Vancouver

Nine kilometres circle the park, and cycles run anticlockwise only. Under the bluffs the water comes right up beside the path.

An industrial patch under the bridge turned into a market with workshops around it. Little ferries cross every five minutes for less than the bus fare.

A span of 140m hangs 137m above the canyon floor. Every passing walker sets it swaying sideways, and people grab the rail.

A cable car lifts you to 1200m, where city and ocean arrive in one sweep. A logger show runs in summer, and in winter the runs are lit for night skiing.

Where the city began, its brick warehouses now holding shops. A clock driven by steam sounds off and lets out a plume every quarter hour.

Sand across the inlet from downtown, lined with volleyball courts through the summer. Its saltwater pool runs 137m, long enough that the far end reads as small.

The first Ming style garden built outside China, with craftsmen and materials shipped over for it. The pond is kept deliberately cloudy so that it holds no reflection of the sky.

A worked out quarry became a garden at the highest point in the city. Tropical birds fly loose inside the glass dome and pass over your head.

A twelve minute crossing between downtown and the north shore, paid for with a normal transit fare. Sit by the rear window and the towers pull away behind you.

Forest here was never logged, and the trunks measure more than two arm spans across. A dirt path reaches the lighthouse on the rock point in twenty five minutes.

One of Canada's biggest aquariums, opened in 1956 inside the woods of Stanley Park. One tank cares for rescued sea otters, and at feeding time children line up along the glass.

Arthur Erickson's concrete and glass building, which the museum moved into in 1976. Northwest Coast totem poles stand in the Great Hall against a tall glass wall. Bill Reid's Raven sculpture sits apart under a skylight.

A suspension bridge strung in 1912 hangs 50m over the creek, and entry costs nothing. Pools below draw swimmers in summer, but cliff-jumping accidents happen every year and warning signs line the banks.

Built for Expo 1986, its roof spreads five white sail shapes over the harbour. It works as the cruise terminal, so the pier fills up on ship days. Anyone can walk the promenade around it while floatplanes take off right alongside.

A botanical garden built over a former golf course. Children make straight for the Elizabethan hedge maze. In December the whole garden is strung with lights for its festival.

The downtown beach where the West End meets the water, most crowded around sunset. A plaza of 14 laughing bronze figures sits right beside it. On the late July fireworks contest nights the sand fills up from the afternoon.

A small harbour village on North Vancouver's eastern edge, where you rent a kayak and paddle out onto the calm inlet. The forest trail to the Quarry Rock lookout and back takes about 1 hour 30 minutes. On summer weekends the village car park fills by morning.

One of the largest Asian-style night markets in North America, held on summer weekend nights. Hundreds of stalls sell skewers, spiral potatoes and other street food, and entry costs extra. Bridgeport Station on the Canada Line is within walking distance.

Down at Richmond's southern tip, a fishing village sits on the Fraser River mouth. A cannery built in 1894 survives as a national historic site and runs its machines for visitors. On the dock, boats sell fish and shrimp straight off the deck when they come in.

The gallery occupies the former provincial courthouse of 1911. It holds the largest collection of forest paintings by BC artist Emily Carr. The broad front steps serve as a downtown square for protests and street performers.

The silver geodesic dome from Expo 1986 rises where False Creek ends. Inside is a hands-on science centre, full of families with children. The seawall across the creek gives the clearest look at the dome mirrored in the water.

In Squamish, about 1 hour north along the coastal highway from Vancouver. Beside the 885m summit station a suspension bridge crosses a gorge, facing the huge granite wall of the Stawamus Chief.

Nine Indigenous totem poles stand together on the eastern point of Stanley Park. Several of the oldest originals went to museums and were replaced with newly carved poles. Come early, ahead of the tour coaches, for clear photos.