Discovering Vancouver again — via Air Canada

Manila, meet Vancouver.

I know, you’ve probably met before—maybe been to Whistler, or checked out the Butchart Gardens at Victoria Island, or stayed with some kababayans there. But now Air Canada offers new ways for you to discover its hidden gems—four times weekly.

With four direct flights flying out of Manila (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays), there’s even more reason to touch down in this great Canadian city. And stop off in next-door Seattle while you’re at it (with Air Canada Express, that’s a mere one-hour flight south).

On the official media trip launching these flights, we experienced all the sights, sounds, flavors, and wonders of Vancouver and Seattle, places packed with hidden gems, easter eggs and bucket-list items. Here are some of the main ones.

Hello, Seattle

After arriving early in Vancouver and taking a quick Air Canada Express to Seattle (luggage checked through in same terminal, no waiting), we spent a day exploring its hidden gems with Visit Seattle Tourism development manager Shawana Lee, starting with a smash burger, thick onion rings, fish tacos and a local IPA at Gasworks Brewing; a stop by the famous Fremont Troll sculpture atop Troll Avenue; then over to the Gas Works Park, where the 1906 coal gasification plant still stands, rust and all, making a great backdrop to the grassy hill overlooking Elliott Bay, where fireworks are a yearly attraction and where the paintball fight in 10 Things I Hate About You was filmed (the Freemont Troll was also featured in that movie).

Capitol Hill’s Gemini Room is a nice retro bar with exotic, very colorful cocktails. This area is still highly hip, with record stores aplenty, boutique shops on Chophouse Row, an air of quietly defiant tolerance, and really great seafood at Taylor Shellfish Farms, where you can sample a raft of “tide to table” hits like the fresh oysters and Salish Sampler with Dungeness crab, smoked oysters, king salmon tartare and cocktail prawns, perhaps paired with a fine local Big Table Farm chardonnay.

While in the neighborhood, stop at Starbucks Reserve Roastery & Tasting Room, where you’ll find ginormous nonstop roasting machines and a curated menu that includes sweet concoctions like Iced Ube Coconut Latte, a wonderful Knob Creek Bourbon Whiskey Barrel-Aged cold brew (sarap!) and actual cocktails, such as the Cold Brew Spiced Rum and Espresso Martini Flight (just like it sounds). A perfect nightcap before hitting our beds at AC Hotel Seattle Downtown, which is perfectly located for any downtown adventure you’re up to.

The Seattle leg wasn’t over yet, because next day we hit Pike Place Market, one of the iconic backdrops for Sleepless in Seattle, and a place where fish peddlers still entice random tourists—like me—to stand behind the counter while they chant your name (“Scott! Scott! Scott!”) and toss a huge fish into your bare hands, hoping you’ll catch it. Which this tourist successfully did. 

Later, we had a sit-down at the kitchenette counter of Oriental Mart, a little corner of Filipino flavors inside Pike Place, for salmon sinigang as Ate Lei filled us in on the popular locale and we gazed at all the bright Post-It praises covering her wall. (Sample: “Sit, Eat, Love, Tsismis… You Are Now Filipino!”) After that, we headed back over to Hellenika Cultured Creamery, run by brothers Alex and Pete Apostolopoulos, where they’d whipped up (with our help) some amazing Filipino-inspired yogurt gelato for dessert, with infusions of fresh jackfruit, ube, barako, and calamansi. These guys make the freshest, smoothest frozen yogurt you’ll find in Seattle.

Bienvenue, Vancouver

After a quick express flight back to Vancouver, our Air Canada hosts Hon Lam (Hong Kong, Southern China and South East Asia regional general manager) and Vincent Leung (Hong Kong, Southern China and South East Asia sales communications & promotions manager) took us to Flying Pig Yaletown for some beef tartare and bone marrow with focaccia paired with a Russell Brewery IPA. An excellent start, Vancouver.

Over dinner, Hon shared what Air Canada is learning about Filipino visitors: “We’ve found that Filipinos still love to go to travel fairs” for bargains, so the air carrier now operates physical booths in Metro Manila. Since Filipinos also love extra luggage, Air Canada offers FLEX upgrades ($150 for an extra bag round-trip) to Filipino passengers, and the Pre-clear US Customs service at Vancouver International Airport means you can do a same-terminal transfer to US destinations with your luggage cleared through.

Unlike some SEA markets such as Bangkok, Hon notes Air Canada’s new Manila-Vancouver routes are “year-round, not seasonal,” showing the carrier’s strong belief that Filipinos and Vancouver make a good match. “We have all kinds of visitors, balikbayans, overseas workers, students, families, Fil-Canadians. With more than one million Canadians of Filipino background living in Canada, if each person had two visitors coming in, and they do a trip back to the Philippines, that’s 3 or 4 million already. So there’s a lot of potential.”

