Vancouver British Columbia

Things To Do in Vancouver

 

Travel Advice from Terra Encounters

 

 



 

Sea to Sky Highway View

British Columbia (BC) provides many outdoor activities and natural wonders as well as one of the most multicultural experiences anywhere on the planet. Vancouver is a very cosmopolitan city where 43% of the people originate from Asia.    

 



Sea to Sky Highway

 

BC is a maritime province on the Pacific Ring of Fire (earthquake zone).  Further up the coast is the so-called Inside Passage with magnificent fiords carved by the glaciers of the Ice Age. 


Sea to Sky Highway before the 2010 Winter Olympics

There is a short road up the mainland coast called Sea to Sky Highway (aka Route 99).  The highway and the railroad hug the mountains as they travel north to Whistler Ski Resort.  BTW, it is dangerous to drive and ogle the scenery.  Stop at the pull-offs or viewpoints. 


  

Vancouver



Stanley Park Totem Poles

Stanley Park

 

Half of the population of BC live in the Vancouver metropolitan area. What a setting for a city hemmed in by mountains on the east, the ocean (well a strait) on the west and the U.S. border (also known as Seattle) to the south. Stanley Park is probably the number one tourist sight with unimpeded views of ocean (well strait), islands, mountains and city.  Totem poles are included along with beaches and a biking/running/hiking track all along the huge peninsula named after Lord Stanley, who also gave us the Stanley Cup (ice hockey).  Given such natural splendour, it is no wonder that the international organization Greenpeace was started right here in Vancouver. 

 

Things To Do

 

Mountains and Islands

Some of the things we plan to do in the next two weeks are visit the nearby mountain areas for views and hiking – such as the Sea to Sky Highway, Stawamus Chief Provincial Park, Garibaldi Provincial Park, and Whistler.  

 

In Vancouver itself we plan to go to Grouse Mountain, Mt Seymour, Quarry Rock (Deep Cove), Stanley Park, UBC Museum of Anthropology, VanDusen Botanical Gardens, food trucks, restaurants, Granville Island, and the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens. 

 

Cultural Diversity

 

Speaking of classical Chinese and Japanese gardens, nearly half (45%) of the Vancouverites are visible minorities and 40% are immigrants.  This is way higher than the U.S. average where 13% are immigrants.   Over 57% of the Vancouverites come from diverse ethnic groups other than the founding peoples (native Indians, English and French). 

 



Traditional East Indian Dance

Moreover, a whopping 43% of the city is Asian-Canadian – yes, that's right. Note that everyone is a hyphenated Canadian since multiculturalism is part of the fabric of society and we celebrate those differences.  Canada is one of the few countries in the world that allow dual citizenship.
 
The largest Asian ethnic groups are Chinese (19%) and East Indian (to differentiate from native Indian, are over 10%).  But I did not know that third place went to  Filipinos (5%).  After the British and French, the largest European ethnic groups are German (9%) and, another surprise, Scandinavian (5.5%, ok that's really several countries but it's still interesting). 

For tourists this means you can eat out in a different ethnic restaurant every day of the week.  If you are from another continent don't expect that you will be seen as a tourist.  You will fit right in.  Namaste. 

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Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Vancouver Island is one of the must-see places in British Columbia.  Come here to enjoy views of the coastal range across the strait from the east coast, towering massive trees in the centre and most importantly, Pacific Rim National Park and the ocean on the west coast. 

See also related post Canadian Rockies Spectacular Scenery
 



Ferry leaving Horseshoe Bay

One of our favourite places is Vancouver Island, which is the size of Belgium!  Huge ferries operate to bring tourists and trade 30 nautical miles (1:40 hrs.) across the Strait of Georgia.  You are blown away by the contrast of mountains, islands and sea.  The ferry departs from Horseshoe Bay north of Vancouver and arrives at Nanaimo, famous for its Nanaimo Bars.  This is the ferry for going to Pacific Rim National Park.  A separate ferry travels south to Victoria, the capital. 

 

 

Cathedral Grove Cedars

 Cathedral Grove

 

The road to the west coast is about three hours so take a break at Cathedral Grove Trail in MacMillan Provincial Park.  A short walk takes through a forest of towering Douglas fir trees – some more than 800 years old!   On the south side are giant Douglas firs up to 9 metres in circumference. On the north side are ancient Western red cedar as shown in the photo. 

 



Pacific Rim National Park 

 



Pacific Rim NP Beach

Pacific Rim National Park is one of the must-see places to go.  There is a great campground, if you can get a spot.  There are easy hiking trails.  But most importantly are the rocky headlands and beautiful and very long white sand beach called Long Beach.  However, no one is swimming in the frigid water.  If only the landlord would turn on the heat! 


