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Four awesome walks from VCC’s Downtown campus

It’s time for a study break. What better way to refresh your focus than taking a walk around Vancouver’s gorgeous and historic Downtown area?    

Claire Sauvé, our Associate Director of Continuing Studies, shares some of the most interesting walks near Vancouver Community College’s (VCC) Downtown campus.

If you have 5 minutes

Head East on Pender St., walk through the Chinatown Millennium Gate, then turn right down Shanghai Alley, one of Vancouver’s most storied alleys. Following the alley through, you get to Taylor St. where you can get back to Pender and grab a coffee at Tim Horton’s (108 West Pender St.) before returning to campus.

 

If you have 10 minutes

From the Dunsmuir St. entrance, walk south along Hamilton St. past the Amazon office construction at the old Canada Post. This historic building was built in 1958 and will be the single largest office building in Downtown Vancouver when it is completed in 2023. At the CBC building (700 Hamilton St.), you can grab a tea at the JJ Bean kiosk before heading to the Vancouver Central Library, a nine-story structure surrounded by elliptical walls and glass roof, resembling the Colosseum in Rome.

If you have a few more minutes, check out the beautiful Phillips, Hager and North Gardens on the rooftop of the Central Library, where you can be with the beautiful arbutus and roses while taking in views of the Downtown core.

If you have 20 minutes

Use the Pender ST. entrance, cross the street, walking past Victory Square to Hastings St., where you’ll find the Dominion Building (207 West Hastings St.), Vancouver’s first steel-framed high-rise completed in 1910. From there, turn west and then north on Granville St., to the plaza outside of 200 Granville. From there you can check out the sails of Canada Place, watch the SeaBus come and go from Waterfront Station, and catch a glimpse of the beautiful snow-capped North Shore mountains.  

 

Images top to bottom: Chinatown Gates by Destination Vancouver/Nelson Mouellic; Vancouver Central library by Unsplash/Aaron Thomas; Seabus Terminal by Destination BC/Grant Harder