10 Best Sights in Point Grey, Vancouver

Part of the University of British Columbia, the MOA has one of the world's leading collections of Northwest Coast First Nations art. The Great Hall has dramatic cedar poles, bentwood boxes, and canoes adorned with traditional Northwest Coast-painted designs. On clear days, the gallery's 15-meter-tall (50 foot) windows reveal a striking backdrop of mountains and sea. Another highlight is the work of the late Bill Reid, one of Canada's most respected Haida artists. In The Raven and the First Men (1980), carved in yellow cedar, he tells a Haida story of creation. Reid's gold-and-silver jewelry work is also on display, as are exquisite carvings of gold, silver, and argillite (a black shale found on Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) by other First Nations artists. The museum's visible storage section displays, in drawers and cases, contain thousands of examples of tools, textiles, masks, and other artifacts from around the world. The Koerner Ceramics Gallery contains 600 pieces from 15th- to 19th-century Europe. Behind the museum are two Haida houses, set on the cliff over the water. Free guided tours—given several times daily (call or check the website for times)—are immensely informative. The MOA also has an excellent book and fine art shop, as well as a café. To reach the museum by transit, take any UBC-bound bus from Granville Street Downtown to the university bus loop, a 15-minute walk, or connect to a shuttle that scoots around the campus and will drop you off opposite the MOA at the Rose Garden. Pay parking is available in the Rose Garden parking lot, across Marine Drive from the museum. If you're planning to visit several attractions at UBC, a UBC Attractions Pass will save you money. Note that the museum is currently closed for renovations. 

If you can imagine a vast underground library, but instead of books, the stacks are filled with bones, fossils, and preserved lizards, then you can begin to imagine this modern museum on the UBC campus that exhibits more than 2 million specimens from the university’s natural history collections. The most striking attraction hangs in the entrance atrium: a 25-meter-long (82-foot-long) skeleton of a blue whale—the largest on view in Canada (the blue whale in New York’s American Museum of Natural History is 94 feet long). On the lower level, you’ll find animal skulls, taxidermied birds, and other creatures displayed through glass windows (many of which are at kids’ eye level). In the interactive Discovery Lab, you can play scientist yourself. You might compare the claws of different birds or examine animal poop under a microscope. There’s also a family space stocked with books, art supplies, and kid-size furniture. To find the museum from the university bus loop, walk west to the Main Mall and turn left; the museum is just south of University Boulevard. If you’re planning to visit several attractions at UBC, an Attractions Pass will save you money.

Home to the Jericho Sailing Centre, this Point Grey beach is popular for windsurfing and kayaking (rentals are available), especially at the western end. Swimmers can use the eastern section, where the expansive sands and a grassy park invite sunbathing. In July, the Vancouver Folk Music Festival brings thousands together over folk, world, and indie bands. Amenities: food and drink, lifeguards, parking (for a fee), toilets, and water sports. Best for: swimming, walking, and windsurfing. 

Opened in 1960 in memory of Japanese scholar and diplomat Dr. Inazo Nitobe (1862–1933), this 2½-acre walled garden, which includes a pond, a stream with a small waterfall, and a ceremonial teahouse, is considered one of the most authentic Japanese tea and strolling gardens outside Japan. Designed by Professor Kannosuke Mori of Japan's Chiba University, the garden incorporates many native British Columbia trees and shrubs, pruned and trained Japanese-style, and interplanted with Japanese maples and flowering shrubs. The circular path around the park symbolizes the cycle of life and provides a tranquil view from every direction. Cherry blossoms are the highlight in April and May, and in June the irises are magnificent. Because the garden is so exotic, it's worth renting an audio guide. Or take a free drop-in tour Thursday at 11 am between May and September. Japanese tea ceremonies, offered  through the Urasenke Foundation, are held the last Saturday of every month, May through September. For reservations, email  [email protected] (C$10). If you're planning to visit several attractions at UBC, a UBC Attractions Pass will save you money.

Vancouver's first store and oldest building was built in 1865 at the foot of Dunlevy Street in Gastown and moved to this seaside spot near the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club in 1930. It's a little wooden structure at the corner of Point Grey Road and Alma Street—west of Kitsilano en route to UBC—and is the only building to predate the 1886 Great Fire. The site is now a museum with displays of First Nations artifacts and pioneer household goods.

Close to the University of British Columbia, on Vancouver's West Side, Pacific Spirit Regional Park has 73 km (45 miles) of multiuse walking, hiking, and biking trails within its 763-hectare (1,885-acre) forest. Open dawn to dusk year-round, it also has access to Spanish Banks and Wreck Beaches.

The Spanish Banks and Locarno Beaches form a sandy chain, and feature huge expanses of sunbathing sand backed by wide lawns full of picnic tables. There are also volleyball courts. The shallow water, warmed slightly by sun and sand, is good for swimming. Farther west along the coastline, toward the Spanish Banks Extension, the scene becomes less crowded. Spanish Banks West and Locarno Beaches are designated "quiet beaches," which means that amplified music is prohibited. Amenities: food and drink, lifeguards, parking (for a fee), toilets, and water sports. Best for: its atmosphere, sunsets, swimming, walking, and windsurfing.   

If you're planning to visit several of the attractions at the University of British Columbia, the UBC Attractions Pass can save you money. The pass includes admission to the Museum of Anthropology (currently closed for renovation), UBC Botanical Garden and Greenheart Canopy Walkway, Nitobe Memorial Garden, and Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Book three and save 25%. Passes are valid for six months for the museums and 12 months for the gardens, so you don’t need to squeeze all your sightseeing into one day. Purchase the pass at any of the participating attractions.

Ten thousand trees, shrubs, and rare plants from around the world thrive on this 70-acre research site on the university campus, which abuts Pacific Spirit Park. The complex feels as far away from the city as you can get, with forested walkways through an Asian garden, a garden of medicinal plants, and an alpine garden with some of the world's rarest plants. A Walk in the Woods is a 20-minute loop that takes you through more than 1,000 species of coastal plant life. The garden gift store is one of the best of its kind. One-hour guided tours, free with garden admission, are offered on certain days; call or check the website for a schedule. If you're planning to visit several attractions at UBC, a UBC Museums and Gardens Pass will save you money.

The 308-meter-long (1,010-foot-long) Greenheart TreeWalk Canopy Walkway, a swaying network of suspended bridges weaving a trail between huge cedars and hemlocks, is a thrilling way to explore the garden. Along the way, you stop off on eight platforms in the trees, each more than 15 meters (49 feet) high, while an additional two-story viewing platform tops a freestanding tower more than 22 meters (72 feet) in the air. Visits to the walkway are at your own pace or by a 45-minute guided tour, where you learn about the forest, local wildlife, environmental issues, and First Nations traditions; call or check the website for seasonal tour schedules. The walkway is a great adventure for kids. Just note that small children must either be able to walk on their own or be carried in a child backpack or other carrier (strollers aren't permitted).

Clothing-optional Wreck Beach is in Pacific Spirit Regional Park, accessible via Trail 6—a winding staircase of 483 steps that's near the University of British Columbia campus. On sunny days, the beach is busy with locals and visitors, most of whom strip down to their birthday suits and enjoy the clean swimming waters. The welcoming sands also stretch around Point Grey to the north, where beach logs, wildlife, and WWII searchlight towers are some of the many reasons to explore further. Amenities: parking (for a fee) and toilets. Best for: its atmosphere, nudists, sunsets, and swimming.