In Focus: What to do, eat and see in Vancouver

WHAT’S THE SCORE?

Set across Burrard Inlet and bordered by towering, snow-capped peaks in almost every direction, Vancouver is a city where everyone always seems on the precipice of an adrenaline-inducing activity. Perhaps they are heading out for a hike after work, or setting off to the mountains for the weekend once winter rolls in. They could be paddleboarding across English Bay or biking down Mount Fromme before breakfast. Everyone appears dressed to leave. Arc’teryx, Patagonia, Salomon and The North Face abound, and backpacks strung with carabiners, climbing rope and technical gear are a common sight on the morning commute.

Spend a few days in VanCity, though, and you soon realise there is more to this metropolis than just its superior access to the outdoors. From a pioneering food and drink scene that reflects the city’s young, internationally minded population, to a patchwork of eccentric neighbourhoods filled with independent stores, wellness destinations and coffee shops, Vancouver makes a strong case for its cosmopolitan appeal too.

WHERE TO STAY

Fairmont Waterfront

Suite at Fairmont Waterfront

To make the most of some of the city’s most impressive views, book a room at the Fairmont Waterfront, where you can watch floatplanes take off and land from the comfort of your own toilet, and spot otters and seals from bed while nursing your morning coffee. Interiors are unmistakably Fairmont, chic and understated, with natural hues and a decor style that subtly echoes the hotel’s maritime location. For those who prefer their views al fresco, the roof terrace offers arguably one of the best outlooks in the city, while swimmers can take a dip in the year-round outdoor pool overlooking the hotel’s rooftop vegetable gardens. These gardens are also home to 250,000 bees, whose honey is used both in dishes at the on-site ARC Restaurant and in the hotel’s own gin.

Rooms from £148 per night; fairmont.com

WHAT TO DO

Taste Vancouver Food Tours

Unlock the lesser-eaten side of the city on this North Vancouver food tour with experts Taste Vancouver. Hop on the ferry across the harbour and arrive hungry, visiting the neighbourhood’s Lonsdale Quay Market, waterside restaurants and locally loved street food vendors. As you go, your guide fills you in on the unique history of this corner of the city, from its shipbuilding past to the soup vendor helping do good for the community with each bowl of chowder served. Along the way, you’ll meet the people behind the plates and taste the ingredients that define North Vancouver’s food scene.

tastevancouverfoodtours.com

Brewery crawl

Nicknamed Yeast Van for its growing number of craft breweries, pint lovers should make a beeline for East Vancouver, where a DIY brewery crawl will have you sipping stouts, sours and session ales from some of the city’s best producers. Start at Superflux Beer Company for IPAs. If the Caesar is on, order a pint to see how anchovy hops boost the flavour of this classic style. Stroll up the road to Luppolo Brewing Company, then Strange Fellows Brewing. For three breweries under one roof, head to The Beer Hall at Threefold, where Slow Hand, Boombox and Temporal have teamed up for a substantial taproom that lets you tick off three of the city’s favourite brewers in one industrial-inspired space. From there, if you are still upright, hop in a cab to 33 Acres Brewing Company, where one brewery offers two distinct experiences. On the left is the 33 Brewing Experiment, where the team pour their more adventurous brews; on the right is the core selection. >

Stanley Park

To really get a feel for just how much Vancouverites love the outdoors, lace up your trainers and spend a morning following the 10km loop around Stanley Park. Following the city’s seawall and passing beaches, otter colonies, sculptures and cliff faces, the walk is equal parts nature immersion and history lesson, with a series of fascinating sections on the area’s First Nations history, covering everything from notable residents to the ingenious methods developed to trap fish.

