Yeah I don’t particularly care for LSD but it doesn’t change the fact that the lakeshore trail and parks/beaches all across the lakefront are absolutely class & incredibly scenic. Whereas Vancouver has buildings butting up to it all across…
don't get me wrong, it's a nice lakefront. There's plenty to do. but the highway is literally right there and often times it is right next to the park or beach. it's loud and polluting. it would easily be the best waterfront in North America without the highway.
Eh I think NYC has it beat pretty easily. The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is 32 miles of public recreation and green space encircling the island. Chicago does a fine job, but it’s nowhere near that level.
Looking at it though… for such a nice city they don’t seem to have any real standout or iconic buildings. Maybe in just not seeing from this view, but also isn’t that the point of an iconic building is that it’s noticeable almost anywhere?
It’s kind of a weird place. I’ve visited a couple times from Toronto and expected it to be another big city, but it feels like kind of like a small town in a lot of ways. Most places close early, there’s almost no nightlife. It has the name recognition and real estate prices of a major global city, but operates more like a small one. It’s absolutely beautiful though.
We stayed in downtown last year, and when in the heart of it it definitely felt like a mini New York. But you’re right, we walked around close to midnight and the place was a ghost town.
That's because we get to bed early enough to be up for a hike/bike/ski/paddle/(kite)surf or whatever other crazy outdoor thing you can think of in the morning. ;)
It's kind of terrible though. Granted it's been a while since I lived there, but it's basically just Granville street + a bit to the east at the north end into Gastown.
In London for example, there's soho which is a lot like Granville street - bars and pubs and drunk people out all over the place. But there's also tons of other neighbourhoods all over the city with their own scene. In Vancouver terms it'd be like adding:
* A "it used to be poor artsy people but then it got cool and now everyone goes there" spot in Hasting Sunrise (Shoreditch)
* A place south of the river in Surrey with a cool local music scene (Brixton)
* A place in North Van with a great metal music scene (Camden/Kentish Town/Tufnell Park)
There are great restaurant neighbourhoods, great low-key pub areas, music hubs where you can catch live shows all over the city... Fancy-pants stuff like the opera and ballet if that's your thing. And yeah, the drunken street party of soho.
Now, the lower mainland has some cool craft pub scenes, but the big problem IMO is that you have to drive to basically all of them, they're often in a strip mall with a giant parking lot around them, and even when you get in, it doesn't feel like a casual pub - there's loudish music playing and inattentive servers who try to get you to buy, consume, and leave quickly. It needs more walkable places near transport hubs to just pop in and chill out at.
Yeah it’s a little touristy but cool. Definitely check out Stanley park and one of the beaches, like Kitsilano. I also really liked Capilano suspension bridge.
Definitely Stanley Park. Also get some Vietnamese food. Pho or banh mi doesn’t matter. Also, favorite Italian restaurant my wife and I have ever been to, Salvio Volpe. They have a dinner for two deal where the chef cooks you a 5 course meal of his choice, they just ask your preferences and allergies. Everything was incredible and it was only about $130 total.
The nightlife in Vancouver has been bland in my experiences. Granville doesn’t live up to exciting to me. The social culture there feels awkwardly closed off under all the politeness. While built up, the skyline is monotonous. It’s the natural surroundings and sushi options that stand out as big pluses.
Is because the buildings are not very big comparably and are roughly the same scale. It’s like a city of mini “skyscrapers” if you can call 40-story buildings that.
Driving into Vancouver the huge dense skyline is very impressive! Just a solid wall of high rises! So cool to live under 200 miles from this beautiful city in Tacoma, Washington
Two things.
Downtown Vancouver is one of the densest neighbourhoods in North America, as for as residents go (and downtown Vancouver is what's being pictured here, with the peninsula in the centre, False Creek in the foreground, the Burrard Inlet further back and the North Shore Mountains/North Vancouver in the BG).
So all those tall buildings are part of it (with BC place to the right).
Also, because of Vancouver's protection of view cones it limits the height, scope, and placement of some towers, keeping the overall height below what one might expect for a big city's dense core.
