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Hyper-Specific City Guide: How to Entertain Your Green-Thumb Grandma Who Is Auditing an Archeology Course

She loves plants, she loves dinos, she loves you. Here's your checklist for entertaining your grandma next time she's in town.

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 ‘green-thumb grandma’ isn’t helpful, perhaps one of the other 24 bespoke schedules will be. Explore them all here. 

Get a coffee and fill up a grandma-friendly breakfast bowl (from $11) with amaro poached apples at The Garden Strathcona, a plant-happy café. 868 E Hastings St., thegardenstrathcona.com

Take a walk through the beautiful VanDusen Botanical Garden ($6 admission for seniors; $9 for adults) and sign up for one of their workshops on birdwatching, plant illustration or basket weaving (course prices vary). 5151 Oak St., vandusengarden.org

You think grandma’s got old bones? Check out the 75-million-year-old walking Lambeosaurus at the Pacific Museum of Earth (admission by donation). 6339 Stores Rd., pme.ubc.ca

Peruse the shelves at the witchy Banyen Books and Sound. (She’ll love looking at crystals and browsing the nature section, and maybe embarrass you by buying the third edition of The Ethical Slut.) 3608 W 4th Ave., banyen.com

Be wowed by the blooming floral ceiling at Bonjour Vietnam, and order honey garlic chicken wings ($18) and beef rib pho ($26) to enjoy while insta-grandma-ing. 3944 Fraser St., bonjourvietnambistro.com

A flight to Iceland from Vancouver is a couple thousand dollars—get an accessible, senior-friendly (and wallet-friendly) immersive highlight reel by visiting Flyover Canada’s “Legendary Iceland” experience ($29). 201–999 Canada Pl., flyovercanada.com

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

the Editors

the Editors

The editorial team at Vancouver magazine is obsessed with tracking down great food and good times in our favourite city on earth. Email us pitches at [email protected].