Map of Vancouver Downtown, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Vancouver is Canada’s fastest-growing metropolis, and a city of magical contradictions – from rough-and-tumble Hastings Street, where timeworn brickwork still exudes a wild, beer-for-a-dime, seaport-town atmosphere, to trendy Robson Street, with its futuristic Japanese noodle houses and haute couture. Vancouver has long touted itself as Canada’s gateway to the Pacific Rim, and for decades, waves of immigrants have broken on its shore.

Vancouver, its residents are fond of saying, is one of the few cities in the world where you can go skiing and sailing on the same day. How remarkable, then, that it should also be one of the few where, sitting outside a Neapolitan cafe, you can eavesdrop on an impassioned argument in Hungarian and see graffiti in Khmer. Most major cities have a mixed heritage, yet few can claim to have attracted a more diverse cross section of humanity than Vancouver. The city seems living proof that a benign environment will produce an easygoing disposition.

Maps of the Vancouver Area

Information on nearby Towns and Regions