It's easy to be swept along on the regular tourist trail in Vancouver, but if you want to dig beneath the surface of the city and rub shoulders with the locals, try some of these alternative but accessible experiences:
Hockey night
Your chances of scoring tickets to a
Vancouver Canucks game at Rogers Arena are about as likely as a Canadian becoming US president, unless you're prepared to hand over your first-born child to one of the parasitic touts outside. Instead, pay considerably less and join the locals at the
Pacific Coliseum for a
Vancouver Giants game. You'll be much closer to the action, the beer will be cheaper and the fights between the players are often far more entertaining. Alternatively, if you're a die-hard soccer fan, the
Vancouver Whitecaps, being promoted to the MLS league in 2011, will be your team (and sport) of choice
Drama queens
The region's leading thesps tread the boards at the
Vancouver Playhouse, but there's also a packed house of smaller venues and edgier productions (plus lower ticket prices) around the city. Occupying an old fire station,
Firehall Arts Centre specialises in avant-garde shows, while
Studio 58 is a theatre school offering professional-quality productions. Also consider the 11-day
Vancouver International Fringe Festival: it colonises
Granville Island with hundreds of short, sharp shows. For summer visitors, it' hard to beat the tented
Bard on the Beach Shakespeare festival in
Kitsilano.
Live and kicking
Stadium rockers play
Rogers Arena and mid-sized bands hit the
Commodore Ballroom, but if you want to catch cult acts, local performers or your favourite Bulgarian bluegrass combo check the online calendars at venues only the locals seem to know about. These include
The Railway Club, with its Brit-pub feel and nightly live roster;
Biltmore Cabaret, staging edgy acts in a bordello-red dance hall; and the intimate
Media Club, where the bands regularly threaten to raise the building's low roof. The recently-opened
Rickshaw Theatre is also well worth checking out for cool indie shows.
Not just Wal-Mart
Robson Street is great if you're hunting for the usual chain store suspects, but you're more likely to find the locals on these alternative shopping streets:
4th Avenue in Kitsilano, where former hippies pick-up their pricey yoga wear;
Yaletown, where high-end designer boutiques jostle for attention;
Gastown with its First Nations galleries, mod furniture showrooms and indie clothing stores; and
South Granville, where browsable galleries and home décor boutiques are de rigueur.
Microbrew delights
Finally catching up to the rest of the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia is enjoying a lip-smacking microbrewing renaissance, with small producers popping up across the region. Luckily, Vancouver’s watering holes have fully embraced the local libation revolution and are falling over themselves to deliver fine BC brews to their thirsty regulars. Look out for distinctive beers from the likes of
Central City Brewing,
Howe Sound Brewing,
Driftwood Brewing and
Salt Spring Island Ales or just head to the bars with the biggest local beer selections:
Alibi Room,
St. Augustine’s and
Backstage Lounge.
Got any more near the beaten track suggestions? Have your say using the comments form below.
Next: Shop 'til you drop
