Recent reviews Vancouver
[magdadh, 17/11/2010] Five minutes walk from our Vancouver hosts' house, and ten minutes from Commercial / Broadway intersection and Skytrain stop is Gojo cafe. We saw it on the way to the train several times, always closed at the time, and became intrigued by the fact that it was an Ethiopian place and as we never had Ethiopian food before, we were rather curious about it.
Coming home late one night we saw it open, not too busy but not completely empty either, and decided to walk in.
The place is friendly, comfortable, cosy even (but without any of the twee implications of the concept of cosiness), with a love
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[magdadh, 17/11/2010] Granville Island is an area in Vancouver, opposite the downtown on the southern side of the False Creek, known for its shops, market, marina and other, mostly leisure-oriented businesses. Granville Island is a peninsula actually, and it's located pretty much under the southern end of the Granville Street Bridge.
Granville Island divides people and provokes extreme opinions. Many tourists flick to it en masse, enticed by its listing as one of the Vancouver's major visitors' attractions and the promise of interesting shopping and good food. To be fair, it's not just a tourist area, and many lo
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[magdadh, 16/11/2010] Vancouver Lookout is a viewpoint over the downtown city of Vancouver and Vancouver Port, located at the top of the Harbour Centre, otherwise unremarkable office block in central Vancouver. The circular lookout (as well as the unrelated Top of Vancouver restaurant) sit in a strange flying-saucer type edifice added to the top of a normal, square block. It looks quite unassuming from outside, and the 130m elevation sounds distinctly unimpressive in comparison to many other towers and lookouts in major cities, but the views are excellent and the whole lookout proves that you don't necessarily nee
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[magdadh, 16/11/2010] Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia displays a rich collection of artefacts and artworks of Canadian indigenous inhabitants (particularly the First Nations of the Pacific North West) as well as major ethnographical collections from other world cultures.
The MOA's building is a purpose-built, strikingly modern construction designed by Arthur Erickson inspired by post and beam architecture of the Pacific West Coast (although built mostly of concrete). There is quite a bit of woodland nearby and around the MOA, and recently a reflecting pool has been added in fron
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[magdadh, 16/11/2010] Vancouver Aquarium is rightly considered to be the west-coast city's prime tourist attraction. Situated in the splendid Stanley Park, with a fountain adorned with a beautiful bronze by the most celebrated Native Canadian artist Bill Reid, a visit to the aquarium impresses from the very beginning.
Inside there are several areas devoted to various ecosystems, both inside and outside. The native displays include Pacific Canada (one vast tank with fish and other creatures from the Straits of Georgia), Arctic Canada (live and non-live displays including belugas), The Wild Coast (outdoors area that
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[magdadh, 16/11/2010] YWCA Vancouver is far from old-fashioned imagery of YWCA / YMCA hostels for penniless youth and homeless. It is, in fact, modern budget hotel suitable for all types of money-conscious travellers and often used by organised tours (which might be an inducement or a put-off depending on what you feel about being surrounded by a bus-load of elderly Americans). And of course you don't have to be Christian, female or young to stay here.
Tours or not, YWCA's block rises over 10 storeys on the edge of Vancouver's bustling downtown and thus the YWCA has a prime location, great for walking the city and
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[magdadh, 15/11/2010] This really is a fantastic park, combining all kinds of things: patches of almost-real woodland, parts that are landscaped like normal parkland, waterside, adventure playparks, walking, jogging, and attractions incluidng Vancouver's excellent Aquarium.
All of this in the middle of a large city, easily accessible, and very pretty.
All in all, superb.
[magdadh, 14/11/2010] I wonder why New World cities have those overground trains so much more often than European ones? Whatever the reason, they are pretty good and Vancouver's Skytrain is no exception, combining efficiency and speed of underground with a sight-seeing potential(ie views) of a bus or a tram.
Tickets are affordable, stations well mainatined, and trains frequent.
All in all, not particularly interesting attraction, but a practical and usable public transport option.
[magdadh, 14/11/2010] This is a very nice park, especially the Japanese looking section and the fountain and area around it. The added bonus are great (and free!) views over Vancouver and towards the mountains.
The old glasshouse dome looks cool from outside, though I think it doesn't offer enough inside to warrant the entry charge.
[Champ, 08/05/2009] its great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[AndrewPo, 19/03/2009] The Rocky Mountaineer runs from Vancouver and Jasper through the Rockies and was a train billed as being one of the best in the world, compared to The Orient Express both in terms of style, luxury and food. I have not been on The Orient Express, but I doubt this to be entirely true. There are two classes of travel: Red-Leaf and Gold-Leaf. We were advised, by the travel agent to take the lower class on the basis that the view is the same and the food still very good, and it is far less expensive. This proved to be false economy and requested an upgrade to Gold Leaf for the second day, where th
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[jo145, 30/08/2008] Great hotel in good position for Downtown Vancouver and close to Harbour for cruise ships. Good food and comfortable rooms, with pool and gym for keeping fit.
Choice of restaurants with good food in both the main restaurant or Coal harbour Lounge bar.
