All holidays need some downtime, right? Though generally considered a laid-back city, Vancouver offers plenty of scenic spots where you can escape the hustle and bustle and enjoy some R&R. One of the most popular places to unwind is English Bay, where the city meets the Pacific Ocean. This sweeping shoreline has been Vancouver’s main beach for more than 100 years and is where the city’s first ever lifeguard, the legendary Joe Fortes, taught hundreds of children how to swim. Today, the bay is a hotspot for sunbathing, swimming and sunset-watching. There’s a buzzing atmosphere during the summer months when flocks of locals and visitors come to soak up some sun, cool off in the sea and play volleyball in the sand.
Along the eastside of English Bay is the famous Vancouver Seawall, which runs from Point Grey in the south to Stanley Park in the north. If you need to re-energise, you’ll find a great selection of restaurants and cafés just across from the beach where you can pick up a picnic, treat yourself to a gourmet meal or sip a refreshing drink in the sun.
English Bay also hosts some of the city’s most popular annual events. During the summer, the Celebration of Light festival has three nights of spectacular fireworks and on New Year’s Day, hundreds of locals brave the ice-cold sea for the Polar Bear Swim. But even when these big crowd-drawing events aren’t taking place, the beach remains busy throughout the year and has plenty going on.