but I was able to see the Science center from the very place you took the picture! Very cool!
Kitisilano Beach looks like so much fun, too. I wish I was there instead of here right now. All we’ve been getting weather-wise is rain. For weeks. It’s sickening, and so looking at the pictures in this post was really nice. š
I’m always curious to know what the fallout will be after a big event like the olympics will be in each city. Do you think Vancouver is making use of the Olympic areas now?
Regardless, those photos are really awesome. I really hope to visit someday.
You raise an interesting question. I don’t know all of the fallout of the Vancouver Olympics, but I am aware of a couple of lasting impacts. A new light rail line was built for the Olympics. It might have been built eventually anyhow, but that sped it up. It connects the airport to downtown and is widely used. Housing for athletes was built along False Creek (scenic spot). It is now one of Vancouver’s newest residential areas with a number of condo buildings and more under construction. I’ve read that an expanded arena in Richmond, the city next to Vancouver where the airport is located, is widely used.
Wow! I’ve never been and really have no images to associate with the city. But after admiring all of your beautiful photos, I want to visit! I want to take the food truck tour, then walk it off in those woods…plant some herbs in a rooftop garden and observe all of the public art…Stay in a condo in a former church and walk along the sea wall. Seriously, Vancouver looks like an amazing city that has everything I love! Thank you for sharing your photos with us!
I have onlyspent a couple of days in Vancouver when I was boarding my cruise for Alaska, but it was easy to see that it’s an incredibly beautiful city that I would love to spend some time in. Your photos are stunning and and I enjoyed the visual tour.
Beautiful! It is so clean and green and perfect! I am longing for the time that I could travel out of my country and see all the beauty of other countries. Vancouver would be on my list, definitely! Love those hydrangeas. I have one, but it is the pink variety. I would love to have the blue one. Thank you for sharing, Donna. Your pictures made me feel like I was actually there.
Thanks Eileen. I’ve read that the acidity of the soil affects whether hydrangeas are pink or blue. I don’t know if that is true for all varieties or not.
It has been years since I visited Vancouver. Your images are amazing. I can some things have changed while others have not. I thought it was neat that a Former church turned into condos. Would love to see what they look like inside. I didn’t realize that the beaches were nice. I guess I visited the area during the fall and winter and never thought about it. Kitisilano Beach looks like a very nice beach.
I’ve never had the privilege of visiting Vancouver, but I must say Donna, since I have become regular reader of your blog I am itching to get there! I’d not known that Vancouver was listed as one of the top five moist livable cities, but it stand to reason, given what you’ve shown and taught me, that it is. Great photos again…just love them:)
Thanks Jacquie. Vancouver is worth a visit.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve been to Vancouver. It comes as no surprise that it is a very livable city. I loved it then and I know I’d love it as much now. You images give me the itch to go again and very very soon.
You will likely discover a few changes if you get to Vancouver again, but I’m sure you’ll like it as much as you did the first time,
It’s been years since my husband and I visited Vancouver. It’s one of our favorite places though. Wow – I even recognized Lion’s Gate Bridge in your pics here. Thanks for bringing up so wonderful travel memories.
I always like when someone’s photos or stories bring back travel memories for me. Glad I could do that for you.
Great photos and you seem to have captured the sunnier days. It rained all week during my last visit but I still appreciated the beauty!
I’ve been fortunate to have encountered a lot of sunny days in my visits. But there have a been some rainy days too. Still a fun place to be.
Love the picture of the church turned into condos. What a great place to live; at least from the outside. Your city is certainly a gorgeous one and easy to see why it consistently ranks in the top 10 cities of the world to live.
I would have liked to see the inside of those condos. I hope the inside is as unique as the outside.
You do such a good job with your photos and words. I’d like to visit Vancouver and see all the sites you’ve highlighted.
Thanks Beth. Vancouver is a great place to visit.
Love Vancouver! Queen Elizabeth Park is a favorite stop, not just because of the lovely restaurant there whose name escapes me at the moment!
I haven’t visited Queen Elizabeth Park yet, just driven past it, but it is on my list for my next visit. I’d hoped to get there last month, but ran out of time.
I love looking at your blog as you always visit lovely places. Vancouver looks really pretty and welcoming. For some reason I thought Vancouver would be very grey and cold so I am pleasantly surprised.
Vancouver does have its grey and rainy moments, particularly in the winter, but it also has some beautiful sunny days.
What a lovely tour, enjoyed my visit, its been too long since I’ve been to Vancouver, I need to go back again soon!
Lots to see and do in Vancouver if you make it back.