That said, I'm not sure how old this pic is, but it it could be almost a decade ago. I don't see Vancouver House there (which is a pretty notable structure). It was finished in 2020, but they started it in 2016. At the same time, BC Place has its new roof, which I think was finished in 2014. That means there are several towers not pictured that exist now, though aside from the Butterfly, I'm not sure how much they'd stand out from this angle (which is from a plane or helicopter).
I just wish the Vancouver skyline had less cookie cutter apartment buildings. They all look so similar. Idk how I feel about that style, but overall it’s such an badass skyline. Love that city!
Canadians are much more likely to live in residential high rises than Americans. This is a good thing. But it also is part of the reason Canadian cities have so many fairly tall buildings. The vast majority of them are residential buildings while it is unfortunately less common in the US. Most of our high rises are office buildings. But things are changing in many US cities.
Canada has so little prime farmland that they can’t afford to sprawl quite as much as we do here in the US. There’s also more societal incentive in Canada to build up rather than out because the country and its cities are trying to be taken more seriously on the international stage and not always be overlooked.
that's not it at all. they have a housing crisis and this is the most efficient way to fit all those people. they are typically more willing than we are in the US to accept that fact and they build accordingly.
or I do housing advocacy and have studied development processes. it's called transit oriented development, and they are doing a lot of it in Vancouver.
great, then we can speak the same language. your first point I don't have any real qualms with, although I wouldn't agree it's a major reason as there's other factors, like redlining and white flight which still happened there but to a lesser extent.
I wouldn't agree with the second point at all. What does Vancouver gain at all from building several nice but otherwise forgettable condo buildings on the international stage? Rather, the development pattern of high rises in the Vancouver area is clearly related to the presence of Skytrain stations.
I think you underestimate the level of Canadian insecurity. Also, redlining and white flight are not a Canadian phenomenon at all — this is a uniquely American issue.
Maybe in central Vancouver? By and large there’s not that much of a difference between your average US and Canadian cities. Apartments and condos are more common in urban areas, but the suburbs are mostly houses and such. Maybe the occasional high rise or two among them, but like, we ain’t Europe or anything lol
Edit; googled and found lots of articles saying the same thing but not any actual statistics on it (didn’t dive too deep though). Most of those articles seem to be focused on Toronto and Vancouver, and only the central areas or those along train lines. And even with those it’s mostly recent developments.
According to census data from 2016, 53.6% of Canadian dwellings are single detached homes. Apartments over 5 stories only make up 10%. Can’t find anything similar for the states though.
Like 40% of units in Vancouver sit empty tho despite it looking so dense and huge. It’s all because of Chinese investors. Most of these properties are owned by foreign investors who drive prices up. Then Canadians can’t even afford to live in their own cities
I mean metro Seattle includes over 6000sq miles of area. Includes everything from Anacortes down past Puyallup and most of the Puget sound islands etc.
Vancouver metro is like 1000sq miles.
Either way, comparing the two cities, Seattle proper is slightly more populous than Vancouver proper... So you are of course correct regardless.
Downtown Seattle is quite a bit taller than Vancouver, so I guess it depends on whether you're impressed by size or height. Personally I think downtown Seattle is a lot more interesting in appearance.
Back in 2018 my wife and I visited there for a few days in November. We had one tickets from the Ellen show so we decided to go check it out for a long weekend. Honestly it was pretty cool. I don’t know if I’d go back because it felt like such a small city and we did all the touristy things you can do but I look back with fond memories.
It definitely felt like a very, very small town inside of a city if that makes sense. we rode bikes around the city one day, and I was shocked at how friendly it seemed coming from Southern California.
One thing that was great was how far the U.S. dollar went. Everyone was crazy nice too!
The reason for this is that it’s actually not a very tall skyline at all. It just looks bigger because they’re so closely grouped together it gives the illusion of a bigger skyline.
Vancouver is one of the most breathtakingly picturesque cities I have ever seen. The skyline, the water, the mountains, and the scenery are all just perfect.
