Vancouver things to do

While we are planning on keeping you all very busy with the conference from Tuesday afternoon until Friday night, if you arriving early or staying on for a few days afterwards, here are a few things that you might find of interest.

On UBC Campus

The Museum of Anthropology

UBC's world-renown teaching and research museum of world cultures, with especially strong collections and physical archives or the First Nations of the Pacific Northwest.

The Beatty Biodiversity Museum

UBC's own Natural History museum, with a wide range of PNW collections; remarkable not the least for the suspended complete skeleton of a Blue Whale above the main gallery (visible from outside the Beatty, on Main Mall).

The UBC Botanical Gardens

If plants are your thing, you can spend hours here. Don't miss the elevated tree walk (platform walk in the tree canopy), and the Holt Physic Garden, inspired by 16th century European Physic gardens.

The Nitobe Memorial Garden

One of the most authentic Japanese Gardens in North America, the garden honours Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933), whose life goal was to 'build a bridge across the Pacific'. Located about 10 minutes walk from the conference venue, the garden is free to visit, and is a year-round retreat for contemplation and peace.

The Belkin Art Gallery

Founded in 1948, the Belkin focuses on Modern Art. In addition to its standing collections, this August sees an exhibition entitled Becoming Animal/Becoming Landscape, questioning the boundaries of the human/non-human.

Campus Walking Art Tour

UBC Campus is a walking art gallery in its own right. Download the tour map and notes here.

In the city of Vancouver

Summer on Vancouver sees the annual Bard on the Beach festival at Vanier Park. Just 20 minutes by bus from UBC, the festival this year presents Romeo and Juliet, Pericles, Othello, and the Merry Wives of Windsor, all in a beautiful beach-side environment. Schedules and further details can be found following the link. You could even take in a performance on one evening of the conference, if you wished.

While almost the entire coastline of urban Vancouver is a tourist's walking or cycling dream (over 30km of seawall path to explore, from UBC to downtown), one highlight worth exploring is Stanley Park, over 1000 acres of urban greenspace, containing over half a million trees. The park can either be explored via its interior trails, or circumnavigated on the coastal seawall.

Further Afield

For those of you with more time to spend, the Sea-to-Sky corridor cries out for exploration. Part of the highway to Whistler (2 hours by car or bus) and its outdoor delights, the drive from Vancouver to Squamish (1 hour by car) is a spectacular trip that is highly recommended. Along the way one might stop at Shannon Falls, the highly recommended Sea-to-Sky gondola, or even the hiking trails or climbing routes of the Stawamus Chief.