Seeing the driftwood, reminds me of the TV show, Beachcombers I used to watch as a kid.
Vancouver looks like a beautiful place; I hope I can get a chance to visit it someday.
I remember The Beachcombers. It was filmed at Gibsons, British Columbia – northwest of Vancouver.
It’s been years (and years) since we’ve been to Vancouver. Your photos have inspired me to make a return trip one day. The artistic director of Bard on the Beach, Christopher Gaze, and his wife stayed with us at our B&B in Oregon. They are lovely people and we told them one day we’d visit them on the beach, so I guess we better give it some thought!
Vancouver is a beautiful city. I attended Bard on the Beach for the first time when I visited last month. It is a lovely seating for the plays. You are under cover so you don’t get wet should it rain, although my daughter said the noise on the roof can make it harder to hear (it was clear when I attended, but my daughter has been to other performances when it rained). There is a view out behind the stage of the beach and city skyline.
Hi Donna,
Thanks for sharing these images of Vancouver. I have many of the same ones. We parked our car at King George in Surrey and took the Sky Train into Chinatown, coming out at the Millenium Gate. My brother Ken worked in the film industry for fifteen years. Another great post. Perhaps Tourism BC or Hello BC will be interested in reading your posts. It’s been a while now since getting into the big V. I really don’t care for the Port Mann parking lot at rush hour.
Kind Regards,
Bill
Thanks Bill. I know traffic getting into and out of Vancouver from the surrounding cities can be an issue. I’ve not had to contend with it, at least not in my most recent visits. I’ve stayed with my daughter in either Kitsilano or Mount Pleasant.
We lingered in Vancouver for a few days after an Alaska cruise that ended there—docked at Canada Place. Stanley Park is such a wonderful asset to the city. Your post brought back fond memories.
Glad I could bring back some fond memories, Suzanne.
I will be coaxing my husband to visit this wonderful city and your photos will help my case. That driftwood is huge and I would love roaming around looking for the perfect piece to bring home.
Vancouver is a great city to visit, Neva. There are many beaches and coastal areas in Vancouver and around Vancouver to hunt for driftwood.
What a wonderful post reflecting on so many varied aspects of this vibrant city!
Street sculptures and gourmet food vans, china town and trees growing on roofs!
Although as a nature lover I’m drawn to the sea wall you can walk along and Stanley Park š
Walking and cycling along the sea wall is popular with tourists and locals.
Great photos of, what I have always heard, is a wonderful city. Have never been but am sure it would be a nice experience.
Thanks Catarina. It’s a great city to visit if you get a chance.
Vancouver is really gorgeous, I hope I get to go there some day. I’m especially excited about the food trucks! š
It’s fun to check out the food trucks and see what they have to offer. Things I would never have expected to be offered from a food truck. I think the app where you can check which food trucks are where and currently operating is pretty cool.
Yes! to Stanley Park. I once had a fun bike ride there – and I highly recommend that activity to visitors.
Stanley Park is certainly (as it should be) one of the top visitor spots in Vancouver.
Vancouver is gorgeous! What is the weather like at this time of year. I’m sure they don’t get exceptionally hot. The architecture is nice. I must put it on my list of places to see.
Vancouver summer weather is nice and you’re right – it doesn’t get exceptionally hot like in the southern U.S. According to a tourist site, July and August temperatures typically reach 72 Fahrenheit (22 Celsius) up to 86 Fahrenheit (30 Celsius), perhaps a little cooler right by the water. I just checked the weather for the next few days. Sunny with highs ranging from 77 to 79 Fahrenheit, but will feel like 84 – 88.
Beautiful. I’m thinking hubby and I might be able to make it that way next summer if we are able to do some preliminary house hunting in Seattle to figure out if and when we’ll move there. I love temperate rain forests. A lot of people don’t realize that the northwest corner of Montana has a similar micro-climate like Vancouver and Seattle, only with harsher winters. All that green!
I didn’t realize that the northwest corner of Montana had a similar micro-climate to Vancouver and Seattle. Hope you enjoy your visit next summer if you get there.
Oh how wonderful to view home from your perspective. Now how did I miss that public art! Unless they have erected it in the last 2 years whilst I have been travelling ! Would you agree about Vancouver being the cleanest city you have ever been to – to date?
Some of the public art has gone up in the last couple of years, but there is a lot that has been around for longer. Sometimes we walk by without even realizing it. Once I learned more about Vancouver’s public art, I paid more attention and found it everywhere.
Love these images, Donna. You sure do make Vancouver an appealing place to want to visit!