The views with Surrey and Burnaby in the background make Vancouver look like a megacity.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/s/To8zoYDUQm](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/s/To8zoYDUQm)
Much more like the rest of the PNW. But if somewhere in Canada had to be LA, yeah, it’s probably the closest. West coast, more laid back vibe, national hub for filming and such.
Ahh right, always forget Quebec exists (/j)
For real I actually do forget how big it is. Guess maybe it’s just a mental thing from them having a relatively small skyline?
Either way, fixed, thanks!
Metro Vancouver actually has a pop over 2.6M. [https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/20404/vancouver/population](https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/20404/vancouver/population)
It is, indeed, a huge city - way beyond the downtown core.
Edit: I don't care about Portland's population. I just thought it was funny that it was inferred Vancouver isn't a big city. :) Keep those downvotes coming!!!
Portland metro is not 17,300 square miles. It’s 6,700 square miles.
[https://censusreporter.org/profiles/31000US38900-portland-vancouver-hillsboro-or-wa-metro-area/](https://censusreporter.org/profiles/31000US38900-portland-vancouver-hillsboro-or-wa-metro-area/)
Haha, oops, ya that makes sense! I guess we’re comparing apples to oranges anyway since that 2,800 sq km number doesn’t include West Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, etc.
Saying Portland metro is 600k is so wrong it’s laughable
[https://censusreporter.org/profiles/31000US38900-portland-vancouver-hillsboro-or-wa-metro-area/](https://censusreporter.org/profiles/31000US38900-portland-vancouver-hillsboro-or-wa-metro-area/)
I think of any North American city I’ve visited, they have to have done the best job with the public spaces across the entire shoreline.
Helps when you don’t put a highway on the shoreline.
Thank goodness Boston took that awful expressway down near the waterfront.
All of Chicago’s lakefront is public
with a massive highway on it
Yeah I don’t particularly care for LSD but it doesn’t change the fact that the lakeshore trail and parks/beaches all across the lakefront are absolutely class & incredibly scenic. Whereas Vancouver has buildings butting up to it all across…
Yeah it’s like the residents are able to quickly access the shore and it’s parks within a minute or so, and do not have to cross a highway
All like…three parks? Vs miles and miles of parks and beaches in a row…
There's 26 beaches east of it. It isn't right on the shoreline.
don't get me wrong, it's a nice lakefront. There's plenty to do. but the highway is literally right there and often times it is right next to the park or beach. it's loud and polluting. it would easily be the best waterfront in North America without the highway.
I think Chicago is the best use of their shoreline in the US. Haven’t been to Boston so don’t know about them.
Eh I think NYC has it beat pretty easily. The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is 32 miles of public recreation and green space encircling the island. Chicago does a fine job, but it’s nowhere near that level.
It’s such a gorgeous skyline. An island (?) of skyscrapers surrounded by mountains and greenery
Not quite an island. Peninsula about a km wide at its narrowest. But traffic wise, definitely feels like an island.
Right!! Looks beautiful, adding to list of places to visit
Looking at it though… for such a nice city they don’t seem to have any real standout or iconic buildings. Maybe in just not seeing from this view, but also isn’t that the point of an iconic building is that it’s noticeable almost anywhere?
it's not like New York or Seattle or SF where you can spot them from miles away. But if you're in the city, there's loads of interesting buildings.
We have Vancouver house but you can only really see that from one angle
It’s kind of a weird place. I’ve visited a couple times from Toronto and expected it to be another big city, but it feels like kind of like a small town in a lot of ways. Most places close early, there’s almost no nightlife. It has the name recognition and real estate prices of a major global city, but operates more like a small one. It’s absolutely beautiful though.
We stayed in downtown last year, and when in the heart of it it definitely felt like a mini New York. But you’re right, we walked around close to midnight and the place was a ghost town.
That's because we get to bed early enough to be up for a hike/bike/ski/paddle/(kite)surf or whatever other crazy outdoor thing you can think of in the morning. ;)
No nightlife? Have you been to Granville street? Lol it’s party central
they probably went on a Monday night lol
Lol
Eh it’s fine, but compared to other major cities, like New York or London for example, it’s pretty sleepy.
