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Vancouver sits on a narrow strip of land between the Coast Mountains and the Pacific, and the geography makes a statement that the city doesn't need to repeat. On any clear day -- and there are more clear days than the city's reputation for rain suggests -- the North Shore mountains are visible at the end of almost every north-south street, snowcapped from November through May. The city grew around Burrard Inlet and False Creek, and the water is inescapable: Granville Island, a 1920s industrial peninsula converted into a public market and arts hub, is reached by a small ferry that runs every few minutes from several downtown docks.

Gastown was the original settlement -- a tavern and a few buildings around what is now Water Street, established in 1867.

The cobblestone streets and repurposed brick warehouses of the Gastown Historic District now hold restaurants, boutiques and the famous Steam Clock, which runs on steam from the underground heating system and blows a whistle every fifteen minutes. Stanley Park, at 405 hectares, is larger than Central Park and includes old-growth forest, a seawall walk with views across English Bay, and a collection of totem poles from various First Nations communities. Richmond, the suburb to the south, has one of the most significant concentrations of Cantonese and Mandarin-speaking communities outside Asia, and the food there -- dim sum, hand-pulled noodles, Taiwanese boba shops -- is the best argument for renting a car for an afternoon.