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| *Travel Tips>>>Vancouver Travel Tips |
Which neighbourhoods of Vancouver are the best to live in? |
Travel Info Which neighbourhoods of Vancouver are the best to live in? Travel Tips Depends on what you want and what kind of personality you have. Kitsilano for example is a favorite of mine but not my sister's. I'm more into trends and a bit of a metro lifestyle. I like modern apartments with a nice wine collection, a sleek leather couch and a flat panel TV. My sister is living in the Commercial Drive district and hates Kitsilano because it IS trendy (and pretentious, and showy, and...and..) Commercial Drive is very eclectic and is about as close to the 1960s hippie culture as you can reliably find in Vancouver. I've seen people walking around bare foot with a baby wrapped up in a toga style sling. People along The Drive love their ethnic foods, growing vegetables on their balconies, drum circles in their parks, and lots of colour in their lives. I like to hang out there but I know I don't belong there. Many neighborhoods in Vancouver are like this. Kerrisdale is aging and is full of grey haired control freaks who belong to many clubs and hoard their strata council positions in their buildings so they can be assured a seat in making decisions about what new rules need to be added to get that one step closer to their untouchable utopia. (i.e. no loud noises after 7 p.m. or before 10 a.m. or at all on weekends, what colour drapes you are allowed to have, etc.). Arbutus Ridge, Dunbar, and West Point Grey are full of the same types you find in Kerrisdale only these people have more money and will ***** about anything. If you are just like them though, to you, this is heaven because finally all your neighbors will be just like you and will think the entire rest of the city is screwed up on their priorities. Downtown is all about "keeping up with the Jone's". It gets worse as you move closer to Stanley Park since gays are openly very materialistic and have to have the latest of everything. In Concord Pacific/North False Creek, you have a 50/50 mix of Asians and "others" (mostly young singles or couples fresh out of Uni. and walking a few steps faster than their more laid back Kitsilano counterparts). In downtown, the Porsche Boxter epitomizes the car to own... the bottom end of an expensive brand... but you're able to say, "I drive a Porsche" and everyone in the trendy bars and clubs will perk up their ears and suddenly flock to your side. The further away from the inner city neighborhoods you get, the less polarized the neighborhoods become and the middle suburbs like Burnaby, Coquitlam, North Van, etc are just a sea of the same, with a mall here and a shopping centre there--all criss-crossed with the metropolitian region's commuter routes and skytrains. Surrey (or at least the north half) and New Westminster to some extent is the last true blue collar havens in the region. Its home of the city's cab drivers, factory workers, and the reputation for being the bedroom slum. The last two suburbs (Maple Ridge and Langley) share the characteristic of being where city meets country and are turning into a mess of pocket condo developments and Home Depots in the middle of cow pastures and remains of collapsed dairy barns. If you live in this area and don't have a car, your life will be very small and very hellish. If you DO have a car, your life will STILL be hell only this time, you'll spend it idling in traffic and blocked by endless 200 car trains every 15 minutes heading to and from the container ports. Source(s): I've spent 26 years of my life in Vancouver. Other Travel Tips Delta, Burnaby, Downtown (but it's expensive). Avoid Whalley, and East Vancouver. Dunbar, Kits, West Point Grey, Kerrisdale, just to name a few. But there are many others. Most of the WESTSIDE massive are great. For awsome views, check out places in Kits, Point Grey, University, SW Marine, McKenzie Heights... Kits also offers a pretty urban feel (with an awsome beach), so does Granville (no beach). Kerrisdale is a great little community of its own with some great shops. If you have loads of gold and prefer old money style mansion living, check out the Shaughnessy area. The native reserve kinda land off SW Marine is not recommanded, even though there is a price advantage there. This is because you basically pay the aboriginals for live in rights and you can't own their land unless you are 1 aboriginal, too. Cambie used to be nice but with the train in construction, I doubt it'll be that nice anymore. If you don't appreciate a large gathering of multiculturalism, avoid Marpole. If WESTSIDE is too expensive, Champlain Heights and Fraserview in the EASTSIDE can be an alternative. For true urban feel, there's always downtown. However, some find it to be too crowded and gay. Real experience as a Vancouverite If you want to raise a family, the best place would be in South Surrey/Ocean Park/Crescent Beach area. This is a pocket of the Fraser Valley that you cannot beat. We are very community involved and take an active interest in what is going on around us. Our schools have a lot of parent participation and this in turn helps mold the future generation. You only have to come down to this area where we have beautiful homes, loving families and kind and generous neighbours and friends. You would never want to leave. |
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