Fairview & South Granville

Combining the boutiques and restaurants of well-to-do South Granville with Fairview's busy Broadway thoroughfare and cozy Cambie Village area, this Vancouver district has something for everyone. It's also a great way to scratch beneath the surface of the city and meet the locals where they live, shop and socialize. Easy-to-access transit services link these areas via Broadway. As well as its heritage houses and bustling main streets, green-thumbed visitors should save time for some top-notch park and garden attractions.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Fairview & South Granville.

  • Gardens

    VanDusen Botanical Garden

    This highly popular green-thumbed oasis is a 22-hectare, 255,000-plant idyll that offers a strollable web of pathways weaving through specialized garden areas: the Rhododendron Walk blazes with color in spring, while the Korean Pavilion is a focal point for a fascinating Asian collection. Save time to get lost in the hedge maze and look out for the herons, owls and turtles that call the park and its ponds home. Informative guided tours are also offered here daily from April to October.

  • Gardens

    Bloedel Conservatory

    Cresting the hill in Queen Elizabeth Park, this domed conservatory is a delightful rainy-day warm-up. At Vancouver's best-value paid attraction, you'll find tropical trees and plants bristling with hundreds of free-flying, bright-plumaged birds. Listen for the noisy resident parrots but also keep your eyes peeled for rainbow-hued Gouldian finches, shimmering African superb starlings and maybe even a dramatic Lady Amherst pheasant, snaking through the undergrowth. Ask nicely and the attendants might even let you feed the smaller birds from a bowl.

  • Park

    Queen Elizabeth Park

    The city's highest point – 167m above sea level and with panoramic views over the mountain-framed downtown skyscrapers – this 52-hectare park claims to house specimens of every tree native to Canada. Sports fields, manicured lawns and formal gardens keep the locals happy, and you'll likely also see wide-eyed couples posing for their wedding photos in particularly picturesque spots. This is a good place to view local birdlife: keep your eyes peeled for chickadees, hummingbirds and huge bald eagles whirling high overhead.

  • Historic Building

    City Hall

    Architecture fans should save time for one of Vancouver's best art-deco buildings. Completed in 1936, its highlights include a soaring, Gotham-style exterior as well as an interior of streamlined signs, cylindrical lanterns and embossed elevator doors. Snap some photos of the statue of Captain George Vancouver outside, then check out the handsome wooden heritage mansions on surrounding Yukon St and W 12th Ave. Finally, snag a table at the public plaza next to City Hall for some grand mountain-framed cityscape views.