A British digital news outlet recently compiled a list of the best destinations in the “Great White North,” aka Canada, and two unsurprising B.C. cities made the list.
Travel writers from The Independent picked six of the best Canadian spots.
Non-B.C. cities included Toronto, Banff, Yukon and Prince Edward Island.
The two B.C. cities that made the list were Victoria and Vancouver, and here’s why.
Vancouver
EB Adventure Photography/Shutterstock
The Independent called Vancouver a “cosmopolitan hub” enveloped with outdoor living, a thrilling food scene and “genuine Canadian friendliness.”
Travel writer Robin McKelvie referred to Vancouver as “USA’s cooler Canadian cousin.”
“Vancouver may be one of the hippest cities in North America, popping up all over those cool cachet lists, but it’s not just style, there’s substance too. Vancouver is bedrocked on spectacular foundations, with a harbour to rival Boston or New York, but also epic sky-scraping mountains that conjure up a vast natural amphitheatre,” he wrote.
He added that the city “looks and feels big.” He also gave a shoutout to the seals and dolphins you can see on the way to Vancouver Island.
Speaking of Vancouver Island…
Victoria
B.C. legislature in Victoria (Claudia G. Cooper/Shutterstock)
Daily Hive readers may find it surprising that writer Neil Davey called Victoria an “overlooked Canadian city.”
Here in B.C., not many overlook Victoria and what makes it one of the most attractive destinations in Canada and globally.
Davey said there’s a lot that Victoria offers for both history and architecture buffs. He also praised the Royal BC Museum and the displays on the region’s Indigenous history.
“Victoria is also very pretty – it’s nicknamed ‘The Garden City’ – with multiple open spaces and numerous parks. You’re never far from a view of the water, or, on a clear day, the mighty Olympic mountains on the horizon.”
If these writers wrote as many lists as we did about Victoria being named one of the best cities in the world, they probably wouldn’t deem it “overlooked.”
The Vancouver Island city is probably going to see an uptick in traffic over the next month or so because of the FIFA World Cup.