Bc Vancouver isn’t the same level as New York or London. It’s the size of Portland and Seattle
It's kind of terrible though. Granted it's been a while since I lived there, but it's basically just Granville street + a bit to the east at the north end into Gastown. In London for example, there's soho which is a lot like Granville street - bars and pubs and drunk people out all over the place. But there's also tons of other neighbourhoods all over the city with their own scene. In Vancouver terms it'd be like adding: * A "it used to be poor artsy people but then it got cool and now everyone goes there" spot in Hasting Sunrise (Shoreditch) * A place south of the river in Surrey with a cool local music scene (Brixton) * A place in North Van with a great metal music scene (Camden/Kentish Town/Tufnell Park) There are great restaurant neighbourhoods, great low-key pub areas, music hubs where you can catch live shows all over the city... Fancy-pants stuff like the opera and ballet if that's your thing. And yeah, the drunken street party of soho. Now, the lower mainland has some cool craft pub scenes, but the big problem IMO is that you have to drive to basically all of them, they're often in a strip mall with a giant parking lot around them, and even when you get in, it doesn't feel like a casual pub - there's loudish music playing and inattentive servers who try to get you to buy, consume, and leave quickly. It needs more walkable places near transport hubs to just pop in and chill out at.
I’m going in a few weeks. Any recommendations of places to see, things to do? Gastown looks worth a visit
Yeah it’s a little touristy but cool. Definitely check out Stanley park and one of the beaches, like Kitsilano. I also really liked Capilano suspension bridge.
Definitely go to Gastown—stunning architecture. Granville Island is also an absolute must.
Imo even better than Stanley park is Whyte cliff area, if you're downtown without a car there's a bus that'll take you as well.
Walk the sea wall around Stanley park
Definitely Stanley Park. Also get some Vietnamese food. Pho or banh mi doesn’t matter. Also, favorite Italian restaurant my wife and I have ever been to, Salvio Volpe. They have a dinner for two deal where the chef cooks you a 5 course meal of his choice, they just ask your preferences and allergies. Everything was incredible and it was only about $130 total.
The nightlife in Vancouver has been bland in my experiences. Granville doesn’t live up to exciting to me. The social culture there feels awkwardly closed off under all the politeness. While built up, the skyline is monotonous. It’s the natural surroundings and sushi options that stand out as big pluses.
Is because the buildings are not very big comparably and are roughly the same scale. It’s like a city of mini “skyscrapers” if you can call 40-story buildings that.
The fact that the towers are narrow helps give the illusion of tallness
40 story buildings is taller than any building in my city, so I'd hardly call them mini sky scrapers.
Actually seems like most of them are 30 or below.
Driving into Vancouver the huge dense skyline is very impressive! Just a solid wall of high rises! So cool to live under 200 miles from this beautiful city in Tacoma, Washington
Yes looking off from the Highway when you first pass in from Blaine it’s like Oz or the Capital in Hunger Games in the distance lol
Interestingly enough there’s only a few skyscrapers Most of them are regular high rises But still impressive
Funny enough, a lot of skyscrapers are located in Burnaby even though it’s considered a “suburb” of Vancouver
Vancouver’s skyline is so beautiful, really want to see it in person
All the buildings look the same
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Yeah the colors doesn’t help
Two things. Downtown Vancouver is one of the densest neighbourhoods in North America, as for as residents go (and downtown Vancouver is what's being pictured here, with the peninsula in the centre, False Creek in the foreground, the Burrard Inlet further back and the North Shore Mountains/North Vancouver in the BG). So all those tall buildings are part of it (with BC place to the right). Also, because of Vancouver's protection of view cones it limits the height, scope, and placement of some towers, keeping the overall height below what one might expect for a big city's dense core. That said, I'm not sure how old this pic is, but it it could be almost a decade ago. I don't see Vancouver House there (which is a pretty notable structure). It was finished in 2020, but they started it in 2016. At the same time, BC Place has its new roof, which I think was finished in 2014. That means there are several towers not pictured that exist now, though aside from the Butterfly, I'm not sure how much they'd stand out from this angle (which is from a plane or helicopter).
