Vancouver CityGuide: West Point Grey/UBC

The dichotomy of well-heeled boomers and students is very much at play among the trees.

Here mansions slowly give way to Pacific Spirit Park—which is second only to Stanley Park in Vancouverites’ green-space heart—and the UBC campus itself is rapidly changing with new, pricy condo towers popping up faster than kids are graduating. Nearby 10th Avenue still has some old-time feel and a few spots—like the Rajio Public House—that inject collegiate cool into this staid ’hood. Still, a stroll along Jericho Beach or even clothing-optional Wreck Beach will be all you need to see why people clamour to live here.

Three Things To Do

 A Life-Science Lover’s Day In

Beaty Museum, 2212 Main Mall

Visit the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC (free to $14) and jaw-drop in front of a 26-metre-long blue whale skeleton—one of only 21 on display worldwide. More where that came from: the museum houses two million-plus specimens.

Evening Paddle and Tour

Ecomarine, 1300 Discovery St.

Book a chillaxed guided Nature Kayak Tour ($69) and spot bald eagles and harbour seals while splashing around Jericho Beach. Tours run every Friday evening from June 15 to September 7.

 Try the World’s Best Buns

Grounds for Coffee, 2565 Alma St.

Try the world’s best cinnamon bun at longtime java locus Grounds for Coffee. These buns are next-level decadent, slathered in vanilla-bean cream cheese icing.

New Kid On The Block

The West Side Waiting Game

There are plenty of ideas about what should—and shouldn’t—happen with the Jericho Lands, a former Department of National Defence site now jointly owned by the Canada Lands Corporation and three local First Nations. But one thing is certain for the prime 36-hectare site, located west of Alma between West 4th and 8th avenues: it will eventually be redeveloped, and when it is, it will reshape some of the city’s westernmost reaches.