Granville Street south of the bridge to downtown, and Granville Island  (under the same bridge) offer a huge array of shops, galleries, restaurants and theatres.

You can drive there in under ten minutes, but there is good reason to walk.  A seaside ramble will take you past the Maritime Museum and Museum of Vancouver at Vanier Park.  Watch for eagles  perched on the top of the totem pole.  Vanier Park is home to Bard on the Beach, our summer theatre festival, and the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre.

As you approach Granville Island, you're likely to see herons wading at the water's edge.  Most days you'll spot a harbour seal or two, especially if someone is cleaning a salmon by the boat rental dock.

Formerly an industrial area, Granville Island hosts a vibrant range of commercial, artistic and educational activities - from marina to cement plant to glass-blower to sake maker to arts school for young folk.

Though the public food market is the heart, such is the variety of retail opportunities on the island that you can leave with a clown nose or a yacht.

The sea wall carries on all the way around False Creek and on to Stanley Park.  As a short cut,  you can catch a little ferry to the Aquatic Centre, or Yaletown and other stops further east on False Creek.

For dining on the island, The Sandbar, Bridges, Edible Canada at the Market, Dockside Restaurant, Backstage Lounge, The Keg, Tony's Fish & Oyster Cafe and the Vancouver Fish Company are all licensed restaurants.  Many other eateries abound in the area.

Two microbreweries, a distillery and a sake maker operate on Granville Island.

The Arts Club's Stanley Theatre on Granville Street and its venue on Granville Island combine with the four other stages that call the island home to form the greatest concentration of live theatre in the city.

Art galleries line Granville Street and artists and craftspeople of every description work in their studios on Granville Island.  

In the other direction, Jericho Park is home to Vancouver's annual Folk Music Festival.

Jericho and Spanish Banks beaches are a mile and a half or so west of the Corkscrew Inn.  They offer swimming, kayaking, sailing and wind surfing in summer, beachcombing year-round, and awesome views of the North Shore mountains, Stanley Park, and the downtown highrises.

And then there's Wreck Beach, for total sunbathing, but we don't have a photo.