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Hyper-Specific City Guide: How to Hang With Your Most Glamourous Aunt in Vancouver

Here's how to spend an afternoon with your aunt who stopped in on her way to Aspen, draped in Chanel as always.

By the Editors /

This is part of our Ultimate, Hyper-Specific Vancouver City Guide, featured in the May 2024 issue of Vancouver magazine. We’ve created 25 unique personas and 25 unique itineraries to match. If this to-do list for ‘jet-setting aunt’ isn’t helpful, perhaps one of the other 24 bespoke schedules will be. Explore them all here. 

Meet her at Miraj Hammam (1495 W 6th Ave., mirajhammam.com) on South Granville for post-flight refresh—after all, nothing beats jet lag quite like a scrub down with black Moroccan soap ($135) while relaxing atop a slab of Jerusalem gold marble (and she’ll love the Sultana Lounge, piled with lush velvet cushions). Then it’s downtown to Alberni Street (dtvan.ca), where the luxury shopping awaits—a great chance to drop some strong hints about that Burberry trench you’ve had your eye on.

a maseuse massages someone in a marble room

Hit Tiffany, Hermès, Gucci and the rest before a late, leisurely lunch at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Lobby Lounge and Raw Bar (1038 Canada Pl., lobbyloungerawbar.com). The open, light-filled space regularly features live music alongside hob-nobbing opportunities (wait, is that Michael Bublé?!). Oh, and impeccable fare like a torched wagyu beef salad ($34) and kabayaki-glazed sablefish ($32).

a glamorous modern bar with stools in a hotel lobby

One more cocktail for the road—martinis with a blue-cheese-stuffed olive, of course ($25)—and then you’re sliding into your seats for a mind-bending Ballet BC show at the grand Queen Elizabeth Theatre (from $19, 630 Hamilton St., balletbc.com). This is truly diverse modern dance, with nary a pointe shoe in sight. Debate whether or not the show was better than the time she took you to The Nutcracker when you were 12 over risotto alla carbonara ($38), crispy-tender Fraser Valley duck ($52) and a bottle of barolo at Cioppino’s (1133 Hamilton St., cioppinosyaletown.com).

two dancers in blue suits strike a dramatic pose in a bright purple room
Photo: Marcus Eriksson

More from the Ultimate, Hyper-Specific Vancouver City Guide here.