Few cities in the world can rival Vancouver’s dramatic natural setting. Located on British Columbia’s rugged Pacific coast, Vancouver sits at the foot of forested mountain peaks and looks out across the shining waters of Georgia Strait. What began as a small sawmill town with muddy streets has evolved into Canada’s third largest metropolis and a multicultural Mecca that attracts millions of visitors annually.

The best place to get an introduction to Vancouver’s history is the Vancouver Museum overlooking downtown from the shores of English Bay. Its labyrinth of exhibits traces the city’s development from pioneer days to the present. The complex also houses the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium. Next door, the Vancouver Maritime Museum chronicles the city’s long relationship with the sea.

Vancouver’s indigenous roots can be explored in the spectacular Museum of Anthropology on the grounds of the University of British Columbia. Its collections of West Coast First Nations totem poles, cedar sculptures, and countless other artifacts are the largest in the world.

Gastown, Vancouver’s main historic district, is full of well preserved buildings erected by lumber barons during Victorian and Edwardian times. Art galleries, stores, and restaurants line this popular tourist area’s red brick streets. Storyeum, a new underground museum in the heart of Gastown, uses live theater and multimedia effects to bring British Columbia’s past back to life.

Vancouver has a large Asian population, and its Chinatown is the biggest in Canada. Chinatown’s buildings, with their typical recessed balconies and steep staircases, hark back to the turn of the late 18th century, when the first Chinese immigrants came to work in Vancouver. The Dr. Sun Yat-San Classical Garden in the heart of Chinatown was built with materials imported from Asia and is the only garden of its type outside China.

More cultural stimulation can be had at the neoclassical-style Vancouver Art Gallery facing trendy Robson Street, whose upscale clothing shops and restaurants throng with visitors from around the globe. West of downtown, Stanley Park boasts 22 miles of foot and bicycle trails winding through pristine West Coast rain forest, plus a sea-wall walk offering incomparable mountain and ocean views.

Written by: John Mitchell