Indigene Kultur, das Museum of Anthropology & das First Nations Erbe
The Museum of Anthropology at UBC (the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia — the finest museum of Northwest Coast Indigenous art in the world, housed in a 1976 building by architect Arthur Erickson (1924-2009) that is the finest work of Canadian architecture of the 20th century) and the broader First Nations cultural presence in Vancouver (the city on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations) represent the most significant Indigenous cultural dimension of any major Canadian city.
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Museum of Anthropology at UBC — The Haida House of World Culture
Museum of Anthropology at UBC (6393 NW Marine Drive, University of British Columbia campus, ¥18 adults, Tuesday–Sunday 10am–5pm, Thursday to 9pm, 15 minutes from downtown by bus 4 or 44) is the most important collection of Northwest Coast First Nations art and culture in the world — the Great Hall (the 14m high glass-and-concrete hall designed by Arthur Erickson in 1976, the most influential work of Canadian architecture, housing 15+ totem poles — the largest indoor display of Northwest Coast monumental carving anywhere) and the Bill Reid rotunda (housing Reid's The Raven and the First Men — the 1980 yellow cedar sculpture, 2.2m tall, the definitive work of Northwest Coast art in the 20th century) are the two essential spaces.
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Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh — The Host Nations
Vancouver (the city built on the unceded traditional territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations — the Coast Salish peoples who have occupied the Fraser River delta and the shores of Burrard Inlet for at least 10,000 years) acknowledges these nations as the host peoples of the territory — the Musqueam Cultural Centre (the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Museum and Cultural Centre, 6253 Salish Drive, in the Musqueam community reserve 20km south of downtown, open to visitors Tuesday–Friday by appointment, ¥5 suggested donation) provides direct community context; the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre (Whistler Village, 4584 Blackcomb Way, ¥22 adults, the joint museum of the Squamish and Lil'wat nations) is the most comprehensive visitor-facing institution.
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Capilano Suspension Bridge — The Bridge in the Old Growth
Capilano Suspension Bridge Park (3735 Capilano Road, North Vancouver, ¥58 adults, daily 8am–dusk, accessible by free shuttle from downtown) consists of the 137m suspension bridge spanning 70m above the Capilano River, the Treetops Adventure (the series of 7 suspension bridges between platforms in 250-year-old Douglas fir trees, the most popular forest canopy experience in Canada), and the Cliffwalk (the glass-and-steel cantilevered walkway on the granite cliff face); the park was first opened in 1889 (the original hemp-and-cedar bridge) and is the oldest tourist attraction in Vancouver; the current steel and wire bridge (replaced 1956) is rated to 96 tonnes.
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Stanley Park — The 405-Hectare Urban Rainforest
Stanley Park (the 405-hectare peninsula park at the west end of downtown Vancouver, established 1888, the third-largest urban park in Canada) contains: the Seawall (the 8.8km perimeter path, the most used recreational trail in Canada), the Vancouver Aquarium (845 Avison Way, ¥42 adults, 70,000 animals, the largest in Canada, the only zoo to house beluga whales in Canada), the 9 O'Clock Gun (the cannon fired nightly since 1894 to allow mariners to synchronize their chronometers), the Hollow Tree (the 800-year-old red cedar stump, 18.3m circumference), and the Lost Lagoon (the freshwater lake at the park's east end, home to the great blue heron colony — 80+ nests, the largest urban heron colony in Canada).
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Haida Gwaii — The Remote Island Nation 80km Off the Coast
Haida Gwaii (the archipelago 80km west of the British Columbia coast, 130km long, the homeland of the Haida Nation, accessible by BC Ferries from Prince Rupert — 8-hour crossing — or by Air Canada from Vancouver, 1.5 hours, ¥250 one-way) is the most culturally significant Indigenous destination in Canada — the SGang Gwaay (Ninstints, UNESCO, the most complete surviving collection of standing totem poles in the world, accessible only by chartered water taxi from Sandspit, 2-hour crossing) and the Haida Heritage Centre (Second Beach, Skidegate, ¥8 adults, the most comprehensive Haida cultural museum, housing 3 Haida ocean-going canoes and a complete collection of argillite carvings) represent the two essential experiences.
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Whistler Blackcomb — North America's Largest Ski Resort
Whistler Blackcomb (120km north of Vancouver on Highway 99, 2 hours by Whistler Direct bus, ¥75 one-way, the ski resort that co-hosted the alpine events of the 2010 Winter Olympics) is the largest ski resort in North America by skiable terrain (8,171 acres, 200+ marked runs, 3 glaciers) — the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola (4.4km span between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, the world's longest unsupported lift span, the glass-floor gondola cars rotating on a 28-minute schedule, ¥64 adults in summer) and the Whistler Village (the pedestrian village at the base of both mountains, the highest concentration of restaurants per capita of any community in British Columbia) make Whistler the complete mountain resort destination.