Welcome back again – our “What to Do on the weekend” series continues with the “What to Do in Vancouver” edition – as always things are a little bit different 🙂
To give you a first impression of what to expect in beautiful Canada I have compiled a collection of the “must do’s” in and around Vancouver.
For now we’ll have a closer look at the typical and highly recommended tourist attractions in Downtown Vancouver.
Gastown: a historic and beautiful place to enjoy your day and eat nice food. My recommendation is Peckinpah as they have nice burgers, and this location is a really cool place in the middle of Gastown. If you like to have a coffee with friends in one of the many cute cafés try the Nutella latte, it’s so delicious. Also really famous is the Old Spaghetti Factory – you can try one (or even two 😉 ) of the famous pastas.
Additionally, there are a lot of pubs where under normal circumstances the INTERNeX pubnights take place. Every pub has their own specials such as a bingo night where you can win prices like alcohol for free 🙂 You also have lots of possibilities for window shopping and of course to buy souvenirs for friends and family.
Have a look at the steam clock, a famous landmark. Every hour this clock plays a sound and shoots steam. It’s also a nice place for taking typical tourist pictures.
Vancouver Lookout: This attraction is just a few minutes walk away from Gastown. It’s an observation tower where you have an amazing view over Vancouver, the ocean and the mountains in North Vancouver. I highly recommend going on top of the tower by night to see all the lights of the city.
Next to the tower make a stop at famous Canada Place. A huge building resembling a ship. Sometimes there’s an open air cinema taking place. It is an awesome and of course romantic experience watching a movie outdoors in front of the skyline and the mountains.
Fly over Canada: Do you want to save some money but don’t give up the experience seeing Vancouver (or even other hilarious places on earth) from above? Then this might be a perfect attraction for you. Its an 4D cinema located in the Canada Place. There are huge signs in front of it, I’m sure you’ll find it easily.
Shopping: Additionally, Vancouver downtown has plenty of great places for a shopping trip to offer. Most of the shops are located on Robson street. My personal tip is to visit the shopping mall Pacific Centre, where you might find great special offers and sale articles in a city that, to be honest, is very expensive.
Science World: You may have already spotted the huge globe shown in so many pictures of Vancouver. This is Science World, a science museum with interactive permanent and changing attractions located at the east end of False Creek. It presents plenty of cool science-learning opportunities especially for families, however, people of all ages are welcome.
Vancouver Art Gallery: Since this city has so much to offer and is really open-minded to everyone of course there is something for our art lovers as well. The Vancouver Art Gallery is the largest public art museum in Western Canada presents the work of artists from all over the world.
Watching Hockey at Rogers Arena:
Go Canucks Go! For all the sports freaks 🙂 as you may know Canada is really popular for professional ice hockey. If you get the chance to see a Vancouver Canucks game at Rogers Arena (a huge stadium right in the downtown area), make sure you use it. The feeling of being in the middle of enthusiastic Canadians – especially during the national anthem- is completely overwhelming and so much fun.
Have a nice day 🙂
Cheers,
– Tatjana
INTERNeX International Exchange
2005-689 Abbott St., Vancouver, BC, V6B 0J2
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com
Do you always have plans on Tuesday nights? No problem, you can also watch an outdoor movie on Thursdays at the Waterfront Cinema at Canada Place. Movies are shown until the end of August. Tomorrow, from 9.10pm on, the movie COCO will be on the screen. You can find the entire movie line-up 
Why spend the evening in the gym when you can also work out in the fresh air? Just dance the night away during free Zumba classes. Canada Place is again the place-to-be for this activity. The one-hour classes take place every Monday until August 27 and start at 5.30pm. And no worries – you don’t have to be a dance pro. Everyone is welcome to join the fun workout with a view.
It was the first Baseball match I ever watched and I have to say it took me some time to fully understand the specific rules. But after patient explanations by Billy and Samuel and observing the field, I was able to follow the game. In the end “our team” (the Vancouver Canadians) won. The three hours we spent at the stadium got us freezing and the majority was ready to head home and get some rest. The 50 minute-journey home turned into a nightmare ride of 1.5 hours, because the Skytrain seemed to be experiencing some operational/technical problems. But in the end I arrived safely and happily.
We met at 4.30 pm and watched the life performance by Jojo Mason. I really enjoyed the songs and covers he performed. His attitude was just so positive! And as he sang the national anthem, everything somehow stopped. Nothing but his voice filled the air and you could hear the Vancouverites sing along with pride. It felt as if the world stood still. Just for a moment. I definitely got goosebumps.
It was really beautiful and shapes like smileys and hearts lit up the sky over Coal Harbour. After that, it was a real struggle getting home, because it felt like the entire population of Vancouver was at Canada Place and now tried to get home. The line for the Expo Line was several hundred metres long. But I succeeded and once I got on the train I got home quite quickly.
It’s the last day of the weekend already and I’d advise you to take it slow and relax a little. Fortunately, not everyone is as lazy as I am, so for those active among you, here are some tips for the perfect ending of the long weekend: How about some more action at a Paintball combat with your friends? Grab them and head out to North Vancouver where you can get another adrenaline-kick. If you want the rather “light” version, you can play Archery Tag in Richmond. You won’t get hurt, but it’s the same amount of fun!
INTERNeX Canada 