You’ll want to head early to Granville Island, a mind-bending indoor market of curated food delights, to sample the wares before the crowds arrive. With Anjela, our peerless Pinoy guide from Vancouver Foodie Tours, we blitzed through 14 stalls, including Granville Island Tea for chai (Secret ingredient? Butter!) then to Terra Breads for freshly baked artisan slices we paired with Benton Brothers cheese (Anjela swears by the imported French butter that comes in small batches here), then to Hobbs Pickles for New York-style flavors including honey mustard and horseradish; then to amazing curated beef from Oyama Sausage, founded by John van der Lieck, whose charcuterie is said to be the best in Vancouver. Next came maple-flavored salmon from Longliner Seafoods (an institution here), Wang Sen’s award-winning Pad Thai, The Lemon Square for classic zesty coconut treats, fantastic Belgian chocolate from ChocolateTas, famous Lee’s Donuts—and then a Pinoy treat, Kasama Chocolates, a joint venture between Cagayan Valley-born Vince Garcia and “two Germans and a Swiss guy.” With his shop stacked with fresh cacao beans (18 sacks a week from the Philippines), he curates amazing, award-winning bean-to-bar flavors like Kalamansi Orange Blossom Spice, a Philippine Heritage Month 2025 creation, and his Strawberry White bar, which bagged a gold medal at the International Chocolate Awards. The Fil-Canadian feels “blessed” for all the awards and widespread attention for Kasama, which means “friendship.”

Ice wine, baby

Did you know Canada’s the world’s biggest producer of ice wines next to Germany? A visit to Lulu Island Winery, where our guide Robert led us through the vineyards where regular grapes are gathered, is mandatory. But the real story is the precise harvesting of ice wine grapes, which takes place in much-cooler Okanagan Valley’s vineyards, where temperatures hit -10°C. Harvesting takes place around 4-5 a.m. in December. The subzero conditions lock in the flavors and juice concentration until the frozen berries are ready for fermentation in huge vats. Unlike regular table wines which require about 2.5 pounds of grapes to distill a bottle, ice wines take about 14.5 pounds per bottle. So it’s labor- and grape-intensive, resulting in highly concentrated flavors in this delicious dessert wine, which is neither viscous nor sickly-sweet, showing off pure flavors. Another find was the late-harvest bottles at Lulu Island Winery, which are also superb.

We stayed at Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront, which general manager Lorna Nakada says is prepping for a huge renovation by next year, including all 442 rooms and its rotating top-floor function room. From this excellent home base overlooking Coal Harbour, you can spot the occasional whale at play or seaplane skimming into land, or explore the dockside and the city, including options curated by Destination Vancouver’s Alanna Hagan. Stop by Vancouver Art Gallery (currently showing a duel exhibit of Doug Coupland and Roy Lichtenstein); or strap in for Flyover, a breathtaking simulated flight across scenic Canada through city streets, across frozen glaciers and ice waterfalls, complete with cold spray mists and gripping plunges. Other cool options: Visit VanDusen Botanical Garden’s hedge mazes, try out Prince of Whales’ whale-watching tours out of Granville Island and Salish Sea, or why not hone your sharpshooting skills at DVC Ventures gun range?

Shop till you… fly

Wanna know what makes Filipino visitors light up like an early Christmas parol display? Telling them there’s a luxury brand outlet only three minutes away from the airport they’re flying out of.

Yup. That gave everyone in our media group a massive dopamine hit as we headed to McArthurglen Designer Outlet for an extra bout of shopping before flying back to Manila. McArthurglen began as a 50-50 partnership with the airport, and at least 70% of its vendors are required to offer a minimum of 30% off sales. So you won’t leave without finding a good deal. Another big plus: some 33 large suitcase lockers available free to easily store your luggage while shopping. “For passengers, it works perfectly,” says McArthurglen’s tourism manager Cindy Wang. “You can come here, store luggage, then take the free tour bus back to the airport. And if you have a layover, same thing: you can come here and return loaded with bags for your flight.” Sounds perfect. 

Signature style

Book-ending this whole experience was Air Canada’s 9:25 a.m. direct flight out of NAIA 3, which is perfectly timed so that you get a full vertical rest (Signature Class offers Executive Pods with an 80-inch bed, plump duvet and a special pillow softening/firming/massaging feature at the push of a button) and arrive early enough in Vancouver to fully seize the day. Air Canada also has free WiFi, 18-inch touchscreens with noise-cancelling headphones and an extensive entertainment selection (mine leaned toward classic film noir) that might keep you awake; plus an extensive in-flight menu prepared by noted Canadian chefs (we enjoyed the midflight pork barbecue skewer snacks and Gruyére Cheese Omelet breakfast meal).

Coming back, the Premium Economy product offers greater recline, extra legroom, wider armrests, and a larger-than-usual touchscreen TV.

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Much thanks to Visit Seattle (@visitseattle), AC Hotel Seattle Downtown, Destination Vancouver (@destination_Vancouver), Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront, Vancouver Foodie Tours, Lulu Island Winery, McArthurGlen Designer Outlet and Charming Holidays (coach service). 

For Air Canada flight bookings visit www.aircanada.com, local hotline: 02-7117-09168, and follow @aircanada and #AirCanadaMNLYVR.