Mia Stainsby, 60, is the restaurant critic and food writer of the Vancouver Sun and a native of Vancouver, site of the 2010 Winter Olympics Feb.12-28.

Q. A problem with getting to Vancouver has been its airport, which is eight non-freeway miles south of downtown. A new rapid-transit line was being built for the Olympics: Is it up and running?

The Canada Line subway just opened, and now it takes about 22 minutes to go from the airport to downtown. There are several stops on it, and it ends at the Waterfront Centre. From there you can walk to Gastown, a tourist favorite close to the major hotels. The center is within reach of a lot of restaurants. You can also get off the subway at Yaletown, which is more of an upscale neighborhood for shopping and dining.

Q. Will the games be held in Vancouver, or at nearby Whistler Blackcomb?

Some venues are here in Vancouver, as well as in suburban Richmond and West Vancouver. Whistler is where the downhill skiing is staged; the skating oval is in Richmond. One Olympic village will be in Whistler. Another is in the heart of Vancouver.

The Vancouver village is an area called False Creek, close to downtown and Chinatown, and it's right on one of the stops of the Canada Line. Athletes can hop on the subway there and get to Richmond in a hurry.

With the new highway, Whistler is about 90 minutes from downtown Vancouver. During the Olympics, there will be all kinds of rules in place as to who can go there and when. It won't be a breeze for everybody to get through the Whistler. Athletes and people with tickets won't have a problem, though.

Q. Great restaurants in Vancouver. What do you recommend?

For higher end, I like Jean-Georges Vongerichten's restaurant at the Shangri-La Hotel, called The Market. It has been open for not quite a year. The hotel is expensive, but the restaurant offers good value. Vongerichten is one of the top chefs in the United States, and the food is excellent. There's an affordable cafe at the hotel, as well. The food is kind of "West Coast" regional, as are a lot of high-end restaurants here.

Regional food means a lot of seafood and local, healthy ingredients. They kind of picked up on the California theme.

There's a restaurant in downtown Vancouver called the Rain City Grill; it offers an optional menu where absolutely none of the ingredients are from beyond 100 miles.

If you want to spend very little, even during winter Go Fish is open in False Creek, at Fisherman's Wharf, at the foot of First Avenue. It's an outdoor thing, so you'll want to go when it's not raining.

Q. Whistler is a famous ski resort - but does it have enough places for dining?

Whistler has some nice restaurants. Did you ever see a TV show called "Hell's Kitchen"? It's a competitive cooking show with Gordon Ramsey, a chef known for an extremely violent temper. On a recent show, the winning chef got to cook at Araxi, a famous restaurant at Whistler. The selection of Araxi probably had to do with the upcoming Olympics, but he'll be cooking at the best restaurant in Whistler.

It's a nice place but expensive; for two to dine, with a bottle of wine, is $160 to $200 Canadian (about $154-$193 U.S.).

Another Whistler place I like is Fifty Two 80 at the Four Seasons Hotel. It's named for the elevation Blackcomb Mountain rises above Whistler village. It tries to be regional.

Q. What about things for non-skiers to do at Whistler?

They've developed quite a bit for people who travel with skiers but don't ski themselves. All bets are off as to what'll be operating during the Olympics, but there's bungee jumping, snowmobiling, skating, zip-lining over a forest valley, glacier walks, sleigh rides, cross-country skiing, spa-ing, dining out and lots of watering holes.

Q. Whistler Mountain is roughly 7,000 feet above Vancouver, a port at sea level. Is there a temperature difference?

It's huge, and it's something Vancouver likes to brag about. Often in the same day, you can ski in Whistler and play tennis in Vancouver.

The Olympics are in February. More than likely, it will be raining in Vancouver and, we hope, snowing at Whistler. This year has really been an anomaly. Summer was gorgeous. It's sunny outside right now in mid-October - and now through mid-November, we're usually headed into rain.

Vancouver doesn't really get very winter-y when it comes to things to do. When people think of Canada, they think of residents bundled in parkas and wearing toques.

Q. What's a good day trip from Vancouver?

Victoria is hard to do. People love to go there, but the ferry takes an hour and a half - plus you have to wait in line at the ferry. It's only a day trip if you fly there. But it's worth staying a night there. Victoria is the second-biggest city in British Columbia and has some quaint aspects and good restaurants.

There are all kinds of islands around Vancouver - like Bowen Island - and the ferry there is only 10 minutes from West Vancouver's Horseshoe Bay, which is en route to Whistler.

The ferry ride itself is beautiful, plus the island has pubs and shops there and a couple nice places to eat.

Not far from Vancouver and on the mainland is Squamish, which is getting to be a recreational hub. It has mountain bike trails and apparently has good wind surfing. Squamish is called a world-class destination for climbing, and when you drive by, you can see one of the rock faces from the road and people climbing there.

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