Moon Vancouver
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MAP 4: Between Cartwright St. and Old Bridge St.
Granville Island’s Railspur Alley
Liberty Distilling
Liberty Distilling brews small batches of vodka, gin, and whiskey in their 140- and 220-liter (36- and 58-gallon) copper-pot stills. Sample their handcrafted products in the cocktail lounge with its elaborately carved bar. Listen for the sound of a steam whistle announcing the start of happy hour (3pm-6pm Mon.-Thurs.). On weekends, Liberty offers a tour (11:30am and 1:30pm Sat.-Sun.; $10) of their facilities, where you can learn about the processes of mashing, fermenting, and distilling—with samples, of course. Tours are limited to 10 people, so make a reservation to ensure your spot.
MAP 4: 1494 Old Bridge St., 604/558-1998, www.thelibertydistillery.com; 11am-8pm daily
Artisan Sake Maker
At the tiny shop that houses Artisan Sake Maker, Vancouver’s only local producer of Japanese rice wine, step up to the counter where the staff explain how sake is brewed. They offer tastings of a single sake ($2) or samples of three types ($5). In business since 2007, the company that Japan-born sake maker Masa Shiroki founded brews several varieties of sake, including sparkling sakes. Shiroki works with local farmers to grow the rice for his sakes here in British Columbia.
Learn how rice wine is brewed at the Artisan Sake Maker.
MAP 4: 1339 Railspur Alley, 604/685-7253, www.artisansakemaker.com; 11:30am-6pm daily
Sea Village
Sea Village is a community of colorful floating homes, each set on its own dock on False Creek. They’re private residences, but you can look at the area from the walkway above and imagine what it would be like to live here on the water. The entrance to Sea Village is off Johnston Street, just west of the Granville Island Hotel.
MAP 4: Off Johnston St., near intersection with Cartwright St.
Kids Market
On Granville Island, youngsters have their own marketplace, the multilevel Kids Market, a family-friendly minimall where two dozen cute shops sell toys, games, candy, and clothing. Note the children’s-only doorway at the entrance, then walk around to the back of the bright yellow building and notice the painted eyes looking down at you from a mural above. The kids can run around in the Adventure Zone, an indoor playground, or outside in the splash park (late May-early Sept.).
MAP 4: 1496 Cartwright St., 604/689-8447, www.kidsmarket.ca; 10am-6pm daily; free
Granville Island Brewing
Granville Island Brewing started producing craft beers back in 1984. They make a wide variety of beers, including their Island Lager and English Bay Pale Ale, but good choices to try at the brewery are the more limited small batch series, with brews like the Belgian-style Saison, Kellerbier Unfiltered, and West Coast Pale Ale.
Although most of their beer is now made in other locations, you can take the 30-minute tour (noon, 2pm, and 4pm daily; $10) of the original island brewery, which provides an education in beer making. The tour wraps up with five-ounce samples of three of their beers. You can also have a drink in their taproom, or pick up beer to go, along with brewery-themed merchandise, in their retail store (10am-8pm daily).
MAP 4: 1441 Cartwright St., 604/687-2739, www.gib.ca; noon-8pm daily
Kitsilano Map 5
S Museum of Vancouver
Though its building resembles a flying saucer that might have landed in Kitsilano’s Vanier Park, this city museum’s unique structure, created by architect Gerald Hamilton, was actually designed to recall a traditional hat of the Haida First Nations people. Inside the Museum of Vancouver, the exhibition spaces are no less distinctive.
Museum of Vancouver
The permanent galleries take you through Vancouver’s past, from its aboriginal heritage to early settlement days to the hippie era of the 1960s, with participatory activities that bring the city’s history to life. Listen to recordings of First Nations people discussing their families, punch up some tunes on the 1950s jukebox, or dress for the Summer of Love in macramé. The sometimes-controversial temporary exhibitions explore social phenomena from happiness to sex. The museum hosts lectures, workshops, and social events that are as engaging as the exhibits themselves; check the calendar on their website for details.
The Vanier Park Explore Pass (adults $37, seniors, students, and ages 5-18 $30) includes admission to the Museum of Vancouver and the adjacent H. R. MacMillan Space Centre, as well as the nearby Vancouver Maritime Museum.
