Vancouver

Overview

Vancouver is internationally renowned for preserving its natural beauty within the metropolis. The city has all the urban amenities of a major city, as well as easy access to the Pacific Ocean and the mountains of the Pacific Coast Range. Vancouver is home to one of North America's largest urban parks, Stanley Park .  The North Shore mountains dominate the city landscape, and on a clear day scenic vistas include the dormant , snow-capped volcano Mount Baker to the southeast; Vancouver Island across the Strait of Georgia to the west and southwest and the Sunshine Coast to the northwest. The breathtaking views of the city and its environment have made it renowned for its beauty.

Vancouver is a relaxed but bustling, cosmopolitan city of nearly 2.5 million people in the metropolitan area, with many diversions and easy access to outdoor activities such as hiking, cycling, boating, and skiing. Some have called it a "city of neighbourhoods", each with its own distinctive character. It is consistently ranked at or near the top of the best cities in the world in which to live.

Vancouver can also be an expensive city, as housing prices are the highest in Canada. Vancouver's population density is third highest of any metropolitan centre in North America, after New York City and San Francisco . City planners in the late 1950s and 1960s deliberately encouraged the development of high-rise condominium towers in the West End downtown neighbourhood, which has resulted in a compact,...more

History