One more reason to visit Gibsons, B.C.

Okay, I'll admit that part of the reason I was excited about visiting Gibsons, British Columbia, was the chance to check out the place where a hoary old CBC-TV series called "The Beachcombers" was filmed. Weirdly, I didn't even like the show when it aired from 1972 to 1990. It's just that Canada has precious few famous TV sites, so it was kind of cool to see one.

And yes, indeed, you can still visit some of the sites made famous by the 1970s show, including a revamped version of a restaurant called Molly's Reach. But there are many more reasons to visit Gibsons: it has lovely art galleries and craft shops, some unpretentious restaurants (we checked out a highly recommended one called Smitty's Oyster House, but didn't have time to eat there) and one of the most gorgeous little harbours you're likely to see anywhere.

This week, Gibsons gained one new claim to fame: it was just judged the world's most liveable city (population 20,000 or under) in the International Awards for Liveable Communities (LivCom), held in Pilsen, Czech Republic.

The city of 4,000 on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast, about 45 minutes from West Vancouver, had to excel in six criteria: Enhancement of the Landscape, Heritage Management, Environmentally Sensitive Practices, Community Sustainability, Healthy Lifestyles and Planning for the Future.

I don't know much about the deep details of Gibsons' municipal environmental management, to be honest, aside from the fact that a waterfront condo development proposal recently ignited a firestorm of debate (see my article about the Sunshine Coast for Legion magazine). But I do know that it's a mighty pleasant place to roam around--even though you won't run into the late actor Bruno Gerussi.

Disclosure: I travelled to the Sunshine Coast as a guest of the Vancouver Coast & Mountains Tourism Region.