The Vancouver Touristinfo Centre, 200 Burrard St., Plaza Level (tel. 604/683-2000; www.tourismvancouver.com), is your single best travel information source about Vancouver and the North Shore. An incredibly helpful and well-trained staff provides information, maps, and brochures, and can help you with all your travel needs, including hotel, cruise-ship, ferry, bus, and train reservations. The center also has a half-price ticket office (Tickets Tonight) for same-day shows and events. The Touristinfo Centre is open daily from 8:30am to 6pm.
If you're driving, a Tourist Info Centre, 356 Hwy. 99, Surrey, is located just north of the US-BC Peace Arch border crossing. Visitors arriving by ship will find a Tourist Info Centre at the Canada Place Cruise Ship Terminal, 999 Canada Place. Both of these are walk-in offices (no phone).
The free weekly tabloid Georgia Straight (tel. 604/730-7000; www.straight.com), found in cafes, bookshops, and restaurants, provides up-to-date schedules of concerts, lectures, art exhibits, plays, recitals, and other happenings. Not free but equally good -- and with more attitude -- is the glossy city magazine Vancouver (tel. 604/877-7732; www.vanmag.com), available on newsstands. The free guide called Where Vancouver (tel. 604/736-5586; www.where.ca) is available in many hotels and lists attractions, entertainment, upscale shopping, and fine dining. It also has good maps.
Two free monthly tabloids, B.C. Parent (tel. 604/221-0366; www.bcparent.com) and West Coast Families (tel. 604/689-1331), available at grocery stores and cafes around the city, are geared toward families with young children, listing many kid-friendly current events. Gay and lesbian travelers will want to pick up a copy of Xtra! West (tel. 604/684-9696), a free biweekly tabloid available in cafes, bars, shops, and restaurants throughout the West End.
