Bring your appetite
Food is a big, big deal in this little city. This might explain why Nelson makes a solid claim to have the highest number of places to eat per head of population in Canada. Rumour has it that there is an even greater density than that of Manhattan, and certainly more than Vancouver. During the daytime you’ll not walk more than twenty downtown metres without passing a cafe or coffee shop, and there are even three coffee roasters in town (as well as three breweries).
From local to global
In the warmer months (and there are lots of those) patios and terraces spill out onto the sidewalks. People-watching is de rigeur, and we have as wide a range of colorful folk as we have places to feed them. From the gloriously restored 1898 Library Lounge, now a bustling pub, right across the gastronomic spectrum to a garlic bistro, a specialist Tamil restaurant, and a Taiwanese tea house, there is an array of over fifty eating venues just within the downtown city blocks. You’ll be relieved to know that as well as the exotic ethnic fare there is also a clutch of gourmet bistros (think Sage, Rel-ish, Pitchfork and the All Seasons Café) serving Canadian cuisine, often using locally-sourced food and always using local inspiration.
That’s from a little city with a population of not quite 11,000. And we didn’t even include the award-winning Fresh Tracks Café at Whitewater Ski Resort, high up just over the horizon.
We don’t do fast food
Even more unusually, there is no Burger King, no White Spot, Boston Pizza or McDonalds….and we don’t want to upset anyone so we should whisper this: no Tim Horton’s. But it’s still safe to say that there is something for everyone, so bring an appetite.