Important Vancouver Streets
Vancouver is a city made up of many neighborhoods. Each neighbourhood has its own feel and features. To locate different Vancouver neighbourhoods, it’s useful to know the names of major streets in each neibhbourhood. This list will help.
North of False Creek
Georgia Street: The main downtown street, Georgia curves from the north end of Stanley Park at the Lions Gate Bridge through town in a south easterly curve. It ends when it crosses the Georgia viaduct at the east end of the downtown core.
Granville Street: This main street runs perpendicular to Georgia in a north east to south west direction until it crosses the Granville Street Bridge. Then it runs due south all the way to the airport.
Robson Street: This is the most popular shopping street, but not an important navigational street. It runs parallel to Georgia and two blocks south. Robson Street and Davie Street are the heart of the West End.
Denman Street: This is the first major intersection at the north end of Georgia. If you go south on Denman you can skirt around the downtown core, drive along English Bay and cross the Burrard Street bridge. It marks one boundry of the West End.
Hastings Street: This major artery runs parallel to Georgia and several blocks north. It goes through the downtown core then all the way to the eastern edge of the city where you can pick up Highway 1. From Highway 1 you can either go west, cross the Second Narrows Bridge and go to the North Shore and Whistler, or go east out of Vancouver and into the rest of British Columbia.
First Avenue: If you’re coming into Vancouver from the east along TransCanada Highway 1, the fastest way to get into the heart of the city is to take the First Street exit, Exit 27. Here is what Karen Davis, a local expert, has to say about First Avenue:
“Hastings can get clogged with ‘shopper’ traffic, people trying to parallel park and the like. First Avenue is like a mini-super-highway, with hardly any obstacles or slow areas. The only place it can sometimes get a bit backlogged is at Commercial Drive, and even that is nothing compared to Hastings.
South of False Creek
4th Avenue: This is not just one of the great shopping streets in Vancouver but it goes all the way to the University of British Columbia which is located at the west end of Vancouver.
Broadway: Also called 9th Avenue, this main street runs west and east the width of Vancouver. It goes from UBC at the west end to Highway 1 at the east end. It has great restaurants, shopping, including Mountain Equipment Co-op, Tojo’s Japanese Restaurant and Kidsbooks.
49th Avenue: This street runs east and west and parallel to 4th Avenue but along the southern half of Vancouver. It’s a good street to know if you want to try out Vancouver’s excellent public golf courses since four of them are within easy reach of 49th Avenue.
Arbutus Street: Arbutus isn’t a long street but it runs north and south and provides good access to the Kerrisdale neighborhood from 4th Avenue in the Kitsilano neighborhood. At around 33rd Avenue, Arbutus turns into West Boulevard.