Vancouver's West End is one of the densest neighbourhoods in North America, a grid of apartment towers and old wooden houses squeezed between downtown, Stanley Park and English Bay, and yet it feels oddly relaxed. People walk everywhere, the streets are lined with trees, and at the end of every road, it seems, there is water or mountains or both. As the finish of a ride, it is hard to beat for atmosphere.
Stanley Park, on the edge of the West End, is a vast area of forest on a peninsula jutting into the harbour, bigger than New York's Central Park, with huge cedars and firs, beaches and a seawall path that runs right around it. You can ride the park drive, a one-way road that loops through the forest with views of the harbour, the North Shore mountains and the Lions Gate Bridge, a graceful suspension bridge built in the 1930s that links the city to West Vancouver.
English Bay Beach, at the foot of Denman Street, is the place to be at sunset. Freighters anchored in the bay wait for their turn to enter the port, the sky turns orange and pink, and the beach fills with people sitting on logs and watching the light. In summer, an international fireworks competition is held here over several nights, attracting huge crowds.
The Mount Baker ride, which ends here, involves a border crossing into the United States and back, so remember your passport and be prepared for queues at the border, especially on weekends. Coming back into the city, traffic can be heavy, and the downtown streets are full of pedestrians, cyclists, buses and one-way systems. Parking is tight and expensive in the West End. There is fuel on the main arteries, though fewer stations in the central neighbourhoods than you might expect. Restaurants and cafés of every kind line Denman and Davie streets, so at least dinner will not be a problem.