By Loukia Zigoumis
With Porter Airlines offering direct flights to one of Canada’s largest cities, there is no reason why you shouldn’t book a flight to the West Coast for your next vacation—especially if you love spending time surrounded by nature in the great outdoors—in Vancouver.
Vancouver is an all seasons destination and blends rich culture, natural beauty, and some of the best culinary experiences the country has to offer, in a city that’s vibrant, diverse, and unforgettable—complete with stunning mountain views.
Even if you’ve only got a couple of days in Van City, you can still make the most of it. Here’s what to add to your must-see-and-do list:
Where to stay
Fairmont Waterfront
Check in to the Fairmont Waterfront—a symbol of Canadian hospitality offering breathtaking harbour and mountain views combined with a blend of urban sophistication, luxury, and natural wonder. The downtown location makes it easy to get you via Skytrain from the airport, and is steps from Canada Place, Gastown, and the Stanley Park Seawall and combines an authentic gateway to the city’s wilderness while providing that gold standard of Canadian Fairmont hospitality.
While the hotel offers rooms and suites with floor to ceiling windows with views of downtown, the north shore mountains, Stanley Park, and the ocean, Fairmont Gold floor rooms offer an elevated luxurious stay; it’s essentially a hotel-within-a-hotel experience. Fairmont Gold is located on the 9th floor and includes its own reception and check-in area, a dedicated Fairmont Gold Manager to help with any request, car service, board games, books, and a private lounge with indoor and outdoor seating, and the best part: complimentary breakfast, afternoon appetizers, canapés, desserts, and beverages. The recently renovated rooms are modern, spacious, and luxurious, and include turndown service. And the views are unmatched, with floor to ceiling windows even in the large, marble bathrooms. (The Le Labo amenities, an added bonus).
Visitors will also find a rooftop garden at Fairmont Waterfront—one of the city’s first green roofs with its honeybee apiary complete with bee hives where honey, herbs, fruits and vegetables are harvested. You can find those rooftop ingredients in the handcrafted food and cocktails in the hotel’s ARC Restaurant, and the hotel’s signature Province to Plate menu. Guests at the Fairmont Waterfront can take a tour of the ‘bee pollinator hotel’ on the third floor, which provides habitat for the hundreds of species of solitary bees native to British Columbia. Fairmont Waterfront was the first Fairmont Hotel to introduce bees to their garden in 2008.
In addition to the third floor rooftop garden and ‘bee hotel’, guests can enjoy swimming in the hotel’s year-round heated rooftop pool, and recharge with wellness activities like poolside meditation, yoga, sound bathing, and polar plunges.
Where to Explore
The Seawall
Did you know that Vancouver has the world’s longest uninterrupted waterfront path? The Seawall is a scenic path known for its beautiful stunning ocean and mountain views and it’s a popular spot for walking and cycling.
Cyclists start at Coal Harbour (across from Fairmont Waterfront) and continue through Brockton Point all the way past the Lion’s Gate Bridge. Along the way, there are places to stop to check out the views, like the famous Siwash Rock (a 32 million-year-old sea stack), Third Beach, Second Beach, and Lost Lagoon. The Stanley Park Seawall is perfect for cyclists of all abilities, as the entire length is flat, making for an easy and scenic route. It is busy year-round but offers enough space so it never feels crowded.
Bonus: Fairmont Waterfront hotel provides complimentary bicycles and helmets for all guests.
Stanley Park
Stanely Park is the largest urban park in Vancouver—and one of the most popular tourist spots in the city, considered an ‘urban oasis’ with breathtaking ocean and forest views. Stanley Park is full of scenic trails, beautiful trees, flowers, wildlife, dining options, and more and visitors can take in the famous landmarks, monuments, First Nations totem poles, gardens, and family friendly attractions.
For a more intimate experience of Stanley Park, book yourself a personalized and educational guided Talking Trees tour with Talaysay Tours—owned and operated by a mother-daughter duo, (Sechelt and Squamish Nation members) bringing a personal connection to their tours, sharing stories of the First Nations’ cultural connection to the trees and plants of the Northwest Coast. Visitors can enjoy nature while learning about the culinary and medicinal uses of Northwest foliage, and get a deeper understanding about cultural history and scientific knowledge about the Northwest coast trees, the land, and its people.
Granville Island
Millions visit Granville Island every year—one of the most popular public spaces in the city and Vancouver’s premier artistic and cultural hub located in an urban, waterfront location. There is a lot to explore, from the unique shops, restaurants, and performing arts and cultural festivals year-round, but the Public Market, home to over 50 independent food vendors, is where you’ll want to spend most of your time so you can explore all the tasty treats, desserts, fresh baked bread, pasta, and so much more. From delicious macarons at Bon Macaron to Nanaimo bars at Northern Bars, and The Lemon Square for their ever-so popular lemon squares (they ship across Canada!) it’ll be the tastiest part of your trip to Van City. Granville Island is a great place to gather with friends for lunch or dinner, and there is indoor and outdoor seating areas to enjoy all the delicious food.
Where to Dine
Salmon n’ Bannock is Vancouver’s only Indigenous owned and run restaurant, serving authentic flavours crafted into modern dishes using traditional Indigenous ingredients. At this charming restaurant, you’ll enjoy a variety of dishes, including bannock (a type of bread), smoked salmon, and venison. The restaurant also features artwork and decor that showcases Indigenous culture and history.
Dinner at ARC Restaurant in the Fairmont Waterfront is a culinary experience led by Executive Chef Harris Sakalis. Their famous and award-winning Bottomless Brunch is what keeps people coming back time and time again, along with ARC’s signature Province-to-Plate menu, featuring fresh, seasonal dishes inspired by the hotel’s rooftop garden and crafted with ingredients from local growers and producers. In addition to the excellent cuisine and service, guests and visitors can enjoy the stunning harbour and mountain views from the restaurant’s unique, curved space, and spacious, comfortable seating.
