Things to Do in Vancouver + Metro Vancouver

This is a list I’ve been working on for friends visiting Vancouver. If you have any suggestions or feedback please feel free to leave a comment, :).

To do

North Shore

• Where I grew up!
• Things to do
  • Lonsdale Quay
  • Ambleside Park
  • Take the Seabus to and from Vancouver
    • Nice ride with great views!
• Nature

• Grouse Mountain
  • Grouse Grind, intense hike up to the top of the mountain. You can also take the gondola if you’d rather not hike your way up.
  • Lumberjack show at the top
  • See wolves and bears
• Capilano Suspension Bridge
  • Nice suspension Bridge
  • Walk amongst the trees
• Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge
  • Nice hike in the woods
  • Free Suspension Bridge
  • Waterfalls
• Deep Cove
  • Baden Powell Trail, Quarry Rock is a short hike with a great view
  • Kayaking
  • Cute little town
• Lighthouse Park
  • Really nice hike and lighthouse by the water

UBC/Point Grey

• Things to do
  • Museum of Anthropology
    • Amazing collection of wonderful things to see here + the surrounding grounds are beautiful!
    • Home – Museum of Anthropology at UBC
  • Beatty Biodiversity Museum
    • There is an ENTIRE whale skeleton in here and tons of amazing specimens in their collection.
    • Welcome to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum (ubc.ca)
  • Visit 
    • Irving and Kearny libraries
    • The Student Union Building
    • Rose Garden
    • Chemistry Building second floor
      • Wayfinding at UBC Vancouver
      • Stained glass windows
• Nature
  • Pacific Spirit Regional Park
    • Huge forest on University Endowment lands that you can hike in
  • Wreck Beach is nice to visit and has quite a nice view at sunset
    • Note that this is a nudist beach
  • Nitobe Memorial Garden – UBC Botanical Garden
    • Beautiful little garden on campus. So peaceful and quiet here, :).
  • Botanical Gardens at UBC are nice as well

Downtown Vancouver

• Things to do
  • Visit
    • Gastown
      • Hipster part of Vancouver
      • Cobblestone streets
      • Steam clock
      • Fancy coffee bars and silly fashion stores
    • Coal Harbour
      • Beautiful neighbourhood by the water
      • Pathway along the water that leads to Stanley park
    • Canada Place
      • Convention Centre by the water
      • Pathway by the water
      • Olympic Flame
    • Granville Island
      • Cool little island made from a sandbar
      • Used to be industrial now full of small artisan workplaces and cool shops
      • Visit the Granville Island Market
      • Improv at the Theatre on the Island is also very good.
    • Kitsilano/West 4th
      • Nice part of the city with restaurants and good shopping
      • Lots of streets named after trees
    • Granville Street
      • Street where pretty much all the clubs are located in Downtown Vancouver
    • Robson Street
      • Best known for shopping and food
      • Good ramen here
    • English Bay
      • Nice beach by Stanley Park with beautiful views
    • Commercial Drive
      • Quirky part of the city with a lot of small businesses
      • Similar to the Mission in SF
  • Activities
    • Bike through the city. A common route is to bike along the Seawall. You can also extend that ride through Stanley Park to pass through English Bay and over the Burrard Street bridge.
    • Visit Granville Island Market
      • Tons of small vendor stalls. Lots of great food & produce.
    • Vancouver Art Gallery
    • Walk around Canada Place, check out the Convention Centre
      • Try out Fly Over Canada
      • Top Indoor ‘Outdoor Experience’ in Vancouver: FlyOver Canada
    • Play disc golf!
      • At Queen Elizabeth Park Little Mountain Disc Golf Course-Q.E. Park | Professional Disc Golf Association (pdga.com)
    • Visit the Vancouver Aquarium
      • Home :: Vancouver Aquarium (vanaqua.org)
      • The cutest otters you’ll ever see live here!
    • Science World
      • Science museum kind of similar to the Exploratorium – tons of fun to spend a couple hours in and learn some new stuff, :).
      • Today – Science World
    • Van Dusen Botanical Gardens
      • Beautiful botanical garden in the city!
• Nature
  • Stanley Park
    • Amazing park that represents a big chunk of the city
    • You should bike around the Seawall!
    • Visit the Vancouver Aquarium if you like aquariums
  • English Bay

