Imagine a city at the foot of a huge mountain on which you can zip-wire and hike in summer and ski in winter. Then picture it built right on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, where whales are regularly seen playing by the seawall. Now add a vibrant cultural scene, with so many films shot there it’s nicknamed “Hollywood north”. Finally, throw in a dining revolution, where chefs have embraced the farm-to-plate movement to buy only the best organic and locally grown produce and the freshest sustainably caught fish, and are taking inspiration from their multicultural roots to create dishes that are truly world-class.
Got it? Then you’ve just imagined Vancouver, Canada’s third largest city, regularly ranked among the top five in the world for quality of life.
“People are really part of nature here,” says Dolf Dejong, vice-president of conservation and education at the Vancouver Aquarium, when we met up for an early-morning bike ride through the city centre (most main roads have dedicated, separate cycle lanes). “It makes people more connected to what they are eating, and how they live. At the aquarium we feel that this is the most environmentally literate province in Canada. It’s no accident that Vancouver was the birthplace of Greenpeace.”
The aquarium is located in the heart of Stanley Park, a beautiful expanse of greenery right by the town centre – exactly like Hyde Park in London, if only Hyde Park were three times the size, surrounded by water, had spectacular views of mountains as well as high-rise blocks, and contained a 400-hectare rainforest.
I cycled round the seawall bordering Stanley Park on a blissfully sunny afternoon. The five-mile circular ride begins in a garden of totem poles. You pass by a modern update of Copenhagen’s the Little Mermaid, a bronze statue of a girl in flippers and a wetsuit sitting on a round rock, and then directly under the famous Lions Gate bridge, after which the film company was named. This takes you to Prospect Point, and your first spectacular view of the ocean.
On the pebbled shoreline beyond, someone has made a series of precarious rocky cairns, like an Andy Goldsworthy sculpture. On a boulder facing out to sea, a man sits cross-legged in the lotus position, silhouetted by the sun. By the solitary Siwash Rock, which rises vertically up, topped with a single tenacious tree, like a Roger Dean album cover brought to life, a young woman in white shorts stands stock-still. Her eyes are closed, hands by her sides, face tilted to soak up the warming rays. Even more surreally, further along is a group of schoolkids, incongruously dressed in adults’ suit jackets and ties, filming some scene in front of a single white door that leads from and to nowhere, propped up at the ocean’s edge.
This is not just the most beautiful city park I have ever seen, but obviously the most loved. There were no whales the day I went, but shortly after I left Twitter was abuzz with photos and videos of a grey whale that returned seven days in a row.
The positive influence of this natural abundance on the city is evident wherever you go. During my stay, I spoke to some of the independent growers who can make even restaurant salads seem like Michelin-starred meals; met the traders at the colourful Public Market on Granville Island; learned how the Ocean Wise initiative for restaurants is helping to protect precious fish stocks; and ate some extraordinary meals with some of the inventive chefs who are making Vancouver a top foodie destination, including a modern twist on First Nations cooking. And with the buzzing bars of historic Gastown just a stone’s throw from the Downtown centre, Vancouver is also a sociable city that boasts officially the finest cocktail bartender in Canada (and the fourth in all the world).
This, clearly, is a city whose moment has come. What’s more, the Canadian dollar is lower than it has been for years, giving a lot more bang for your buck. There’s never been a better time to visit than the coming spring/summer.
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