Vancouver has yet again made it onto a best of list. The latest honour bestowed upon the city of lotus-eaters – a place on Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Cities list.
With its beautiful scenery of mountains and ocean, fusion food restaurant delicacies galore and well groomed, outdoorsy populace it’s obvious why the city lands on list after list of praise. Provided by Tourism Vancouver, here are some of the numerous titles the city has won over recent years, for a full list visit the Tourism Vancouver site:
In October of this year readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine once again voted Vancouver the 'Best City in the Americas'. The city beat out Buenos Aires and Quebec City. It was the fourth win for Vancouver, the city was also awarded the title in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) once again named Vancouver as the world's most liveable city, based on the organization's Global Liveability Rankings survey, in June 2009. Over 30 indicators, grouped into five categories (stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure) were reviewed across 140 cities around the world, and Vancouver met 98 per cent of the criteria set. The EIU also ranked Vancouver as the top city for business travel for the third year in a row.
Vancouver, B.C. is no stranger to reverence and award-winning, often making top-10 (and even higher) lists in media everywhere, most recently the Lonely Planet's 'Top 10 Cities' list. With its beautiful scenery of mountains and ocean, fusion food restaurant delicacies galore and a well groomed, outdoorsy populace it's obvious why the city gets so much praise.
Vancouver, B.C. is no stranger to reverence and award-winning, often making top-10 (and even higher) lists in media everywhere, most recently the Lonely Planet's 'Top 10 Cities' list. With its beautiful scenery of mountains and ocean, fusion food restaurant delicacies galore and a well groomed, outdoorsy populace it's obvious why the city gets so much praise.
PoYang, Flickr.com
Vancouver's Gastown, otherwise known as the city's historic district, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in B.C.
Gastown's famous Steam Clock, built in 1977, is the world's first! The clock itself is one of the old city's major attractions. Every 15 minutes, the it sounds Westminster chimes on 5 brass steam whistles.
janusz, Flickr.com
Quaint little sidewalk shops and restos line Gastown's Water Street.
Duane Storey, Flickr.com
Gastown is famous for its cobblestone streets, its excellent restaurants, it's steam clock, and its shops.
CanadaGood, Flickr.com
Robson Street is one of Vancouver's major upscale consumer districts, which contains prominent anchors like Hermes, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and the like. It's a major centre for moneyed businessfolk and Canadian (and tourist) fashionistas. This area is also known as the 'Little Ginza,' because of all the Japanese business magnates that operate there.
Justene, Flickr.com
Stanley Park is Vancouver's own green-getaway. Larger than New York City's Central Park and almost half the size of London's Richmond Park, it attracts an estimated 8-million visitors per year, including locals and tourists who come for its recreational facilities and natural attributes.
Leonardo Stabile, Flickr.com
West Vancouver's Cypress Bowl Ski Area is located in the southern section of the Provincial Park of the same name. The ski resort has 47 named alpine ski runs (many accessible for night skiing) and 19 km cross country tracks. Snowshoeing tours are also popular. Ski schools and rentals, a cafeteria and lounge and a retail shop are also located on the premises. Though the resort shuts down come summer, hiking trails open up.
ivona kellie, Flickr.com
North Vancouver's Grouse Mountain is part of the Pacific Ranges and the site of a famous ski area that overlooks Greater Vancouver. The site has four chairlifts facilitating 26 runs. Grouse features lumberjack shows and a 2.9-k.m. hiking trail (known as the Grouse Grind) in the summertime. Year-round operations include a 100-seat mountaintop theatre and a wildlife refuge.
sraebom, Flickr.com
Small aqua ferries are a major source of transportation in Vancouver, connecting the downtown core with the West Side; and the North with the South.
gravity wave, Flickr.com
The Granville Island bridge shines in the gold light of the Vancouver night.
Antony Pranata, Flickr.com
In its annual quality of living survey, Mercer Human Resources Consulting again rated Vancouver as the top city in the Americas, in April 2009. Vancouver tied in 4th place with Auckland, New Zealand. This year, infrastructure was also accessed and Vancouver came out as top city in the Americas, placing 6th in the world.
Vancouver won the top Canadian travel destination spot in Travel Weekly magazine’s sixth annual awards issue. Vancouver has won all six times.
Vancouver was recognized as the number one gay leisure travel destination in Canada in an international survey by Community Marketing Inc. (CMI). The annual survey placed Vancouver at the top spot within Canada above both Montreal and Toronto.
Vancouver is the fifth top destination in the world to host a sporting event, according to the 'Ultimate Sports City 2008: Strategies for Successful Event Hosting' report, which appeared in SportBusiness International.
If all of this love for Vancouver is making you feel a little jealous just remember Versus.com ranked the Vancouver Canucks jersey among the top five hideous designs in the NHL. Poor old MukMuk, the cuddle emblem of Vancouver Games, was named one of the worst Olympic mascots on TopTenz.com. Add to that Pamela Anderson's frequent appearances on worst dressed lists and Bryan Adams place on Blender’s worst lyrics list for ‘Summer of 69’ and you should start feeling better about your home town, even if no one has ever called it the best at anything.
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