It’s a half-mile (0.9-kilometer) walk along the Seawall from Kitsilano Beach to the museum; from Granville Island, it’s just over a mile (1.8 kilometers) along the water and through Vanier Park. Either route is a lovely seaside stroll. To reach the museum by bus, take bus 2 from Burrard Street downtown into Kitsilano; get off at the corner of Cornwall Avenue and Chestnut Streets, where it’s a short walk toward the water to the museum. Or take False Creek Ferries (604/684-7781, www.granvilleislandferries.bc.ca) to Vanier Park from Granville Island or downtown.
MAP 5: 1100 Chestnut St., 604/736-4431, www.museumofvancouver.ca; 10am-5pm Sun.-Wed., 10am-8pm Thurs., 10am-9pm Fri.-Sat.; adults $18, seniors and students $15, ages 5-18 $8
H. R. MacMillan Space Centre
In the same building as the Museum of Vancouver, the H. R. MacMillan Space Centre, the city’s planetarium, has galleries of space exhibits to explore and astronomy (and other space-themed) shows throughout the day. Presentations might let you experience “A Day in Space,” explore “Seven Wonders of the Universe,” or take a virtual expedition by “Surfing the Solar System.”
The Space Centre’s Gordon MacMillan Southam Observatory (604/738-2855; Fri.-Sat. early July-early Sept., Sat. only early Sept.-early July; adults $13, seniors and students $10, ages 5-11 $8) is also open for a planetarium show (7:30pm and 9pm) and guided stargazing (8pm-midnight) through the half-meter telescope. If you come only for the stargazing, admission is by donation.
MAP 5: 1100 Chestnut St., 604/738-7827, www.spacecentre.ca; 10am-5pm daily late June-early Sept., 10am-3pm Mon.-Fri., 10am-5pm Sat., noon-5pm Sun. early Sept.-late June, adults $18, seniors and ages 12-18 $15, ages 5-11 $13
Vancouver Maritime Museum
Built in B.C. in the 1920s, the historic Arctic-exploring schooner St. Roch is now the centerpiece of the family-friendly Vancouver Maritime Museum, an A-frame building on the waterfront in Vanier Park. The St. Roch was the first to sail the Northwest Passage from west to east and the first to circumnavigate North America, when it traveled from Vancouver to Halifax via the Panama Canal in 1950.
Vancouver Maritime Museum in Kitsilano
Climb aboard the St. Roch and learn more about its Arctic adventures. You can clamber around the wooden decks, explore the ship’s compact cabins, and even get behind the captain’s wheel, as you discover the boat’s story. The museum has other hands-on exhibits designed for kids, from piloting a submersible to talking with a model shipbuilder while he works, as well as changing exhibitions about the Pacific Northwest and Arctic maritime history.
Outside the museum is a 100-foot (30-meter) totem pole that Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations artist Mungo Martin carved to mark British Columbia’s centennial in 1958.
To get to the museum, take bus 2 from Burrard Street downtown to the corner of Cornwall Avenue and Chestnut Street in Kitsilano. Or take False Creek Ferries (604/684-7781, www.granvilleislandferries.bc.ca) to Vanier Park from Granville Island or downtown.
MAP 5: 1905 Ogden St., 604/257-8300, www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com; 10am-5pm Fri.-Wed., 10am-8pm Thurs. late May-early Sept., 10am-5pm Tues.-Wed. and Fri.-Sat., 10am-8pm Thurs., noon-5pm Sun. early Sept.-late May; adults $11, seniors, students, and ages 6-18 $8.50 (by donation 5pm-8pm Thurs.)
UBC and Point Grey Map 5
TOP EXPERIENCE
S Museum of Anthropology
To explore the culture of British Columbia’s aboriginal peoples and traditional cultures from around the world, don’t miss the striking Museum of Anthropology on the University of British Columbia campus, which houses one of the world
’s top collections of Northwest Coast First Peoples’ art.
totem pole at the Museum of Anthropology
Canadian modernist architect Arthur Erickson, known for his innovative concrete and glass structures, designed the 80,000-square-foot (7,400-square-meter) museum, which opened in 1976. Inside, the Great Hall, with 50-foot-tall (15-meter) windows, provides a dramatic home for the immense totem poles, traditional canoes, and elaborate carvings. The museum also houses the world’s largest collection of works by noted Haida First Nations artist Bill Reid, including his massive cedar sculpture, The Raven and the First Men, which depicts a creation legend in which the Raven coaxes tiny humans out of a clamshell and into the world.
