What makes Vancouver good is that it never lets you forget nature is right next door. Walk ten minutes from downtown and you can see snow mountains; walk another ten and you reach the sea.
In summer, Vancouver’s parks are full of people. A loop around Stanley Park can take two hours by bike, and along the way you will meet at least ten raccoons.
I like the rain here. Not the sudden, pouring kind, but the slow kind that seeps down and turns the whole city deep green. After it stops, the air feels as if it has been rinsed clean.