Catch Free Flamenco at the Aficionado Stage, Granville Island

Eighty-plus unfiltered indie shows across Granville Island, most of them an hour or less, so you can see two in a night and argue about them over a waterfront drink.

Port Moody's only free public gallery, housed in two heritage buildings that make the romance look effortless.

Hop a SeaBus, land at a sawtooth-roofed gallery by the Shipyards, and redirect your donation budget straight to the patio beer next door.

Thirty-one reconstructed 1920s buildings, a 1912 carousel, and the quiet suspicion you'd actually thrive back then.

Vancouver's answer to the Vegas Sphere: a 360 dome at the Space Centre where Pink Floyd, blue whales and the cosmos wrap the entire ceiling in 10K and Dolby Atmos, watched flat on your back from a reclining seat.

Suzhou artisans, no nails, Ming Dynasty methods, and National Geographic's vote for the world's top city garden, in Chinatown.

A free contemporary gallery on the third floor of the Anvil Centre, programming international artists who work in light, sound and code.

Vancouver's 1981 indie record shop, where the bins reveal more about a person than any dating app ever will.

Candid on-stage conversations with novelists, poets, and thinkers across cozy Granville Island theatres, the perfect trade for a grey October afternoon.

A free guided walking tour of five site-specific dance performances up through the Central Library, ending on the rooftop garden, one weekend in September.

Towering totem poles against sea and forest, a half-price Thursday, and the trip to UBC that's actually worth it.

A 1927 gilded dome in Vancouver, home of the Vancouver Symphony, and the most beautiful room you'll be seen in all year.

The largest Emily Carr survey in over twenty years fills the Vancouver Art Gallery with her swirling BC forests and coastlines.

A moving museum of Japanese-Canadian history with real artifacts and oral histories, plus a tranquil Japanese garden with a pond and maples.