The museum’s Multiversity Galleries display thousands of objects from different cultures, along with audio, video, and photos that provide context and additional information about these materials and the communities they come from. The museum also mounts temporary exhibitions on world arts and culture, from contemporary Arab art to Peruvian silver and works by present-day indigenous artists.
Choose from several daily gallery tours, included with museum admission. There’s a 60-minute overview tour that walks you through the museum’s highlights (11am and 2pm daily, additional tour 6pm Thurs.), 30-minute “guide’s choice” tours that illustrate a particular theme or exhibit (1pm and 3:30pm daily), and tours of the temporary exhibits (check the website or call for schedules).
Behind the museum is an outdoor sculpture complex with memorial and mortuary totem poles, dating from the early 1950s to the present, as well as a Haida house that Bill Reid constructed.
To reach the museum by public transit, take any UBC-bound bus (including buses 4 or 14 from downtown) to the last stop at the UBC bus loop. From there, you can walk to the museum in 10-15 minutes, or transfer to shuttle bus C18, which stops in front of the museum. By car, it’s about 25 minutes from downtown to the museum, which has a public parking lot.
MAP 5: 6393 NW Marine Dr., 604/822-5087, http://moa.ubc.ca; 10am-9pm Thurs., 10am-5pm Fri.-Wed. mid-May-mid-Oct., 10am-9pm Thurs., 10am-5pm Fri.-Sun. and Tues.-Wed. mid-Oct.-mid-May; adults $18, seniors, students, and children $16 ($10 5pm-9pm Thurs.)
NEARBY:
▪ Stroll among the flowers and koi ponds of the serene Nitobe Japanese Garden (click here).
▪ Explore the natural world, from a blue whale skeleton to tiny fossils, at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum (click here).
▪ Dine alongside UBC professors at Sage Bistro (click here).
▪ Check out the modern art collection at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (click here).
S Nitobe Japanese Garden
You could be in Japan as you stroll among the flowers, waterfalls, and koi ponds at the serene Nitobe Japanese Garden, one of the most authentic traditional Japanese gardens in North America. Several stone lanterns decorate the paths; another feature is the Island of Eternity, a collection of rocks shaped like a turtle, which symbolizes longevity. Many of the plants, from azaleas and irises to maple and cherry trees, came from Japan. The garden is particularly scenic in April and May, when the cherry blossoms bloom.
The 2.5-acre (one-hectare) garden is named for Dr. Inazo Nitobe, a professor, author, and advocate for East-West relations who served as Japan’s representative to the League of Nations in the 1920s. The garden’s 77-log bridge symbolizes Nitobe’s goal of being “a bridge over the Pacific.” The garden features five other bridges that crisscross its streams. For an extra fee, participate in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony (May-Sept., $10) in the garden’s teahouse, a classical structure in which you pass through exterior and interior gardens before entering the tearoom itself. Ceremonies are held on the last Saturday of the month on the hour from 11am to 3pm. Reservations are recommended; call 604/939-7749 to reserve.
The garden is a short walk from the Museum of Anthropology. From the UBC bus loop, you can walk or take shuttle bus C18.
MAP 5: 1895 Lower Mall, 604/822-6038, www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca; 11am-5:30pm daily mid-Mar.-Oct.; 10am-2pm Mon.-Fri. Nov.-mid-Mar.; adults $7, seniors and students $5.50, ages 5-12 $4 (by donation Nov.-mid-Mar.)
Beaty Biodiversity Museum
An 85-foot (26-meter) blue whale skeleton, the largest on display in Canada, greets visitors to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, a modern natural history gallery. The museum has more than two million specimens of bugs, fish, plants, fossils, and more, many of which come from B.C. and the surrounding regions. In this family-friendly museum, many of the items are set at kids’ eye level for youngsters to check out; in the interactive Discovery Lab, children can learn to use a microscope, compare different types of fossils, and participate in other hands-on activities.
At 10:30am most weekdays, a museum staffer leads a 30-minute hands-on presentation about specific specimens. The museum also offers 30-minute tours (11:30am and 3pm daily) highlighting particular aspects of the collections.
The museum is near the center of the UBC campus, a short walk from the UBC bus loop.