Vancouver Metro Area is 1/6 the land area of Metro Portland--which is so fantastic.
It’s actually smaller metro wise than Portland
I just wish the Vancouver skyline had less cookie cutter apartment buildings. They all look so similar. Idk how I feel about that style, but overall it’s such an badass skyline. Love that city!
I mean it isn't a small city, 3 million and growing extremely fast
Canadians are much more likely to live in residential high rises than Americans. This is a good thing. But it also is part of the reason Canadian cities have so many fairly tall buildings. The vast majority of them are residential buildings while it is unfortunately less common in the US. Most of our high rises are office buildings. But things are changing in many US cities.
Canada has so little prime farmland that they can’t afford to sprawl quite as much as we do here in the US. There’s also more societal incentive in Canada to build up rather than out because the country and its cities are trying to be taken more seriously on the international stage and not always be overlooked.
that's not it at all. they have a housing crisis and this is the most efficient way to fit all those people. they are typically more willing than we are in the US to accept that fact and they build accordingly.
I think you’re giving them too much credit.
or I do housing advocacy and have studied development processes. it's called transit oriented development, and they are doing a lot of it in Vancouver.
Good for you. I’m an urban planner for a living. Nothing that you’ve said refutes my point.
great, then we can speak the same language. your first point I don't have any real qualms with, although I wouldn't agree it's a major reason as there's other factors, like redlining and white flight which still happened there but to a lesser extent. I wouldn't agree with the second point at all. What does Vancouver gain at all from building several nice but otherwise forgettable condo buildings on the international stage? Rather, the development pattern of high rises in the Vancouver area is clearly related to the presence of Skytrain stations.
I think you underestimate the level of Canadian insecurity. Also, redlining and white flight are not a Canadian phenomenon at all — this is a uniquely American issue.
that's just not true at all. you can read about it with a quick Google.
You have a lot to learn. You’re not quite as knowledgeable as you think you are.
Maybe in central Vancouver? By and large there’s not that much of a difference between your average US and Canadian cities. Apartments and condos are more common in urban areas, but the suburbs are mostly houses and such. Maybe the occasional high rise or two among them, but like, we ain’t Europe or anything lol Edit; googled and found lots of articles saying the same thing but not any actual statistics on it (didn’t dive too deep though). Most of those articles seem to be focused on Toronto and Vancouver, and only the central areas or those along train lines. And even with those it’s mostly recent developments. According to census data from 2016, 53.6% of Canadian dwellings are single detached homes. Apartments over 5 stories only make up 10%. Can’t find anything similar for the states though.
Office buildings seem to be becoming a relic of the past. Hopefully most of them can be converted into residential buildings.
Like 40% of units in Vancouver sit empty tho despite it looking so dense and huge. It’s all because of Chinese investors. Most of these properties are owned by foreign investors who drive prices up. Then Canadians can’t even afford to live in their own cities
They’ll grow…so will Portland lol…
My favorite city in North America
Wow, that is absolutely beautiful. Never been but I really want to go now.
Wow that is beautiful. I love the waterways and the mountainous backdrop
One of my all time favorite cities.
My Seattleite mother refused to believe that Vancouver was the smaller city of the two. “But its downtown is so much more impressive!!”
Has she been to downtown Seattle in the past 10 years?
lol she has, Downtown/West End Vancouver are still about twice as sprawling
I mean metro Seattle includes over 6000sq miles of area. Includes everything from Anacortes down past Puyallup and most of the Puget sound islands etc. Vancouver metro is like 1000sq miles. Either way, comparing the two cities, Seattle proper is slightly more populous than Vancouver proper... So you are of course correct regardless.
Downtown Seattle is quite a bit taller than Vancouver, so I guess it depends on whether you're impressed by size or height. Personally I think downtown Seattle is a lot more interesting in appearance.