Granville Island

Public Market on Granville Island

There are few forms of transport cuter than the Aquabus, which makes the short hop from Hornby Street to Granville Island. This dinky boat, painted with rainbow lettering, shuttles diners and shoppers back and forth to a compact district packed with independent design stores, art galleries, restaurants and some of the city’s finest food and drink vendors. Keep Nooroongji Books, Paper-Ya and The Lobster Man on your hit list, then stroll to Railspur Alley for galleries and concept stores.

granvilleisland.com

Circle Wellness

In the market for a total-body reset? Head to Circle Wellness on Granville Island. Taking the Nordic sauna and cold plunge concept to the next level, Circle offers a private thermal wellness experience where, in the comfort of a personal pod, you are guided through a session featuring a cedar hot tub, cold plunge, Himalayan salt sauna, heated stone platform and a final cleansing shower. Each pod is open-air but completely private, with sound prompts gently guiding you through each stage of the experience. If you have a late flight, it is an ideal way to decompress before the long journey back to London.

circlewellnessspas.com

Where to eat and drink

Mount Pleasant Vintage

When some of Canada and the US’s best bartenders descended on Vancouver in April 2025 for North America’s 50 Best Bars, they were all taken to Mount Pleasant Vintage as part of the programme, which should tell you everything you need to know about this bar. Part vintage store, part wood-fired grill and part cocktail bar, the seventies-inspired space manages to toe the line between neighbourhood hangout and somewhere genuinely worth travelling across town for. Cocktails deliver elevated, idiosyncratic takes on the classics. A standard Spritz is brought to life with Campari, lemon orgeat, and lavender sour beer; the Martini gains new depth from beeswax-aged gin; and a slushy machine pours out vanilla-spiked Mezcalitas and alcoholic Vietnamese coffees (which are as good as they sound).

mtpleasant.bar

Published on Main

Crab at Published on Main

For a front-row seat to some of Canada’s best ingredients and Vancouver’s most assured cooking, head to Published on Main. Here, chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson works deftly with seasonal produce, with a strong focus on foraging. He and his team are known for reimagining ingredients in myriad ways, whether fresh on the plate or preserved to carry them through the leaner winter months. To see them really flex their culinary muscles, book the tasting menu for a ten-course affair that starts with a set of impressive snacks – candied trout on malted rye, butternut and caviar, foie gras topped with root beer jelly, and blood sausage with beetroot and masala, to name a few – and a parade of dishes that, on our October visit, highlighted the abundance of late autumn produce. It’s a style of cooking that feels both deeply rooted in British Columbia and quietly inventive, balancing restraint with moments of real surprise, and a tasting menu that’s worth planning a trip around.

publishedonmain.com

Bao Bei

Vancouver has a formidable Chinese food scene, so for a restaurant to stand out and, in 15 years, become a modern icon is a genuine achievement. That is the case at Bao Bei, which, since opening in 2010, has built a loyal following thanks to chef Joël Watanabe’s inventive takes on classic dishes, from juicy lamb dumplings and crispy tofu to the aptly named Kick Ass House Fried Rice, which fuses the umami hit of miso pork mince with jicama, chilli bamboo and katsuobushi. Come for the food, stay for the cocktails and the Canada-heavy wine list.

bao-bei.ca

Bar Tartare

For full immersion into Canada’s growing natural wine scene, along with a few strong international bottles, head to Bar Tartare in Gastown, one of the city’s oldest, most characterful neighbourhoods. The team pour a rotating selection of wines from across the country alongside natty drops from some of Europe’s top vineyards. Food comes courtesy of a changing line-up of chefs, so keep an eye on Instagram to see who is in the kitchen and for details of one-off meals and visiting winemakers.

bartartareyvr.ca

Fat Mao Noodles

Chef Angus An has been a key figure in the development of Vancouver’s Thai food scene, and while his Kitsilano restaurant Maenam is well worth a visit for a more elevated experience, you cannot beat a bowl of noodles at Fat Mao. From hot and sour tom yum to rich, creamy khao soi chicken curry, the soup options are broad, while the choice of Shanghai-style wide noodles, wonton noodles, rice noodles, vermicelli or clear rice sheet noodles makes for a fully customisable, slurpable bowl. It’s perfect ballast after a day spent outdoors.

fatmaonoodles.com

Minami

Waterfront Miku may be one of Vancouver’s most loved Japanese restaurants. For a slightly more relaxed, less touristy alternative, head to sister restaurant Minami in Yaletown. The wild BC sockeye salmon oshi with jalapeño and miku sauce has become an iconic local dish, while the bluefin tuna redwave roll layers silky slices of tuna over avocado and rock crab. Sweet goma-ae, zesty hamachi crudo and classics like karaage chicken make ideal companions to your sushi order.

minamirestaurant.com