WHERE TO EAT
Wine-focused restos are the latest rage, with Salt Tasting Room serving a selection of cured meats and artisanal cheeses alongside an ever-changing wine list. You'll find it at the end of the dark, cobblestoned Blood Alley, in the hip Gastown hood (604-633-1912; meat and cheese appetizer, $12). Big eaters can still gorge at standbys like Coal Harbour's Cardero's, famed for its oysters and beer (1583 Coal Harbour Quay; 604-669-7666; entrées, $15-$27), or the upscale Sequoia Grill at the Teahouse, where a fancy take on fish-and-chips—battered salmon or cod with spicy frites—comes on waxed paper patterned to resemble newsprint (Stanley Park Dr.; 604-669-3281; entrées, $14-$30). Mixology isn't given short shrift, either: In the indie area of Mount Pleasant, on Vancouver's south side, the Cascade Room serves potions like the Batida de Maracuja, a Brazilian blend of fresh passion fruit and lime juice and whisked cachaça (2616 Main St.; 604-709-8650).

WHERE TO STAY
While there's no shortage of high-class digs inland, oceanside is the way to go. At the Fairmont Waterfront, a regular on Condé Nast Traveler's Gold List, floor-to-ceiling windows look out on the harbor or the skyline (604-691-1991; fairmont.com/waterfront; doubles, $240-$387). The 23-story Pan Pacific, right in the harborfront Canada Place complex, is equally scenic; rooms come with marble tubs and Italian sheets (604-662-8111; panpacific.com; doubles, $203-$326). Urbanites can check into Gastown's Wedgewood Hotel & Spa, where the penthouse suites have views of the waterfalls in Robson Square, a bubblelike civic center connected to the Vancouver Art Gallery (604-689-7777; wedgewoodhotel.com; doubles, $194-$232). The funky Opus Hotel—with jewel-toned rooms and personal oxygen dispensers—is surrounded by boutiques and restos in hip Yaletown, steps from the inner harbor near the False Creek inlet (604-642-6787; opushotel.com; doubles, $329). And if you really want to be seen, the Shangri-la is definitely the buzziest new hotel in town (see Hot List, May 2009).