VANCOUVER -- 'This is going to be really cool or really cheesy" -- that was my first thought when the invitation for the Coastal Cool package arrived. The two-day getaway is an invention of Vancouver's Listel Hotel, which is offering "an authentic First Nations experience."

For $600, two guests are treated to two nights accommodation on the hotel's Museum Floor, a paddle down the Burrard Inlet, dinner at an aboriginal feast house and a guided tour at the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology. The package seems to be priced right, given that rooms on the penthouse Museum Floor range from $260 to $280 a night in high season. But what about the rest?

Among Vancouver's increasingly competitive boutique hotels, the Listel is often overlooked. While not as trendy as the Opus, as opulent as the Soleil, or as regal as the Wedgewood, this six-storey hotel is a cozy alternative, with all the amenities, and it won't break the bank.

The Listel Vancouver is located in the heart of the city, in the bustling Robson Street shopping district. In recent years, the hotel has created an artful niche by dreaming up partnerships with cultural institutions, and is perhaps best known for its jazz scene. O'Doul's Restaurant and Bar features live jazz seven nights a week. All 22 Museum Floor rooms feature original aboriginal prints, pottery and carvings, on loan from UBC's acclaimed Museum of Anthropology.

When the elevator doors open on the sixth floor, I am greeted by a magnificent Haida raven mask in a glass display case, the kind with a long painted beak and stringy, cedar bark hair. The prints in the bedroom are slightly less stunning, but that's probably a good thing when you're waltzing about the room after putting a dent in the fully stocked mini-bar. The room itself is modern, airy and tastefully decorated in taupe and beige, with a carved cedar headboard and fluffy goose-down duvet on the king-sized bed.

According to aboriginal traditions, Coastal Cool guests receive gifts upon arrival: a premium bottle of 2000 pinot noir from Nk'Mip Cellars, the new Okanagan winery owned by the Osoyoos Indian Band; a dark-chocolate medallion designed by renowned artist Robert Davidson; and a copy of the Museum of Anthropology's 50th anniversary book, Objects and Expressions.

There's no time to check out the fitness centre or send any e-mail with the hotel's high-speed Internet access. I'm off to the MOA. The Coastal Cool package includes admission for two, with guided tour.

The museum is located on the far western edge of the city, on the cliffs of Point Grey, amid the wild green splendour of the UBC campus. The building alone is worth the trip. A monumental Arthur Erickson post-and-beam design, it soars into its natural surroundings with glass windows that dominate an entire wall in the main gallery, which looks onto the longhouses and totem poles in the grounds out back.

Inside, the building houses one of the world's finest collections of Northwest Coast First People's art, including huge carvings, canoes, feast dishes, masks, silver jewellery and argillite carvings from the Kwakwaka'wakw, Nisga'a, Gitxsan, Haida and Coast Salish nations. The museum also boasts Bill Reid's famous Raven and the First Men, an enormous cedar sculpture that illustrates, in exquisite detail, the Haida legend of creation.

I've toured the museum before, but never with a guide. And certainly not one as handsome or as informed as Kevin. As he gives me a brief introduction to the mysteries of Haida culture (I didn't know they had slaves), I suddenly realize why Vancouver seems to have a shortage of good-looking, young men -- they're all locked up in storage!

Back at the hotel, I give my friend Richard Bell a call. "Should I just meet you at the restaurant?" he asks. I tell him I've opened a bottle of wine. "I'll be right over," he says.

The Liliget Feast House is one of those restaurants that Richard and I walk by almost daily but have never bothered to visit. I've been intrigued by the concept -- Liliget is the proud, lone practitioner of Pacific Northwest native cuisine, whatever that might mean. But the entrance, just a small narrow doorway on Davie Street, never seems to promise much.

So what a delightful surprise it is to descend the stairs to the underground restaurant and discover this tranquil little room (also designed by Arthur Erickson), with gravel-stone floors, low twinkling lights and gorgeous sunken bench tables sectioned off by cedar poles. The smell of smoke from the green alderwood grill is mouthwatering.

Upon arrival, we are immediately greeted by owner Dolly Watts, an adorable woman and gracious hostess who hails from the Gitwangak village in the Gitxsan territory. She even knows both our names -- Richard, a celebrity filmmaker in training, is in love. The package includes $75 toward dinner, which adequately feeds two. And if you're lucky, you'll be served by Watts's granddaughter Marina, whose knowledge of B.C. wines is almost as impressive as her friendly service. She brings us some warm bannock bread to start. This fried, doughy delicacy is fabulous. The next course, steamed herring roe on kelp with oolican (smelt oil) for dipping, is definitely an acquired taste. "It has the texture of crunchy, overcooked tapioca pudding," Richard notes, quietly gagging.

Marina quickly replaces the dish with steamed kelp on rice. She had warned us that the herring was "very traditional," and doesn't seem surprised when we have trouble eating it. Undaunted, we dig into the platter for two: a traditional cedar feast dish heaped with oysters, mussels, venison strips, duck breast, elk, buffalo, berry sauces, and sweet potatoes sprinkled with hazelnuts, vegetables and wild rice.

We roll back to the hotel in time to catch the jazz trio. In addition to live jazz seven nights a week, O'Doul's restaurant features an astonishingly good wine selection that includes B.C.'s best boutique wines at the most reasonable prices you'll find in any Vancouver restaurant. You can order any of the wines through room service, which unfortunately closes at 11 p.m. Unfortunate for my credit card, anyway, since Richard has found the keys to the mini-bar.

The next morning begins with a wicked hangover, quickly remedied by triple Americanos and some great eggs Benedict. Then we're off on the canoe trip. Richard really wants to bail, but when the guide from Takaya Tours meets us at the hotel, I force him into the van.

The drive to Belcarra Regional Park in North Vancouver is only 25 minutes, but by the time we get to this sheltered spot of breathtaking beauty, Richard is turning green. He and another passenger excuse themselves to go to the washroom. I hear retching in the bushes. "I'm going to kill you," he whispers, despite the rosy colour that has suddenly returned to his cheeks.

We're in Tsleil-Waututh territory. Our tour guide is Lori Simcox, a descendant of the famous Chief Dan George. She greets us with drums and a song, and introduces us to several ceremonial traditions before we even step foot in the boat, a 12-passenger ocean-going canoe.

When she pulls a cedar branch off a tree and instructs us to waft it over our bodies "to cleanse the air," we begin wondering just how hokey this two-hour tour is going to get. But at some point or another, as Simcox sits up in the bow and lulls us with songs and stories, we become entranced. When she recognizes my Chanel fragrance, we nickname her "Indian princess," a moniker she really seems to dig.

The trip is easy-going until the skies rip open. The guides want to bring us back to shore. Richard demurs. "In for a penny, in for a pound," he yells over the wind.

The other passengers all shoot him dirty looks.

"They have no sense of humour," he whispers, a bit too loudly. The princess is in hysterics. Somehow, we manage to make it back to shore, goosebumped and drenched, but laughing our guts out.

If you go

The Listel Vancouver: 1300 Robson St.; (800) 663-5491;

http://www.listel-vancouver.com.

Liliget Feast House: 1724 Davie St.; (604) 681-7044; http://www.liliget.com.

Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia: 6393 N.W. Marine Dr.; (604) 822-3825; http://www.moa.ubc.ca.

Takaya Tours Northwest Canoe Adventures: 3093 Ghum-Lye Dr.; (604) 904-7410; http://www.takayatours.com.