This strollable smorgasbord of stores and restaurants may have your credit cards whimpering for mercy after a couple of hours. Since Kits is now a bit of a middle-class utopia, shops that once sold cheap groceries are now more likely to be hawking designer yoga gear, hundred-dollar hiking socks and exotic (and unfamiliar) fruits from around the world.

There are some excellent restaurants and coffeehouses here, as well as a menagerie of well-maintained wooden heritage homes along almost every side street. The neighborhood is definitely worth a lazy afternoon of anyone's time – and you're never far from the beach if you need to cool off.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Vancouver attractions

1. City Farmer

0.2 MILES

Home of the Vancouver Compost Demonstration Garden, this fragrant, flower-strewn urban horticulture site is just a two-block walk from W 4th Ave. It's…

2. Kitsilano Beach

0.42 MILES

Facing English Bay, Kits Beach is one of Vancouver's favorite summertime hangouts. The wide, sandy expanse attracts buff Frisbee tossers and giggling…

3. Arbutus Greenway

0.48 MILES

A former disused urban rail line that's being transformed by the city into a cool linear park, this 8.5km-long flora-fringed walking and cycling route is…

4. HR MacMillan Space Centre

0.71 MILES

Focusing on the wonderful world of space, admission to this kid-favorite museum includes a gallery of hands-on exhibits (don't miss the Mars section where…

5. Museum of Vancouver

0.71 MILES

The MOV serves up cool temporary exhibitions alongside in-depth permanent galleries of fascinating First Nations artifacts and evocative pioneer-era…

6. Vanier Park

0.73 MILES

Winding around Kitsilano Point toward Kits Beach, waterfront Vanier Park is more a host than a destination. Home to three museums, it's also the venue for…

7. Vancouver Maritime Museum

0.74 MILES

Teeming with salty seafaring artifacts, dozens of intricate ship models and a couple of walk-through recreated boat sections, the prize exhibit at this…

8. Kids Market

0.83 MILES

A kaleidoscopic mini shopping mall for under-10s (there's even a special child-size entrance door), the Kids Market is crammed with 25 family-friendly…