Vancouver, British Columbia 72-Hour Vacation

Vancouver, set on the wild Pacific Ocean and embraced by the Coast Mountains, is rated one of the world’s most desirable cities to visit or live in. With an outdoor spirit as its calling card, urban nomads find their way here to climb mountains, comb beaches, crisscross old warehouse districts, hunt down the local farmers’ markets, indulge the senses with outdoor theatre, and savor pristine seafood on waterside patios.

Luring travelers for decades, the weather in this Pacific Northwest city is the mildest in all of Canada with a mean temperature of 50° F, thanks to warm ocean currents and major weather patterns that bring moist air in waves year-round off the Pacific Ocean. Higher elevations experience the precipitation as snow, which translates into fantastic skiing at three major ski areas: the Grouse, Cypress and Hollyburn Mountains. Lying less than 20 minutes from downtown, Grouse Mountain is accessible via Skyride Gondola for breathtaking views to the south of the lower mainland and Washington State's San Juan Islands. Or you can hike the Grouse Grind, a 1.8-mile long hiking trail winding from the foot of Grouse to the top. In winter, this is a popular ski resort during the day; night skiing (until 11 p.m.) is even more dramatic with city lights spread out and sparkling far below.

Grouse Mountain

People visit and immigrate to Vancouver from everywhere, particularly from Asia, making the city's multi-cultural menus among the best in the world. Seafood from the Pacific Ocean was long the staple food of the coastal native peoples who thrived here, and Vancouver's modern residents value it just as much today on their dining tables. The generous ocean yields succulent Dungeness crab, Spot Prawns, five species of wild salmon, and oysters in their freshest incarnations on the tables of the hippest restaurants in the city. If you want to experience fresh new culinary styles along with international and British Columbia wines in an outdoor paradise, paired with a sophisticated city environment and a liberal attitude, this urban metropolis has few equals. For the budget-minded diner in 2010, Tourism Vancouver promotes Dine Out Vancouver, with $18, $28 and $38 three-course dinners from April 26 to May 6 at many of the city's top restaurants.

Vancouver is noted worldwide for its colorful and quaint neighborhoods such as Gastown, Chinatown, Yaletown and Granville Island. Its most famous sites include the world-class Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park, the Capilano Suspension Bridge, the Granville Island Public Market and Lions Gate Bridge. It's also known as an excellent walking city. Locals all seem to bike, run, rollerblade, skateboard, snowboard (on the nearby mountains), swim, sail, kayak, dive, climb and hike in droves. Better still, you can do as the natives do and experience another side of Vancouver by renting a mountain bike to tour various sites. For those who love boats, hop aboard an inexpensive water taxi or an Aquabus to zip from one area to another.

The range of hotels in Vancouver is wide, and many rank in the top tier. Visitors of all tastes and budgets should have no trouble finding quarters to their liking. Stellar accommodations can be found at the Opus Hotel, Pan Pacific, Pacific Palisades Hotel, The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Fairmont Waterfront, and Sutton Place Hotel. Many fine smaller hotels, B&Bs, and motels are also available in all price categories.

DAY 1

You'll want to spend your first day close to the water. For most of us, just taking a ferry is an outing. But taking the Aquabus to the 37-acre heart-of-the-city Granville Island for breakfast is a novel and adventurous way to start the day. Set to coincide with the 2010 Olympics in February, Aquabus is introducing two new thirty-passenger vessels and the use of high-tech submersible cameras and special LED screens to bring the secrets of the underwater world around Granville Island to the surface. The boat gets around safely, offers a beautiful maritime perspective of the city and, for $3 ($5 return), is the best deal in town. You can pick it up at the Yaletown stop in False Creek and ride it to Granville Island (Travelers Note: Bikes are welcome aboard the Aquabus on all routes at no additional charge). You can also take a half-hour mini-cruise for $7. Once you arrive on Granville Island, you'll discover a thriving public market built below the Granville Bridge on what was once an industrial wasteland. It's an arty scene, with bustling arts and crafts enterprises and lovely views. On any given day, the best shows in town are the buskers. Found on street corners and oceanfront decks on the Island, Vancouver’s talented buskers juggle, dance, perform magic, play the sounds of music from around the world, and always appreciate donations. They have been ranked with the buskers of London’s Covent Garden, the most famous buskers in the world.

Ferries in the water on Granville Island

Come summertime, various festivals and musical events also happen on Granville Island. It's the place to go in Vancouver for a progressive breakfast or lunch of artisan breads and pastries, cheeses, pâtés and luscious fruits, berries and more. Granville Island also boasts three of the best outdoor patios in Vancouver. Sandbar’s waterside rooftop deck at the 300-seat seafood spot is open year-round; in winter, diners take advantage of the roaring fire and the cozy blankets. Everyone knows their signature dish is cedar-planked wild salmon, but few are aware of the superlative sushi bar (open Tuesday through Saturday) tucked into the main floor. At sea level, Bridges’ umbrella-decked space is one of the city’s hangouts where people watching is almost as popular as the views of False Creek and the North Shore Mountains. Or, for a casual seafood lunch, it’s a five-minute walk to Go Fish! on Fishermen’s Wharf. There's also the Kids Market, the free Granville Island Water Park, and a number of small shops selling myriad intriguing crafts and gifts. Local artists produce and sell innovative textiles, pottery, furniture and even custom designed eyeglasses. Keep watch for Granville Eyeland, where German-born Klaus Sëbok has hand-crafted lenses for Robin Williams and Elton John. Granville Island also hosts many outdoor recreation specialists building custom bikes, kayaks and canoes.

Kits Beach

After lunch, hail a cab and head west to Kitsilano, a.k.a. Kits. It takes the prize as a funky, fun neighborhood whose main shopping thoroughfare, Fourth Avenue, put Kits on the map as Canada's answer to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury. Since the '60s and '70s, it has become yuppified and now includes trendy clothing boutiques and home accessory stores as replacements for counterculture coffeehouses and incense dens. Nearby Kits Beach offers fantastic views of the city and is also a pleasant spot to hang out, watch some volleyball and relax. Kitsilano Pool is the largest outdoor saltwater pool in North America, with lanes for serious swimmers and a separate section for young splashers. On the south side of the pool you'll find Kitsilano Showboat, a venue for amateur dancing and singing troupes that's been operating every summer since 1935. For dinner, head back to Fourth Avenue to Trattoria Italian Kitchen for the city's best bargain prices for panzanella, pasta and Kobe meatballs. For a different perspective, especially an hour before sunset, head to Jericho, Locarno and Spanish Banks beaches when downtown’s distant skyscrapers gleam a brilliant gold.

Continue to Day 2