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Visitors Information |
The best place to get visitor information about the city of Vancouver is right here at Vancouver Profile. Take your time to browse our web site which contains detailed information about life in Vancouver.
You can get Canadian tourism information at consulate offices in many major cities. The provincial and municipal Canadian tourism boards are also great sources of travel information. Contact Super Natural British Columbia-Tourism B.C., Box 9830 Stn. Prov. Government, Victoria, B.C. V8W 9W5 (tel. 800/HELLO-BC or 604/435-5622; www.hellobc.com), for information about travel and accommodations throughout the province.
Tourism Vancouver's Touristinfo Centre, 200 Burrard St., Vancouver, B.C. V6C 3L6 (tel. 604/682-2222; www.tourismvancouver.com), and Tourism Victoria, 812 Wharf St., Victoria (tel. 250/953-2033; for hotel bookings only 800/663-3883 and 250/953-2022; www.tourismvictoria.com), can help you with everything from booking accommodations to making suggestions for what to see and do.
If you're planning to spend time outside the cities, you may also wish to call or write the Vancouver Coast and Mountains Tourism Region, 250-1508 W. 2nd Ave., Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1H2 (tel. 800/667-3306 or 604/739-9011; www.vcmbc.com). For travel information on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, contact the Tourism Association of Vancouver Island, 203-335 Wesley St., Nanaimo, B.C. V9R 2T5 (tel. 250/754-3500; www.seetheislands.com).
When To Go
Tree experts say that a rainforest species like the Western Red Cedar needs at least 30 inches of precipitation a year. Vancouver gets about 47 inches a year, a cause for no small celebration among the local cedar population. Homo sapiens simply learn to adjust.
For example, most of that precipitation arrives in the wintertime, when, with a 30-minute drive to the mountains, you can trade the rain for snow. Skiing and snowboarding are popular from mid-December until the mountain snowpack melts away in June. Except in Whistler, hotels in the winter are quiet and the restaurants are uncluttered. This is also the time when Vancouver's cultural scene is at its most active.
Around mid-February, the winds begin to slacken, the sun shines a bit more, and the buds on the cherry trees begin to poke their heads out. By April the azaleas and rhododendrons are in full bloom. The sun comes out, and stays out. From then until the rains close in again in mid-October is prime visiting time for sun junkies. Of course, that's also when most other visitors arrive.
Weather
Both Vancouver and Victoria enjoy moderately warm, sunny summers and mild, rainy winters. Above the 49th parallel, you get more sun per summer day than you do down south. There are 16 hours of daylight in mid-June. Only 10% of the annual rainfall occurs during the summer months. Victoria gets half as much rain as Vancouver, thanks to the sheltering Olympic Peninsula to the south and its own southeasterly position on huge Vancouver Island. The average annual rainfall in Vancouver is 47 inches; in Victoria, it's just 23 inches.
Holidays
The official British Columbian public holidays are as follows: New Year's Day (Jan 1); Good Friday, Easter, Easter Monday (Apr 6, 2007); Victoria Day (May 21, 2007); Canada Day (July 1); Labour Day (Sept 3, 2007); Thanksgiving (Oct 8, 2007); Remembrance Day (Nov 11); Christmas (Dec 25); and Boxing Day (Dec 26).
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