Vancouver
Vibrant World Cup Host City
Story by David Burke | Images By Joern Rohde
False Creek
It’s difficult to imagine any of the other 15 North American cities hosting this summer’s FIFA World Cup 2026 offering a more stunning setting than Vancouver. The proximity of nature — including English Bay, the North Shore mountains and the green oasis that is Stanley Park — and urban sophistication is simply hard to beat.
Fans who descend on the city — Canada’s West Coast hub and its largest urban area west of Toronto — to attend one or more of the seven soccer (a.k.a. football) games set to occur at B.C. Place Stadium in June and July have some decisions to make when exploring the city and its surroundings. Will they want to focus on art and culture? Dining? Shopping? Sightseeing? Or some combination of the above?
Even if you’re not attending the games, you can share in the World Cup excitement at several locations, including the main FIFA Fan Festival™ at Hastings Park, where you can enjoy live music from well-known acts, food and of course, watch the games on giant screens. vancouverfwc26.ca
One of the best ways to start your Vancouver visit is with a visit to the Vancouver Lookout at Harbour Centre, near the Convention Centre and the Canada Place cruise ship terminal. The lookout provides the ideal location to survey the landscape and enjoy stunning views of Burrard Inlet and the North Shore mountains from the 169-metre (553-foot) observation deck. vancouverlookout.com
Afterward, you can take a hop-on, hop-off city bus tour, which starts and finishes near the Convention Centre and stops at such attractions as Stanley Park, False Creek, the Granville Island Market, Science World, Chinatown, the Vancouver Art Gallery and Bill Reid Gallery, and Gastown, which is back near the starting point. westcoastsightseeing.com
Queen Elizabeth Park
A short walk from the Convention Centre, Waterfront Station offers access to Vancouver’s three light-rail transit lines (Expo, Millennium, and Canada) and the SeaBus, on which you can take a 15-minute mini-cruise to North Vancouver. Nearby attractions include the Lonsdale Quay Market (lonsdalequay.com) and the Shipyards District (theshipyardsdistrict.ca), featuring a range of shops, cafés, eateries, and public spaces, with selfie-worthy vistas of Vancouver’s harbour and skyline. The Shipyards is also hosting live screenings and festivities during the FIFA World Cup. From May to mid-September, the Shipyards hosts a popular Friday night market including food, music and local flavour.
Back in Vancouver proper, the 405-hectare (1,001-acre) Stanley Park fills much of the downtown peninsula’s western end. Here, you’ll find several beaches, the Vancouver Aquarium (vanaqua.org), a stand of totems celebrating the vibrant cultures of British Columbia’s Indigenous peoples, and the popular Stanley Park Seawall walking/biking path.
British Columbia’s rich art and culture are on full display at the Vancouver Art Gallery, which features both permanent and visiting exhibits. “Future Geographies: Art in the Century of Climate Change” runs until Jan. 10, 2027. vanartgallery.bc.ca
Nearby, the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art showcases the renowned Haida artist’s work and that of many other Indigenous artists. billreidgallery.ca
Vancouver Art Gallery
Gastown
Olympic Caldron
Chinatown
Lonsdale Quay
Canada’s Chinese history comes to life at the Chinese Canadian Museum in Chinatown. “Momentum: Power and Identity in Sports,” exploring the powerful role sports has played in shaping Chinese Canadian identity, is on display until Sept. 5, 2027. chinesecanadianmuseum.ca
Vancouver’s summer and fall event schedule is full of all manner of street fairs, cultural celebrations, sporting events, food and drink extravaganzas, and music festivals to keep your toes tapping, your palate sated, and your brain stimulated all summer long.
Theatre lovers will be enthralled by regular performances of Bard on the Beach, this year featuring Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “Macbeth” until Sept. 19 under the big top at Vanier Park. bardonthebeach.org
After the World Cup, the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer play at B.C. Place (whitecapsfc.com), as do the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League (bclions.com). The Vancouver Rise, champions of the women’s Northern Super League’s inaugural season in 2025, play home games at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby (vanrisefc.com). For baseball, the Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League are the High-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays and play at quaint Nat Bailey Stadium (milb.com/vancouver).
The Granville Island Market on the southern shore of False Creek is Vancouver’s public market and a popular meeting place. Here, you can browse among the market stalls and cafés, pick up that one-of-a-kind souvenir, and meet the creators of unique art and craft pieces in their shops and studios. granvilleisland.com
The UBC Botanical Garden, near the University of British Columbia campus, is a destination for nature lovers. It includes the Nitobe Memorial Garden, a traditional Japanese garden dedicated to the memory of Dr. Inazo Nitobe, who wished to foster world peace (botanicalgarden.ubc.ca). South of downtown, you’ll find the VanDusen Botanical Garden, a 22-hectare (54-acre) paradise of gardens, forests, ponds, and even a hedge maze (vandusengarden.org). In Queen Elizabeth Park, the Bloedel Conservatory houses a lush tropical forest complete with abundant birdlife under a climate-controlled, translucent dome. vancouver.ca