Living the Olympic Dream

City, 615,500; Metro Vancouver, 2,271,000

$62,900

$638,948

Vancouver rain is actually quite seasonal, with close to half of it falling in November and December. Summer average highs are in the low 20s; winters only dip to about 5 C.

Daily flights from Edmonton or Calgary take 60 to 90 minutes.

Entertainment, finance and Asia-Pacific trade form the backbone of the economy, while a growing tech scene might make this Silicon Valley North. The tourism industry is still going strong, with Whistler-Blackcomb, the host for downhill competitions during the Olympics, only 126 kilometres north on a revamped Sea to Sky highway.

The Games-related building boom is over, but work on the $2.5-billion, 10-lane replacement of the Port Mann Bridge to Surrey is just starting.

If you only go to one place, make it Vij’s, an institution among foodies. Other favourites include the Belgian restaurant Chambar and the adjoining lunch eatery, Café Medina. The Shore Club, near the Four Seasons, Fairmont Waterfront and St. Regis hotels, is a convenient spot for business drinks.

The St. Regis Hotel, a small, upscale inn-style property downtown, is professional, personal and stylish. If you want waterfront digs, the Pan Pacific is an enormous, well-run luxury hotel. Our favourite spot: the eighth-floor outdoor pool overlooking the Coast Mountains.

Stanley Park is de rigueur and the Vancouver Art Gallery is always worth a visit. If you have the time to venture off the downtown peninsula, visit the newly expanded Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. It focuses on coastal First Nations, but has a little bit of historical interest for everyone.