Food

Overall Recommendations

• Ask for Luigi
  • AMAZING Italian food
• Bon’s off Broadway
  • Crazy cheap breakfast diner, very colourful
• Heritage Asian Eatery
  • Delicious Asian food. Get the Dandan Noodles, duck wings and crispy dumplings
• Jade Garden
  • Love this Chinese food place on the North Shore. My favourites are the Hot & Sour Soup, Crispy Ginger Fried Beef and Pad Thai Fried Flat Noodle
• Nam Nam Noodle | Home | Nam Nam Noodle (square.site)
  • Extraordinary hand pulled noodles at great prices.
• Indian Village Eatery
  • The best Indian food I’ve had in Vancouver. Affordable, delicious and you can see them make your food. The most friendly and warm legit Indian ladies making your fantastic food.
• Go Fish
  • Amazing fish & chips by Granville island. Beautiful views and you can get many different varieties of fish. I always go for the salmon, :D. Their coleslaw is great too!
• Bao Bei
  • Taiwanese food in Chinatown
• Meat and Bread
  • Simple and delicious sandwiches. Lunch rush is a bit crazy during weekdays but if you work around that you should be good!
• Phnom Penh Restaurant
  • Great Vietnamese food. Make sure to get their chicken wings!
• Richmond Night Market
  • If this is running, this is a fun spot to visit for a couple hours. Try out some of the night market foods, :D!
• Savio Volpe | Home – Savio Volpe
  • Astonishingly good place to eat. Their food is expensive but delicious. But everything I ate there was fantastic.
• HK BBQ Master | HK B.B.Q. MASTER
  • Fantastic BBQ pork for a great price. Highly recommend eating here.
  • Cash only (although there is an ATM in the Superstore above)
• Kim’s Market | KIM’S MART 
  • Legit Korean grocery off Broadway. If you need to shop for groceries you can get some well priced stuff here and explore some Korean snacks!
• purebread | https://www.purebread.ca/
  • This is my favourite bakery in Vancouver by far. Their stuff is SO good and SO beautiful. Definitely on the pricey side but if you can afford it it is worth it. I recommend visiting their Mount Pleasant location
  • 5 E 5th Avenue, Vancouver

Surrey

• Go here for Indian food

Richmond

• Go here for Chinese food

Kingsway

• Go here for Vietnamese food

Lonsdale

• Go here for Iranian food

Other Locations to Visit (Further Treks)

Whistler

• Excellent skiing and snowboarding in the winter
• Great hikes and mountain biking in the summer
• Beautiful mountain resort town

The Chief

• Awesome hike up to the top of a massive granite face. Cool views.
• Will take 2-3 hours depending on fitness

Squamish

• Town on the way to Whistler. Many outdoor activities
• Related activities
  • Sea to Sky Gondola
    • Sea to Sky Gondola | Squamish | Sea to Sky Gondola
    • Fantastic Views
  • Britannia Mine Museum
    • Britannia Mine Museum: Award-winning Museum and National Historic Site
    • Museum of an old mine – super cool!

Victoria

• Capital city of British Columbia
• Really nice place to visit for a day or two
• Beautiful heritage buildings
• Better weather than Vancouver
• Lots of museums and such

Various Islands near Vancouver

• Take the ferries to access these
• Mix of beautiful nature, cute little towns
• Totally different lifestyle from the mainland. Much slower and more down to earth.
• Some islands to consider
  • Bowen Island
  • Galiano Island
  • Saltspring Island