Getting Around Gastown
By Christina Lanteigne

Whether you’re just visiting or you’ve lived here all you’re life, there’s a lot of exploring to do in the streets and alleyways of Gastown. By foot or by pedal, check out these creative new ways to explore Vancouver’s most historical and unique neighbourhood.

First off, if you’re by way of bikes, cruise by one of the neighborhood’s best boutiques on Abbott & Cordova: Nouvelle Nouvelle and pick up one of their brand new Ora bike bags to hold all of your newfound treasures. They come in beautiful deep green, black and brown leather, with adjustable straps for all different styles of drop bars and break set-ups.

Ora Bike Bags

Then take your newly accessorized ride over to Waterfront station and embark on a Vancouver Urban Adventure. The group offers unique bike tours around the city with the goal of giving you an insight into the way Vancouverites live… an almost perfect blend of age-old traditions with modern lifestyle.  Check out their two hour Gastown & Chinatown Adventure for only 25$. Soak in stunning waterfront views from Waterfront Station, then walk into historic Gastown, Vancouver’s birthplace.

This is where urban hip meets old town. Enjoy cobbled streets, heritage buildings, native galleries and unique commercial activity. Explore various sites like “Blood Alley,” a beautiful side-street with an infamous legend and the famous Steam Clock. Whether it’s the tale of Gassy Jack, the inspiring architecture or the diverse window-shopping, you will love Gastown’s mix of old and new. A surprise tasting at the Irish Heather marks the half way point of the tour.  Then onto North America’s 2nd largest Chinatown features cultural enlightenment, interesting tastes and a peaceful garden oasis.

Bike Gastown

Walking tours are no longer just for tourists, at least not a tour from the Miss Guides.  The Miss Guides are a Vancouver-based artist collective.  Offering experiences described as “a historical tour, a fictional performance, a virtual navigation”, these walks are not to be missed.  Open your mind and see and new side of Gastown on their current tour Walking the Ruins: Fragments of Vancouver.

The hour-long walk is rooted in the idea of “ruins as fragmentary remains,” and attempts to piece together conflicting visions of the city by making unexpected connections between four diverse and surprising sites of past and present.  The tour will take you to breath-taking attractions such as the Harbour Centre’s Lookout and through graffiti alley in Gastown, using the streets as their stage and offering perceptive, insightful citations every step of the way.  Walking the Ruins becomes an unforgettable way of encountering our everyday environment anew.

Miss Guides

Visit Miss Guides’ website for details on Walking the Ruins: Fragments of Vancouver and other exciting tours & Vancouver Urban Adventures’s website for details on their bike tours.