MAP 5: 2212 Main Mall, 604/827-4955, www.beatymuseum.ubc.ca; 10am-5pm Tues.-Sun.; adults $14, seniors, students, and children ages 13-17 $12, ages 5-12 $10
UBC Botanical Garden
A garden of native B.C. plants, a woodland garden, a traditional Asian garden: These are just a few groupings of the more than 50,000 trees and plants that thrive at the 70-acre (28-hectare) UBC Botanical Garden, where walking paths wend through the woods and grounds.
Explore the B.C. Rainforest Garden, with its tall western red cedars, several varieties of maple trees, and bushes of blackberries, blueberries, and huckleberries. In the Alpine Garden, you can travel the world of mountain-region plants, grouped geographically, while in the Food Garden, you can check out vegetables, fruits, and herbs that grow locally. The David C. Lam Asian Garden blossoms with rhododendrons, magnolias, dogwood, hydrangeas, lilies, and other plants native to China, Korea, Japan, and the Himalayas that also thrive in Vancouver’s temperate climate. The garden’s two oldest trees, Douglas firs that are more 400 years old, are also in the Asian Garden.
The Botanical Garden is on the south side of the UBC campus. By public transit, take any UBC-bound bus (including buses 4 and 14 from downtown) to the last stop at the UBC bus loop; transfer to shuttle bus C20, which stops in front of the garden. By car, it’s about 25 minutes from downtown to the gardens, which have a public parking lot.
MAP 5: 6804 SW Marine Dr., 604/822-4208, www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca; 9:30am-4:30pm daily; adults $9, seniors $7, ages 5-12 $5 (by donation Nov.-mid-Mar.)
Greenheart TreeWalk
An adventurous way to explore the UBC Botanical Garden is on the Greenheart TreeWalk, a 1,000-foot (310-meter) aerial trail system that takes you high into the rainforest canopy. Cross a series of swinging bridges to eight increasingly higher viewing platforms mounted among the Douglas firs, cedars, and other lofty trees. The tallest platform is 75 feet (23 meters) above the forest floor. To protect the trees, the platforms were constructed without using nails or bolts; a cable tension system suspends them from the tree trunks.
Greenheart TreeWalk
Explore the walkway on your own or on a 45-minute guided tour, included with your walkway ticket, where your guide tells you about the surrounding second-growth forest. Though the area was once logged, many trees are more than a century old. You’ll also learn how First Nations use various trees and plants, from carving canoes to traditional medicine. Each tour can accommodate up to 20 people.
The Greenheart TreeWalk is located within the UBC Botanical Garden. From the garden’s main entrance, follow the signs to the TreeWalk. Your TreeWalk ticket lets you explore the rest of the botanical gardens, too.
MAP 5: 6804 SW Marine Dr., 604/822-4208, www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca; 10am-4:30pm daily Apr.-Oct.; adults $20, seniors $15, ages 5-12 $10; admission to UBC Botanical Garden included
UBC Farm Market
The University of British Columbia operates a 60-acre (24-hectare) organic farm on the south
side of the campus. You can purchase produce grown on-site at the weekly UBC Farm Market, held Saturday mornings on the farm grounds. The market also sells produce from other local growers, including indigenous farmers, plus baked goods, locally made honey, soaps, prepared foods, and crafts. The farm is a good place for kids, too, who can explore the fields and see what’s growing.
During the Saturday market, you can take a 30-minute family-friendly farm tour (11am Sat. June-Oct.; free). Reservations aren’t required for the farm tours; meet at the farm about five minutes in advance.
From the UBC bus loop in the center of campus, catch shuttle bus C18 or C20 to the farm. Get off on Ross Drive at Birney Avenue.
MAP 5: 3461 Ross Dr., 604/822-5092, http://ubcfarm.ubc.ca; 9am-1pm Sat. June-Oct.
Cambie Corridor Map 6
S VanDusen Botanical Garden
Wander the plant world without leaving Vancouver at the 55-acre (22-hectare) VanDusen Botanical Garden. With more than 250,000 plants from around the globe, the garden contains varieties native to the Pacific Northwest, other parts of Canada, and the Himalayas, the Mediterranean, and South America. Different flowers and plants are highlights at different times of year, like cherry trees and dogwood in the spring, roses and lilies in summer, colorful trees in the autumn, and evergreens in winter. You can find your way through an Elizabethan maze, too. A one-hour guided tour (10:30am and 2pm Wed., 2pm Thurs.-Tues. Apr.-mid-Oct., 1pm Sun. mid-Oct.-Mar.) helps you explore what’s growing.