Things to do in Vancouver

I often get asked for recommendations for things to do/eat in Vancouver, so I decided to just compile a list of my favorites here. I hope it’s useful!

The outdoors

Hikes. I highly recommend you download All Trails. You might need a car to access some of these. Some options:

• Lynn Valley has a lot of trails and you can build your own hike. I recommend going to the (free) suspension bridge and the 30 foot pool (short and easy).
• Quarry Rock at Deep Cove. Easy and short. Go to Honey Donuts after!
• The Grouse grind. More a workout than a hike but there are restaurants (and a Grizzly bear sanctuary) at the top. Accessible by bus. Medium difficulty—you have to climb like 2800 steps.
• Eagle Bluffs and St Mark’s Summit at Cypress mountain. More difficult. (Stop at the Cypress lookout for a great view of the city.)
• Pump Peak at Mount Seymour. Even more difficult.
• Garibaldi Lake. Haven’t done it but it’s 18km round trip. You also need a park pass.

Parks.

• Stanely Park. You can hike around the trails, go to the aquarium, or Prospect Point, or Lost Lagoon, or Beaver Lake, or the rose garden. Amazing place.
• Pacific Spirit Park. Lots of trails for easy hiking. Very peaceful.
• Queen Elizabeth Park. There’s an aviarium at the top, and also really nice views of the city.

Gardens.

• Nitobe Memorial Garden at UBC. Gorgeous Japanese garden. Please go.
• UBC botanical garden.
• Rose garden at UBC. Beautiful ocean and mountain views.
• Van Dusen botanical garden. They have a maze and beautiful lights during winter nights.

Beaches.

• In downtown: English Bay. The best one in town. Sunset beach nearby too. This is a beautiful part of Vancouver to walk around. You can even walk to third beach in Stanley Park.
• Near Kits: Kits beach, Jericho beach, Spanish Banks.
• Wreck beach at UBC. Clothing optional. Amazing sunsets and you can walk towards Spanish beach.

Others.

• Cycling. Vancouver is an amazing place to bike around. You can get a Mobi bike or rent a better bike near Stanley Park, e.g., from English Bay Bike Rentals. I recommend the 11km loop around Stanley Park. Totally flat and very scenic with ocean and mountain views all the time. If you want more interesting road routes, check this webpage. I particularly enjoy cycling to Horseshoe Bay, to Deep Cove, and to Steveston. During the summer, you can also climb Seymour, Cypress, and Grouse mountains (in order of difficulty from hard to easy).
• Running. Vancouver is also an incredible city for running. I believe that running on the seawall around Stanley Park is something that every runner should experience at least once. The seawall extends to False Creek and also to Kits, with mostly uninterrupted and car-less paths. The trails in Stanley Park and Pacific Spirit are also great, but if you want trail runs with more elevation, look no further than the North Shore.

Museums and galleries

• Museum of Anthropology at UBC. My favorite. Highly recommended.
• Vancouver Maritime Museum. Close second. They have a huge, old ice-breaking ship that you can get on (and it’s super well preserved—you can see the crew’s cabins and all). They also have many display ship models.
• MacMillan Space Centre has a super cool star theater with really interesting viewings.
• Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC. Has the largest blue whale in North America.
• Museum of Vancouver. It’s okay.
• Science World. Pretty fun.
• Art Gallery. Not the best in the world but worth the visit depending on the curation.
• Polygon Gallery. Rotates frequently, but I like it. Go for coffee to Nemesis!

Food

Ramen. The ramen scene in Vancouver is insanely good. You will probably not go wrong no matter where you go, but here are some options that I have tried and liked:

• Maruhachi. They have a chicken broth; probably my goto ramen around. Their veggie curry broth is good too.
• Santouka. Excellent pork broth, but their veggie option is not as good as Maruhachi.
• Tonkotsu. Also another great option, but lacking in veggie options.
• Kintaro. Good ramen but more than anything big portions.
• Danbo. Allegedly the best one in Vancouver, but in my experience it’s just… good. There’s almost always a line too, which in my opinion is not worth it.
• Kinton at UBC. Surprisingly good ramen given that it’s on campus (but noticeably worse than all the above).

Sushi. Sushi in Vancouver is incredibly good, and often the best bang for your buck cuisine around. My goto places:

• Simply Sushi Bar in Kits. Excellent sushi without a premium price. Mom and pop so expect a slightly slow service during peak hours (but still worth it).
• Osaka. Their mix roll combo is huge and really good. Tons of good veggie options.
• Big Bang. Probably one of my favorites around, although the veggie options are not that great.
• Tom sushi. Considered by many one of the best in town. I think it’s great but doesn’t necesarilly stand out.
• Yummy to go. Cheap and quick. Not the best around but it’s still very good and close to my place so I go there a lot.
• Koi. The best sushi close to UBC. It is very cheap and quite decent. You get 10% off if you pay cash, too.
• Ton Ton. Good for bento boxes and combos like that. Close to Queen Elizabeth Park if you’re in that area.
• Kisha Poppo. $25 all-you-can-eat! But very out of the way.

