A quick view of the day-to-day life in Vancity!
Vancouver’s lifestyle is unique! It smoothly blends the best of living in a big city with the best of living in the countryside. This city has an amazing location that offers a privileged environment where people can enjoy the beauty of majestic nature (ocean views, lakes and mountains everywhere!) and modern beautiful urban infrastructure.
Thus… Vancouver’s life is all about mixing outdoor experiences with urban living!! Whenever the weather allows for it, of course, because, as you know, there’s a big reason why Vancouver is locally referred to as “Raincouver”. Although to be entirely fair, you will see locals enjoying activities like hiking or mountain biking even when it's raining as they are already used to the rain. But no worries, if rain is not your thing, you still have all of the summer to enjoy what this beautiful city offers!
It’s all about the outdoors!
It will be pretty obvious for you to imagine how life is here now… it’s all about the outdoors! Vancouverites like to enjoy their mountains and what they have to offer; mountain biking, bird watching, snowboarding, skiing, hiking (oh how they love hiking!!), camping, you name it!! If it’s an outdoor activity, people here love it! Much so that if you Google “things to do in Vancouver”, most of the results will be related to outdoor activities.
Now, of course, the activities you can do always depend on both the weather and the season… for locals, life here can be divided into two major events: The beginning of the skiing season and the arrival of summer!!! The second one is universally expected for everyone living here, not only active people but the population in general, because summer here means four good months of nothing but sun and blue skies every day!!
That being said, the expectation of these two major events in Vancouver influences life so much that people have made a habit of planning everything with soooooo much anticipation!! (You have no idea). For example, if you would like to get a season pass for snowboarding on any mountain for 2023, you need to buy that pass at least eight months in advance!!! Otherwise, you might not get one since they have a limited amount.
The same goes for camping spots during the summer… would you like to go camping?? Well, you need to make a reservation with months of anticipation. Same reason as with the season passes, there is a limited amount of campings spots and they run out pretty fast! So, keep this in mind for when you are planning your summers here 😉
Multiculturalism
As you know, Canada is a country that is built up by immigrants, and that is directly reflected in its culture. This is especially true for Toronto and Vancouver, two cities frequently ranked as one among the most multicultural and diverse in the world!
Now, how does this reflect on its culture, you wonder? Well, quite simple… just walk around the streets of the city, and you’ll notice!! Walking around Downtown Vancouver is equal to hearing 3, 4 or even 5 different languages being spoken around you in just a 30-minute time frame; Chinese, Portuguese, Punjabi, Spanish, Korean… you name it!! Living in this city allows people to meet people from all around the world in just one place! Which is a priceless experience if you ask us.
However, Vancouver and its surroundings are strongly influenced by Asian cultures. So much so that Richmond, a city right next to Vancouver, was ranked as the most Asian city outside of Asia in the world! So you can see the impact of this in the way the people live; meaning that you can find here food, brands, grocery stores and so on that are mainly directed to provide services and products for the Asian community in Vancouver.
Gastro... Ñam Ñam!
Of course, the Vancouverite gastronomy doesn’t fall short of having significant Asian influence in its dishes. But, although the majority of restaurants you will find are probably eastern-influenced, you can still find food from all around the world!! So the gastro experience here is quite vast, from having multiple Asian-influenced places, like Japanese restaurants, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, Mongolian, Malaysian, etc. To have a wide range of Mexican or Latin restaurants, Italian, classic American style places (burgers and beer), Caribbean or African influence… everything you can imagine!
And of course, with such multiculturalism, naturally, there are plenty of fusion cuisines around the city. People here love to have new experiences through their food, so local chefs are constantly innovating and bringing new experiences to this city, making the idea of exploring Vancouver one bite at a time a great way to spend your time here!
Nightlife & Clubbing
Now, when it comes to nightlife, some would describe Vancouver’s nightlife as dull while others as absolutely amazing. The reality is… it depends on where you are from and what’s your ideal or standard “nightlife”. For the majority of people, when they ask about the nightlife in a city, they refer to clubbing and partying, although technically speaking, this term could refer to any local activity or entertainment that a city could offer at night. So a classy jazz night in a bar could be considered nightlife as well 😉
Now that we have established this… How is the nightlife in Vancouver?
Vancouver’s nightlife involves several areas where to go out for a drink. The most popular are Gastown, Granville Street, Kitsilano, Yaletown, Davie Street, Chinatown, and Main Street. They are very different from each other. Gastown, Yaletown, Main Street and Kitsilano are a little quieter areas where you can go out to dinner or have a drink. In Granville Street, the public is younger. This street is also where many nightclubs and concert halls are concentrated. Davie Street is the 2SLGBTQI+ area of the city. In Chinatown, there are also restaurants and cocktail bars (usually hip-hop music).
The musical offer is also quite varied. In the city, there are a lot of nightclubs and bars of all kinds, from hip-hop to reggaeton, country, or electronic music. They all have charm in their way! Depending on your musical taste, you will like one area more than another, so… grab your new group of friends and go out to discover which zone you like the most!
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