Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
as
Langley
(pop. 85,000),
Abbotsford
(pop. 110,000), and
Chilliwack
(pop. 65,000)—all
now part of the city's sprawl.
Across Burrard Inlet to the north of downtown,
North Vancouver
is a narrow developed
strip backed up to the mountains and connected to the rest of the city by the Lions Gate
Bridge. To its west are
Horseshoe Bay,
departure point for Sunshine Coast and Vancouver
Island ferries, and
West Vancouver,
an upscale suburb.
MM
Canada Place
The stunning architectural curiosity with the billowing 27-meter-high (88-foot) Teflon-
coated fiberglass “sails” on Burrard Inlet—the one that looks as if it might weigh anchor
and cruise off into the sunset at any moment—is Canada Place, a symbol of Vancouver and
a city icon. Built as the Canada Pavilion for the city's 1986 World Exposition on Transport-
ation and Communication, the World's Fair known as Expo '86, this integrated two-hectare
(six-acre) waterfront complex is primarily a convention center and cruise-ship dock. The
Vancouver Convention Centre, which makes up the bulk of the complex, has been expan-
ded to triple its size at adjacent Burrard Landing, in a half-billion-dollar project that has
changed the face of the downtown waterfront. The original complex at the foot of Burrard
Street also houses the luxurious 405-room Pan Pacific Hotel (the glass marvel with domed
top), restaurants, shops, and an IMAX theater. Start your self-guided tour at the information
booth near the main entrance, then allow at least an hour to wander through the complex.
Don't miss walking the exterior promenade—3.5 city blocks long—for splendid views of
the harbor, the North Shore, the Coast Mountains, and docked Alaska-bound cruise ships.
On the west side of the center is an expansive garden of indigenous plants.
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