Vancouver may not be as pricey as larger North American cities, but it's still easy to blow an Olympic-sized budget here. Luckily, you don't have to squander all your vacation – or staycation – dollars to have a good time, so long as you know where to look. Recently, I set a strict $25 budget and hunted down a full day of food, attractions and evening entertainment, including tips and taxes. My one cheat: a tap-filled water bottle.
Stop 1: Teresa's Café
1005 Denman St.
Cost: $4
This fancy-free West End greasy spoon serves basic breakfasts for less than the price of a macchiato elsewhere. My server winced when I asked for water rather than coffee, which is not surprising since bacon, toast and scrambled eggs cost a paltry $3.41. Like a visiting millionaire, I generously added a 59-cent tip. Jam-packed on weekends, the Grove a few doors down is a similarly priced alternative.
Stop 2: Stanley Park Shuttle
Stanley Park
Cost: $2
A 15-minute stroll along Denman and Georgia streets brought me to the Vancouver Rowing Club, just inside Stanley Park's Georgia Street entrance. It's an 8.8-kilometre hike around the breathtaking seawall, but a $2 ride on a reproduction trolley bus from here covers the sights in 45 minutes. It's a day-long, hop-on, hop-off affair from which you can eyeball the Technicolor totem poles, shimmering Burrard Inlet, raccoon-friendly Prospect Point and that skeletal old Hollow Tree. Services run to Labour Day.
Stop 3: Lost Lagoon Nature House
Stanley Park
Cost: free
After hunkering on the bus for almost the whole loop, I jumped off at Lost Lagoon. In this tranquil oasis a few metres from the clamour of the city's traffic, I followed the bird-studded shoreline to the Nature House, where friendly volunteers eagerly answer questions about the park's multitudinous wildlife and the upside of the 2006 storm. Sunday park tours (see www.stanleyparkecology.ca) are offered here and some are free.
Stop 4: Vancouver Art Gallery Offsite
West Georgia and Thurlow streets
Cost: free
Hoofing up West Georgia Street (free-spenders can instead take a $2.50 bus from just outside the park), I arrived at the shiny Shangri-La. Vancouver's tallest tower and home to its priciest hotel, it also lures freeloading culture vultures like me. The new outdoor art space here displays six giant photos of crouching Chinese girls by artist O Zhang. But there's more: Go up the steel staircase around the back for posters of teenage girls with T-shirt slogans in kitschy, sometimes profane, English.
Stop 5: Ksan Mural and Christ Church Cathedral
West Georgia and Burrard streets
Cost: free
Entering the next block's Royal Bank building, I hit the up escalator to a hidden artwork. Tickets are $10 for the nearby Bill Reid Gallery, but the multipanelled, 36.5-metre-long aboriginal carving here is an eye-opening freebie alternative. Next, I crossed to Christ Church Cathedral. The lower side entrance leads to a lovely Edward Burne-Jones-inspired stained glass window (No. 30 on the self-guided tour) executed by the William Morris Company, while a stroll through the hammer-beam interior delivers you to the stunning new Tree of Life window by Susan Point.
Stop 6: Architectural Walking Tour
100-440 Cambie St.
Cost: $5
After checking my e-mail for free at the Pacific Centre Apple Store three blocks away, I weaved toward the Architectural Institute of B.C., which offers $5 summer walking tours (see www.aibc.ca). My fascinating two-hour amble with an enthusiastic student guide covered Italianate, Romanesque and Edwardian nooks in Gastown, recently named a National Historic Site. Alternatively, the Tour Guys (www.tourguys.ca) just launched a year-round program of free Vancouver walks, although tipping is expected.
