If you’ve been to any big city, you know that there are touristy hot spots you just HAVE to hit; The CN Tower in Toronto, The Empire State Building in New York City, The Bean in Chicago etc. Some people like to steer clear of chaotic places like that, but sometimes it’s so fun to be a little extra ‘touristy’…even if it’s somewhere you’ve been numerous times before.
Vancouver has SO many cool places that you have to see if you happen to be in the neighbourhood. So many in fact that there’s no way you can do it all in one day. However if you do happen to be in Vancouver for around 24 hours, we’ve curated a list of our top tourist destinations that you can hit all in one day!
KITSILANO
You’ll start your day for breakfast in Kitsilano at The Naam. It’s a vegan and vegetarian restaurant that has options for everybody. Have you ever had sesame fries and miso gravy? I had it for the first time here at this restaurant and let me tell you, it is a MUST try! If you’re in the neighbourhood you can’t miss it; it’s a sweet place with lots of old wood and greenery!
Not too far from The Naam is the very well known Kitsilano Beach. It was the middle of September on a not so sunny day, so not the most ideal beach weather. It is still a great place to explore with lots of goodies to find! Beautiful shells, many crabs, as well as Seals that we happened to see bobbing up in the ocean! It was a quick stop for us, but definitely worth it!
GRANVILLE ISLAND
One of the biggest tourist spots in Vancouver is Granville Island. It’s honestly one of my favourite places in the city as well. It may be super busy 99% of the time, but if you want to be a cliche tourist, Granville Island is perfect! You could easily spend an entire day there, but the more you go there the more you get to know the slightly confusing routes as well as which of the 100’s of shops and galleries you want to stop in! One of my favourite galleries is Ukama Gallery; it’s filled with tons of abstract paintings which is right up my alley! We obviously had to stop in the actual Public Market as well to pick up some treats!
Now on to the good stuff: food and drink. Our family is full of gin lovers, so we had to stop into The Liberty Distillery. They have vodka, gin and whiskey available, but we stuck with four gins to taste with a side of tonic. Not too long after that we headed over to Granville Island Brewery to try not one but 10 different drafts. I’m not a huge beer person but a lot of these were very easy drinking! We did have to wait for a little bit; it’s definitely a popular spot! We had a great time when we managed to snag a spot, drinking beer and snacking on french fries and fried cauliflower.
GASTOWN
We went to Gastown for one thing and one thing only: MeeT in Gastown. It’s the best vegan restaurant you’ll ever go to! We were there with 4 other people who don’t have a vegetarian diet, and they all loved it as well! It’s definitely a popular spot as well, and they don’t take reservations, so you might end up on the wait list like us. While we waited we took a walk around to see the beautiful lights that hover over Gastown, as well as stopping in for a drink at Local. There are so many cool restaurants, bars and shops to keep you busy!
DAVIE VILLAGE
The next morning we went to one of my favourite areas in the city: Davie St / English Bay! Davie St is the Gay Village of the city so it’s decked out with rainbow motifs everywhere! We ended up grabbing breakfast at The Templeton which is a past favourite of ours! It’s a cute old style diner with amazing vegan and vegetarian options as well! It’s a great place to start your day off with a Baileys Coffee! Not only is The Templeton great, but Davie Village is swarmed with lots of other great restaurants, bakeries and shops as well!
STANLEY PARK
It’s time to walk off your breakfast with a relaxing tour around Stanley Park. The Park itself is massive, so we just took a little stroll along the ocean in the English Bay area. This is another one of our favourite spots in the city as well. It’s a forested oasis in the middle of a busy city. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a busy tourist area, but Stanley Park is so big it doesn’t pose that big of an issue. Plus, who doesn’t love taking some time outside on a walk by the ocean?
Did we miss one of your favs?
Tell us your go to hot spots in Vancouver!!
