Vacation Spots Vancouver: 1001 Vacation Ideas

The Great hall contains a wonderful collection of native totem poles. Along with the artifacts and displays of the aboriginal culture the Museum of Anthropology also contains the work of contemporary Native artists. The Visible Storage Gallery is particularly popular with kids as they have great fun pulling out the glass-topped drawers that hold over 15,000 artifacts.

This is also a great place to relax and enjoy a splendid array of restaurants, performing arts and art galleries. The Lower Mainland public market is widely known and loved for its tremendous selection of fresh local produce.

Here you can shop and choose from a wide variety of goods from the talented local artists that have setup shop on the island. Among other awards, Vancouver’s Granville Island has been named "Best Neighbourhood in North America" by Project for Public Spaces.

For the kids the most popular part will be Thunderbird Park which is just outside the museum. This is one of the more unusual and popular vacation spots Vancouver Island. It contains an impressive display of totem poles and big houses such as the replica of a house built at Tsaxis (Fort Rupert) in the mid 1800s by Chief Nakapankam.

Here you can also watch Native artists as they carve new totem poles in a cedar longhouse. At the museum kids can learn how to build a sugar cube house, how to identify 23 species of whales, including dolphins and porpoises, what the pioneer kitchen was like before electricity and other fun educational things.

The kids will also love riding The Miniature Train which winds along a mile and a quarter of 20" gauge track. Or The Children's Farmyard with over 200 animals, birds, and reptiles.

The Vancouver Aquarium was designed specifically for children with some of the best hands-on activities around. The most unique and one-of-a-kind feature of the Vancouver Aquarium is the BC Salmon Stream Project. The idea here is for the salmon to travel thousands of miles out in the open ocean, make their way up a special channel from Coal Harbour to spawn in the aquarium’s display pool. This is one of the best family vacation ideas in Canada.

Vacation Spots Vancouver Idea #5:The Gastown district of Vancouver, British Columbia was founded in 1867, and today it still has the cobbled streets, antique gaslights, quaint courtyards, and Victorian architecture. It’s in the northeast corner of the downtown area and the area is full of funky eateries, vintage clothing stores, native arts and craft shops, antique shops, boutiques and art galleries. June through August you can take the popular walking tour of Gastown.

The Lookout is a 33-floor observation deck located at the entrance to Gastown. Here you can get a 360-degree view of the harbor and city. Every fifteen minutes the district resounds with Westminster chimes from the unique Steam Clock, the world’s only team powered clock.