Visitors to the Vancouver Winter Olympics this month will find a city at the end of a years-long transformation. Today, British Columbia's exciting capital is an international destination fully ready to take center stage.

Once a spectator is able to negotiate the excruciating bureaucracy of border and customs checks (at the current pace, expect hours before actually leaving the airport or driving into Canada), they'll find great restaurants, exciting activites, world-class sports, and an elaborate transportation network to get around.

Lodging in Vancouver

Naturally, the first step is to find a place to sleep. Most hotels have already sold their rooms. Brokers, travel companies, or speculators purchased hotel space months ago. Now they are selling those rooms to consumers at a premium mark up. Booking a room in Vancouver is similar to trading on the commodities market. Some firms are more honest than others, and prices vary on a daily basis. But hotel rooms in downtown Vancouver or near the sporting venues are available to the persistent researcher.

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