It's a Sea Star not Starfish

But the most special thing is to check for low tide and visit the tide pools with interesting sea stars (aka starfish) and sea anemones. 
 
For more wildlife, visit nearby Tofino and take an orca (killer whale) tour.  


Pacific Rim Rocks







   

Butchart Gardens

 

Japanese Tea Garden becomes Tourist Mecca

Another must-see place is Butchart Gardens, 23 km north of the capital, Victoria. After Robert Butchart exhausted the limestone used in his cement factory, his wife Jennie, converted the pit into a Sunken Garden. Next they created a Japanese Garden.  In 1907 a 65 year old garden designer, Isaburo Kishida of Yokohama, came to build the Japanese tea garden.  This gorgeous garden is open from 0900 to 2200 hrs. in the summer and is busiest from 1100 to 1500 hrs. . 

 

Butchart Gardens Really Close-up

 

 

 

 I just realized how few photos I took in the old film days.  With digital cameras one can go wild.  Make sure you bring plenty of memory cards for your trip to BC.   

 

 

 

 

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Beautiful British Columbia Mountains

Supernatural British Columbia Mountains

That is this Canadian province's cliché tourism slogan but where else can you enjoy the great outdoors as well as have one of the most multicultural experiences anywhere on the planet. To me British Columbia is about magnificent Mountains and surging Seas.  This post is about BC Mountains, BC's huge expanse of wilderness. 

 

As we are about to fly to Vancouver for a summer vacation, we thought we would share some old photos from when we lived in nearby (for Canadian standards) Alberta.  This was our backyard and we have hiked and driven all over.  The Turkey Blog will continue after we return home.   

See also related post Jasper to Mt Robson Must See Sights

  

Lake O'Hara OMG

Imagine pushing one end of a flat piece of tissue paper towards the other fixed end. What you get is a multitude of ridges. 

Except in real life those are a series of mountain ranges from the coastal range along the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains on the border with the province of Alberta 780 km away. 

 

British Columbia (BC for short) is the same area as France and Italy combined or 20% larger than Turkey! France and Italy combined have a population of over 125 million and Turkey has over 76 million. Now imagine that BC only has 4.6 million people in an even larger land area.  

 

Yoho National Park

 

Lake O'Hara

 

Needless to say there is plenty of wildlife, scenery, hiking, trees, turquoise lakes, glaciers and rugged mountains to enjoy.  One of the most spectacular turquoise gems is Lake O'Hara in Yoho National Park. 

 

Emerald Lake truly is a gem

What makes it special is that there are no cars allowed.  You have to arrange transport to the Lake O'Hara Lodge and then start any one of a number of hikes. 

  

Emerald Lake

 

Another drop dead gorgeous gem is Emerald Lake – and you can drive right there.  In summer we walked high up around that mountain, river crossings included.  The tiny streams were engorged with spring run-off and we had to help my sister and brother-in-law cross over the raging rocks or turn around, which would have taken much longer as we were nearly at the end.  There was a huge drop-off not too far downstream. A very long trail also travels along the edge of this large lake ending at the lodge cabins below.   

 

Skiing around Emerald Lake

Oh yes, there is lots of snow and skiing in the winter.   One tip we can pass on is to ski downhill during weekdays then ski cross-country on weekends.  We skied all around Emerald Lake – it was more like hiking on skis surrounded by snow-covered mountains.   

 

Radium Hot Springs Bliss

 

 

 

Radium Hot Springs

 

Après ski you can enjoy a giant hot tub (at 37-40°C) with some friends in Radium Hot Springs.   The picture does not look like it is the middle of winter.  There is so much steam coming off the hot springs, it was quite comfy sitting in the pool. 

 

 

 

 

Glacier National Park

Abbott Ridge Looking East to Illecillewaet Glacier

 

One of our favourite national parks is Glacier National Park, which actually does have glaciers.  But the best part is that you can climb to the top of Abbot Ridge - no climbing gear required, just hiking boots.  But at the top you have an unparalleled 360° view – now that's mountain climbing! 

 

You are looking down on Illecillewaet Glacier. We brought a Swiss friend from our 3-year Round-The-World trip here and a guy from New Jersey asked if he could join us.  He enjoyed teasing her that the Rocky Mountains were way better than the tame Swiss Alps.  She thought the Alps were the best. 

 

Glacier National Park: Abbott Ridge View North

He made a point of saying he has hiked all over the world, including the Himalayas, but now every year he comes to Western Canada for his vacation. 

 

As he stated so well, in the Alps when you get to the top you see flat plains, cities and lots of people.  In the Rockies all you can see is range after range of mountains and you can count the number of people on one hand.  It was an accurate observation except that we were not in the Rocky Mountains – we were in the Selkirk Mountains. 




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