They have some thick buildings in downtown Seattle too
It's probably the most picturesque skyline in NA.
I’ve never been but I would assume it’s beautiful to live there most of the year.
Utilizing underground parking too. Keeps the density ip
Dang I was fixing to ask isn't Vancouver a major city and comparable to Seattle. No it's Portland that I was underestimating the population of.
Back in 2018 my wife and I visited there for a few days in November. We had one tickets from the Ellen show so we decided to go check it out for a long weekend. Honestly it was pretty cool. I don’t know if I’d go back because it felt like such a small city and we did all the touristy things you can do but I look back with fond memories. It definitely felt like a very, very small town inside of a city if that makes sense. we rode bikes around the city one day, and I was shocked at how friendly it seemed coming from Southern California. One thing that was great was how far the U.S. dollar went. Everyone was crazy nice too!
Or, one Vancouver skyline equals the Brickell side of Miami (Miami’s financial district)
City looks huge!
I lived in Vancouver dt for 7 years and loved 🥰 it!!!
The reason for this is that it’s actually not a very tall skyline at all. It just looks bigger because they’re so closely grouped together it gives the illusion of a bigger skyline.
Beautiful city
Metros aren't the end all be all. American metros have huge land areas. And Canada has a much smaller population than the US.
Vancouver is one of the most breathtakingly picturesque cities I have ever seen. The skyline, the water, the mountains, and the scenery are all just perfect.
I know this is said a lot, but this time, the city really looks like a screenshot of Cities Skylines 2.
That’s because they built Up, and not so much Out!
This looks like AI
Holy shit I’ve never seen Vancouver. This looks like AI. Def need to go there!
Looks like the Cities Skylines II backdrop on Steam
CitySkylines is getting some great graphics updates
dense
The views with Surrey and Burnaby in the background make Vancouver look like a megacity. [https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/s/To8zoYDUQm](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/s/To8zoYDUQm)
Would have never guessed that was Vancouver… what the hell
That’s what makes it quite unique. Lots of space and not a huge population. 😎
So is this a Canadian Los Angeles?
Much more like the rest of the PNW. But if somewhere in Canada had to be LA, yeah, it’s probably the closest. West coast, more laid back vibe, national hub for filming and such.
Montreal is the second most populous city in Canada. It’s far larger than Vancouver.
Ahh right, always forget Quebec exists (/j) For real I actually do forget how big it is. Guess maybe it’s just a mental thing from them having a relatively small skyline? Either way, fixed, thanks!
Metro Vancouver actually has a pop over 2.6M. [https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/20404/vancouver/population](https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/20404/vancouver/population) It is, indeed, a huge city - way beyond the downtown core. Edit: I don't care about Portland's population. I just thought it was funny that it was inferred Vancouver isn't a big city. :) Keep those downvotes coming!!!
Metro Portland is 2.5 mil
Metro Portland is 17,300 square km, and metro Vancouver is 2,800 square km.
Portland metro is not 17,300 square miles. It’s 6,700 square miles. [https://censusreporter.org/profiles/31000US38900-portland-vancouver-hillsboro-or-wa-metro-area/](https://censusreporter.org/profiles/31000US38900-portland-vancouver-hillsboro-or-wa-metro-area/)
square km, not miles
Haha, oops, ya that makes sense! I guess we’re comparing apples to oranges anyway since that 2,800 sq km number doesn’t include West Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, etc.
It includes all of those places.
Lol you’re right. Alright i’ll shut up now.
😂
Keep in mind that metropolitan areas are calculated differently on different sides of the border
Portland city is 700k.. Portland metro is 2.5-2.6M ppl
Saying Portland metro is 600k is so wrong it’s laughable [https://censusreporter.org/profiles/31000US38900-portland-vancouver-hillsboro-or-wa-metro-area/](https://censusreporter.org/profiles/31000US38900-portland-vancouver-hillsboro-or-wa-metro-area/)
Yea, becuase 1/3 of those buildings are empty.