Main St. and Mt. Pleasant

Main Street bisects Vancouver, running from the Burrard Inlet and Chinatown south to the Fraser River. Science World, the city's popular science museum is just off Main, as is the rail station and the Olympic Village, a residential community that housed Olympic athletes during the 2010 Winter Games. An arts district known as "The Flats" has emerged off Main, near East 2nd Avenue and Great Northern Way, where a growing number of contemporary art galleries have set up shop. On the south end, Main Street is lined with independent boutiques that showcase local designers, as well as lots of intriguing places to eat. At the intersection of Main and East 49th Avenue is the Punjabi Market, a long-established "Little India"; while many newer Indo-Canadian immigrants have settled outside Vancouver, in Surrey and other suburbs, the Punjabi Market is worth visiting for its jewelry stores, sari shops, and restaurants.