Korean. A lot of great options.

• Kosoo. Best Korean pleace in town I think. They have two locations, one for Korean food and another specifically for fried chicken.
• Mumu for fried chicken.
• Sura.
• Disco Cheetah has good fried chicken too.

Breweries. The beer scene in Vancouver is also great. Any liquor store will have goodies. I like Dark Matter (from Hoyne brewery), most stuff from Russell brewing and Yellow Dog, Blue Buck (from Phillips), and 33 Acres.

If you want to go to a brewery, I recommend Steamworks in Gastown. Love the place and the beer (especially their red lager, nitro stout, lager, pilsner, and their IPA). Honorable mention to Faculty and to Craft. If you go to Port Moody, there are many awesome breweries there too.

Coffee Shops.

Franchises: Tim Hortons (bad coffee but a staple). Elysian. 49th Parallel. JJ Bean (great choco chip cookies). Breka (open 24/7, pastries are awesome).

Non-franchises: Amoka (they have Mexican pastries like conchas). Oak Tree. Loafe and Great Dane at UBC. Grounds for Coffee (best cinnabon buns I have ever tried). Isetta if you go to West Vancouver is awesome.

Specialty coffee shops that don’t roast their own beans:

• Oidé is the best coffee shop around town in my opinion. They carry some amazing brands and have them for espresso and pour over.
• Revolver in Gastown is also awesome and they carry pretty interesting beans.
• Luminé in Kits has a pour over machine, which is cool. Despite not roasting their beans, they carry exclusively Canadian-roasted beans, which is great.
• Not a coffee shop but Welk’s on Main Street has an amazing coffee section. They sell everything from grinders, scales, and brewers to (Kinto) cups and servers. They also carry a ton of great local beans, including House of Funk, Nemesis, Agro, and Pallet.

Specialty coffee shops that roast their own beans (buy local!):

• Prototype is top notch. If you are looking for a good pour over, Prototype has the biggest selection for in-house brewing.
• Nemesis is great. If you can, go to their Great Northern Way location; it’s beautiful.
• Modus on Broadway. Small shop but don’t be fooled: they’re coffee is top notch.
• Analog, Pallet, or Kafka if you’re in Downtown.
• Timbertrain (the one in Port Moody is like a weird real estate exposition).
• Agro is the cheapest good quality specialty coffee roaster but I’ve never been to their coffee shop.

Specialty coffee shops I haven’t gone to but want to: Single V in Burnaby (got a beautiful Wilton Benitez from them). Botany Rd in the Sunshine Coast (good road trip; hit Sunday Cider and Persephone Brewing too!). Sunny M and R Ki in Richmond.

Check out Vancouver Coffee Snob for more recommendations.

Brunch. Many good options around, but also many overhyped places.

• Red Umbrella. The best one around in my opinion. Their eggs benny are superb, but so is everything else.
• Craffles. Probably my goto place. The owners are Brazilian and so the recipes have a nice twist. I like their tapioca crepes and their eggs benny (which come on top of a waffle instead of an English muffin). Their milkshakes are insane if that’s your kind of thing.
• Jam Cafe and Fable. The two most popular options in Vancouver and, in my opinion, very overrated. Jam always has a line and their eggs benny are just… not great? Their sweet stuff servings are huge, though—pancakes the size of a cake. Fable is also very popular but I think it’s… just okay.

Ice cream.

• Earnest. Amazing every single time. Their cookies and cream is my favorite.
• Rain or Shine. A notch below Earnest, but their housemade waffle cones make up for it in my opinion.
• La Glace. Their strawberry shortcake is otherwordly.

Mexican. Listen. If you want the real Mexican experience, you probably won’t get it in Vancouver. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t great places.

• Machete. My favorite around. Their signature dish is huge and tastes like… home.
• Carnitas Don José. These carnitas taste like home.
• Tamaly. Highly recommend their brunch, which has many classic Mexican dishes.
• Lucha Libre. Good tacos—I particularly enjoyed their suadero.
• Toloache. Also a good option. Their tortilla soup is great.
• Margaritas. Surprisingly good.
• Avoid: La Taquería (overpriced), Tacofino (lame tacos).

Others:

• Legendary Noodles. Name is accurate.
• East is East for Afghan fusion. They have an all-you-can-eat curry thing that I love.
• Granville Island. So much nice food.
• Pad Thai at Granville Island. Expensive-ish but very good.
• Pad Thai at Thai Basil. Cheap but surprisingly good.
• Slim’s BBQ. Great bbq, amazing cornbread.
• Kinara for Indian.
• Pizza: don’t eat pizza in Vancouver. If you insist, Novo or Crema (yeah the coffee place in North Vancouver has one of the best pizzas in town.)