Located in Vanier Park near the Maritime Museum, the Vancouver Museum is a distinctive addition to the city’s skyline. Built in 1967, the museum’s curved, white, concrete roof is based on a First Nations hat. Outside, a stunning modern sculpture, which looks like a giant steel crab, sits in a fountain on the museum’s south side.

Permanent displays here include the Orientation Gallery which re-creates British Columbia’s rocky coastline and mountainous interior. Vancouver’s history is explored from the culture of the aboriginal people of the area to the city’s pioneering days, celebrated in a series of delightful black-and-white photographs. The museum is particularly noted for its depiction of everyday life, with exhibits such as an 1880s Canadian Pacific Railroad car, 1930s clothes, and the 1950s gallery with a vintage Ford Thunderbird and a working jukebox.

At the same location, the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre is popular with both children and adults, who can explore the universe under the Planetarium dome and in the GroundStation Canada theater.