Visiting Vancouver

Vancouver, an ideal Canadian city for winter visitors, boasting a mild climate with big snowfall limited to the nearby Canadian Coast Mountains. British Columbia’s biggest city and Canada’s third largest metropolitan, Vancouver is spectacularly set with water on three borders and the Coast Mountain Range to the west. Winter brings the convenience of snow sports to Grouse Mountain, Cypress Mountain and Mount Seymour nearby downtown Vancouver, with the world-famous slopes of Whistler-Blackcomb in the mountains north of the city. With Vancouver International Airport, in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, ranked as one of the world’s best airports, visiting Vancouver is convenient, easy and winter is an ideal time.

Foodies get ready for Dine Out Vancouver 2012. Vancouver’s premier winter restaurant festival features 17 days of culinary excitement at the city’s best restaurants. Take your pick of Vancouver’s best dining, with restaurants offering three-course prix-fixe dinners paired with BC VQA wines and Kronenbourg beer. Take advantage of Dine Out Vancouver to try that special restaurant – or several. Dine Out Vancouver runs from January 20th through February 5th.

The Cultch - Vancouver East Cultural Centre, offers cutting edge theatre, dance and music for Vancouver residents and visitors. The 2012 winter calendar brings "No 2", an award winning one–woman play January 31st through February 4th. Starting February 7th, "New Animal", a multi-media dance work, hits the stage at the Historic Theatre in the Clutch. The Old Trout Puppet Workshop performs "Ignorance" February 28th through March 10th, with a musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s "Hunchback" hosted at Vancouver Playhouse starting February 18th.

The Richmond Oval is an ideal winter destination. Set on the banks of the Fraser River near Vancouver International Airport, The Oval features a fully equipped Fitness Centre, two Olympic size ice rinks, along with indoor volleyball, basketball and soccer fields. Whether you are looking for winter sports or an indoor location for warm weather activities, the Richmond Oval is the place to start.

Surrey, Vancouver’s thriving suburb 35 minutes southeast of downtown, celebrates its fourth annual WinterFest in February. Join the winter wonderland in downtown Surrey featuring the Toboggan Zone, an outdoor skating rink and the Curling Zone. Join in the fun while you enjoy live music, and the kids put their imagination to work at the Surrey Kids Craft Zone. Before you know it, winter will be over, celebrate in Surrey this February.

Just 15 minutes directly east of downtown Vancouver, Burnaby is home to the painstakingly restored CW Parker Carousel, located at Burnaby Village Museum. Called Hollywood North, Burnaby hosts a large number of film and TV productions with over 50% of the film production studio space in Metro Vancouver. Also home to Simon Fraser University and the British Columbia Institute of Technology, Burnaby is a vibrant neighborhood of Metro Vancouver.

Vancouver Hotel Map