Visit Vancouver | A World Class Canadian City

If a visit to Vancouver, Canada is on your travel agenda, check out the tips and recommendations of things to see and do. After the usual tourist attractions, try going where the locals go to unwind.

Fifteen years ago, I moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I hope never to leave, other than on vacations. I'm proud of this beautiful city and I love to see visitors experience it -- some for the first time, some for many times.

We hosted the Winter Olympics in February, 2010. That gave a lot of people a good reason to visit -- but there are so many others. This lens shows you some of the nicest things about Metro Vancouver. Metro Vancouver, formerly known as Greater Vancouver, is located in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. It includes the City of Vancouver, as well as a number of suburbs -- including Burnaby, New Westminster, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, Tsawwassen, White Rock, Coquitlam, Langley, Abbotsford and Aldergrove.

And yes, what they say is true. You can hike in the mountains in the morning and swim in the ocean in the afternoon. I live a ten minute walk from the ocean and perhaps a fifteen minute drive from the mountains

Unless otherwise noted, all photo credits are to June Campbell

Conde Nast says our Chinese food is number one for three reasons: (1) We have a large Chinese population; (2) We have an abundance of resources; and (3) We have top rated chefs in the city.

They call it Raincouver for a reason. Vancouver is situated in a rain forest. It rains frequently in the fall and winter. We may get a few days snowfall during December or January, but the rains soon come and take it away. (Skiers, don't despair. We are backed up against the North Shore Mountains, where there is always plenty of snow all winter long). As for temperature, in the wintertime, it tends to hover around the freezing point. Despite the mild temperature, visitors often find it cold in the winter because of the high humidity. "It's a DAMP cold!:"

In the spring and summer, the sun shines most of the time. Most days are beach weather. Again, we have humidity, so some visitors find the weather warmer than the temperature suggests.

Spring comes early. Most years, we see flowers blossoming before March. . I took the crocus picture in the park behind my home in mid February. Daffodils, irises and primroses blossom soon after the crocuses appear.

Dress in Vancouver is more casual than you will find on the East Coast. What to wear, of course, depends upon what you hope to do when you get here.

One thing to remember: Bring Layers.

Bring light sweaters and tops and heavier sweaters and tops. If its winter, you don't need a heavy winter coat, but you should have something warm and preferably water resistant. I always look for tops with a hood because its so easy to cover my head. If you're not a hood type of person, bring a scarf or hat to cover your head during the rainstorms or in the cooler winter weather.

It rains. Bring shoes that can get wet. Open toed sandals are fine when its dry, but you will hate them when it rains.

An umbrella is always a good plan. If you don't want to haul one with you, no problem. They're sold everywhere in this city.