Michele
Thanks Michele.
Your photos certainly tell the story; well done!!
Thanks Marilyn. Sometimes a picture is worth a 1000 words.
I love the fun photos. Makes me want to visit. I’ve only been to Robson street and found it really nice and hip city
Thanks Ruchel. It is a nice city.
Great photos Donna! I loved biking through Stanley park, and I love hydrangeas too!
Thanks Shelley.
It is amazing how much diversity you can find in one city. I’m definitely a sucker for pictures like the one at the post you posted that depict old city charm. I also like the autumn colors as we don’t really experience that where I live. It is amazing you can have beaches, and city all in one place. We have that in Los Angeles too, but it takes seeing a bunch of pictures together to realize how amazing that is.
There is a lot of diversity in Vancouver. It’s always nice to find beaches and city together.
I haven’t spent much time in Vancouver, but can’t wait for a chance to really get to know the city. Loved what I saw there and found it totally photogenic. Beautiful and interesting scenes everywhere I went. I’ll be sure to keep an eye open for film scenes next time I visit — always fun to come across them when I travel.
Vancouver certainly is a photogenic city.
Gorgeous pictures Donna! I have happy memories of two visits to Vancouver, and it was fun to relive them. I’d love to see the interior of that church-turned-condos.
Thanks Meredith. I’d love to see the interior of those condos too.
Donna, thank for sharing so many wonderful pictures. I’ve been to Vancouver only once, but I was able to see the Science center from the very place you took the picture! Very cool!
Kitisilano Beach looks like so much fun, too. I wish I was there instead of here right now. All we’ve been getting weather-wise is rain. For weeks. It’s sickening, and so looking at the pictures in this post was really nice. š
Thanks Lorraine. Kits Beach (as the local call it) is lovely. I had a lot of fun on my visit inside the Science Centre too.
I’m always curious to know what the fallout will be after a big event like the olympics will be in each city. Do you think Vancouver is making use of the Olympic areas now?
Regardless, those photos are really awesome. I really hope to visit someday.
You raise an interesting question. I don’t know all of the fallout of the Vancouver Olympics, but I am aware of a couple of lasting impacts. A new light rail line was built for the Olympics. It might have been built eventually anyhow, but that sped it up. It connects the airport to downtown and is widely used. Housing for athletes was built along False Creek (scenic spot). It is now one of Vancouver’s newest residential areas with a number of condo buildings and more under construction. I’ve read that an expanded arena in Richmond, the city next to Vancouver where the airport is located, is widely used.
Wow! I’ve never been and really have no images to associate with the city. But after admiring all of your beautiful photos, I want to visit! I want to take the food truck tour, then walk it off in those woods…plant some herbs in a rooftop garden and observe all of the public art…Stay in a condo in a former church and walk along the sea wall. Seriously, Vancouver looks like an amazing city that has everything I love! Thank you for sharing your photos with us!
Thanks. It is a beautiful city with lots to do.
I have onlyspent a couple of days in Vancouver when I was boarding my cruise for Alaska, but it was easy to see that it’s an incredibly beautiful city that I would love to spend some time in. Your photos are stunning and and I enjoyed the visual tour.
Thanks Michelle. There are lots of people whose exposure to Vancouver is via an Alaskan cruise.
I am in Canada over a decade. But, never been to Vancouver.. It is still in the bucket list. Thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures.
Thanks Bindu. Hope you get a chance to visit Vancouver.
Can’t believe we haven’t made it to Vancouver yet! Great pictures, we have to go.
Thanks. Hope you get a chance to visit Vancouver.
You definitely captured Vancouver well. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks. I wanted to include a good cross-section of Vancouver. And yet, I feel there was a lot more I could have shown. Lots of facets to Vancouver.
Beautiful! It is so clean and green and perfect! I am longing for the time that I could travel out of my country and see all the beauty of other countries. Vancouver would be on my list, definitely! Love those hydrangeas. I have one, but it is the pink variety. I would love to have the blue one. Thank you for sharing, Donna. Your pictures made me feel like I was actually there.
Thanks Eileen. I’ve read that the acidity of the soil affects whether hydrangeas are pink or blue. I don’t know if that is true for all varieties or not.
It has been years since I visited Vancouver. Your images are amazing. I can some things have changed while others have not. I thought it was neat that a Former church turned into condos. Would love to see what they look like inside. I didn’t realize that the beaches were nice. I guess I visited the area during the fall and winter and never thought about it. Kitisilano Beach looks like a very nice beach.
Thanks Arleen. Yes, the beaches are good in the summertime.