THE COOL WAY TO discover Vancouver is to sit with a glass of wine and let the Harbour Centre do the donkey-work. Pick up a city map from your hotel, take a taxi downtown and zip up to the centre's revolving restaurant in the high-speed lift.
At 174 metres, the tower is the tallest building in British Columbia, so open the map and watch one of the world's most stunning cities slowly unfold beneath you as you dine.
Get there an hour or so before dusk, and see the city metamorphose from a playground of beaches and bobbing yachts, backed by snow-clad mountains, into a sea of twinkling lights. It's party time.
The food is exquisite and moderately priced up here, but if you are on a tight budget, forget the meal. Pay a few dollars to visit the observation deck just below the restaurant, where a guide will point out the numerous landmarks.
Vancouver's magnificent setting, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, bounded by water on three sides, and in the shadow of mountains that are still snow-capped even in summer, is its main draw-card.
And, of course, the West Coast of Canada enjoys a mild winter. Here, residents set off for a game of golf while Canadians in the interior shovel snow away from their front doors, or huddle in front of log fires.
Half the population of British Columbia, a province the size of France, Germany, Austria and Belgium combined, live in Greater Vancouver.
