CANADA // Enter Stanley Park, where the gentle swish of dense forest gives way to rippling ocean backed by snow-capped mountains, and you'll swear you're in the Canadian wild, not steps from Vancouver's glassy skyscrapers. The 400-hectare (1000-acre) woodland is one of North America's largest urban green spaces, and wafts a mystical natural aura. Easy trails take you into the thick of it, especially the seawall path that rings the park. Amble past colourful totem poles, swooping blue herons and harbour seals that poke their heads out of the waves just offshore. Log-strewn Third Beach puts up pyrotechnic sunsets. Wherever you are in the expanse, part of the beauty is knowing you're never far from a craft-beer pouring pub.