"Must Sees" in Vancouver

[Donald & Daisy Duck]

We will be in Vancouver for two nights before our cruise in August and one night after....other than grouse mountains and capillano suspension bridge...what do you consider as must see/do? We would like to make the most of our time in Vancouver since we are from NY and have never been here before. Thanks.

 

[MelSpees]

If you look through the recent threads there are a couple that give a lot of suggestions.

 

[dcassetta]

The whole family, including the 18 month old, enjoyed the Aquarium. If you like gardening and flowers, the Botanical Garden and Queen Elizabeth Garden are very nice also, but the best in the area is Butchart Garden over in Victoria. Although, if you only have a day or two in the area getting back and forth to Victoria can be a little time consuming.

 

[squirrel]

Grandville Island, Stanley Park, Science World, Aquarium, Gastown. There are a lot of places to see and do. Do you have kids? Ages? Any good aquariums or science places in your own city/town? Seabus over to Lonsdale Quay.

 

[bcwife76]

Grandville Island, Stanley Park, Science World, Aquarium, Gastown. There are a lot of places to see and do. Do you have kids? Ages? Any good aquariums or science places in your own city/town? Seabus over to Lonsdale Quay.

Add in the Cap Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mtn that you've already said you wanted to see and your 3 days are filled with all the Vancouver-must sees and do's

 

[havoc315]

Also coming from NY and doing Vancouver for 2 days/3 nights pre-cruise....

Should we try to squeeze Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain into the same day? I've heard about asking the Grouse mountain bus to drop you off at the Suspension bridge. Or would it make more sense to do 1 Saturday morning, and 1 Sunday morning?

I figure I'd also like to get in Stanley Park, Granville Island, and maybe China Town.

 

[bcwife76]

Also coming from NY and doing Vancouver for 2 days/3 nights pre-cruise....

Should we try to squeeze Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain into the same day? I've heard about asking the Grouse mountain bus to drop you off at the Suspension bridge. Or would it make more sense to do 1 Saturday morning, and 1 Sunday morning?

I figure I'd also like to get in Stanley Park, Granville Island, and maybe China Town.

Yes absolutely try and do them both on the same day, totally doable.

Personally I would skip China Town, it's really not very nice. I used to go there with my parents in the 80's, it was fun. Now it's grungy and not very fabulous...

 

[Kimberly1]

To jump into this conversation. I only have a half day - 3 adults, 1 19 year old, and 2 15 year olds.....What would you do with only a half day?

 

[bumbershoot]

To jump into this conversation. I only have a half day - 3 adults, 1 19 year old, and 2 15 year olds.....What would you do with only a half day?

Get a japadog (fancy hot dogs with neat Japanese-style toppings...or plain if you wish...they even have veggie dogs), especially if you were a fan of Psych (Japadog was mentioned on an episode). Get a crepe. Wander around.

 

[bumbershoot]

OP, if you have gone to Central Park, is seeing *Stanley Park* a must-do? The aquarium is pretty darned good IMO (though at the time I was really focused on the beluga whales since my local zoo had such a horrid, depressing, beluga whale situation).

We still haven't done Grouse etc, so to use those aren't must-dos. We like doing what I described above. We're funny tourists, mainly just liking to pretend we live somewhere, rather than trying to see everything. Not normal tourists.

 

[Kimberly1]

Get a japadog (fancy hot dogs with neat Japanese-style toppings...or plain if you wish...they even have veggie dogs), especially if you were a fan of Psych (Japadog was mentioned on an episode). Get a crepe. Wander around.

Yes. I have japadogs on my list.

 

[wdwwishes]

We had a great afternoon at Grandeville Island. We wandered the market getting little bites to eat here and there and felt like we were on the travel channel. The shops and crafts etc. were nice to stroll through as well. We also did Capillano Forest and suspension bridge along with the hop on hop off bus tour. Both were enjoyable. My DDs were simply amazed by the trees in the forest, I think we all were. We had a great lunch there too.

 

[xlxo]

My thoughts on priorities on what to see in Vancouver.

• Day 1 Grouse and Capilano Suspension Bridge
• Day 2 Hop on/Off that includes Stanley Park, Granville Island and Gastown
• Day 3 Whistler
• Day 4 Victoria
• Day 5 Vanduzen Gardens, Queen Elizabeth
• Day 6 Storybrooke/Steveston?
• Additional days? Banff? Extended Vancouver Island trip to Tofino? Seattle?

http://www.tourismvancouver.com/do/...ttractions/10-vancouver-must-see-attractions/

 

[Vegam060]

If you only have half a day is the suspension bridge worth it. It opens at 9am and we don't have to be on the boat till 4 technically. I just don't want to make Vancouver an overnight stop I want to explore and this seemed most exciting

 

[xlxo]

To jump into this conversation. I only have a half day - 3 adults, 1 19 year old, and 2 15 year olds.....What would you do with only a half day?

If you only have half a day is the suspension bridge worth it. It opens at 9am and we don't have to be on the boat till 4 technically. I just don't want to make Vancouver an overnight stop I want to explore and this seemed most exciting

Not quite..... you want to be at the terminal at 1pm at the latest to clear security, check-in, hit the welcome lunch trough before it closes at 2pm (you paid for it), 3pm evac procedures?. 4pm arrival means missing the boat as you "wonder" what went wrong.

If you can go to the bridge in the late afternoon or evening when you arrive. It's open til 8pm in August.
http://www.capbridge.com/visit/hours-and-rates/

Otherwise, here's a possible timeline...

• 8am start public transit or taxi to the bridge. Don't think shuttles are running for the 9am opening.
• 9am bridge opens
• 10:30am starting making your way back to hotel
• 12pm check out... assuming that is you when you need to leave. Some hotels want you out by 10am.
• 12:15pm make your way to cruise terminal for your PAT and lunch.

 

[MUN]

We enjoyed walking around the city. We loved Robson and Granville Streets and Stanley Park is fantastic! We took the seabus over to North Vancouver to have lunch and shop at Lonsdale Quay.

One word of warning to those not used to big cities and big city issues: there are loads of hobos and drug addicts in downtown Vancouver. Drug usage and the crime that goes along with it is a big problem. In fact, the BBC has referred to Vancouver as "Drug Central" of North America. Nevertheless, Vancouver is a beautiful city and we enjoyed spending a couple of days there before our Alaska cruise last year.

MUN

 

[bcwife76]

We enjoyed walking around the city. We loved Robson and Granville Streets and Stanley Park is fantastic! We took the seabus over to North Vancouver to have lunch and shop at Lonsdale Quay.

One word of warning to those not used to big cities and big city issues: there are loads of hobos and drug addicts in downtown Vancouver. Drug usage and the crime that goes along with it is a big problem. In fact, the BBC has referred to Vancouver as "Drug Central" of North America. Nevertheless, Vancouver is a beautiful city and we enjoyed spending a couple of days there before our Alaska cruise last year.

MUN

Hobos? Wow, haven't heard that word in a long time!
To be fair, the most unsavory part of the city is the Downtown Eastside, which is Canada's poorest neighbourhood. In general, most of the city, especially the tourist areas (Stanley Park, Robson Street, etc) are NOT riddled with drug dealers,drug users, prostitutes and the like. There are panhandlers....a LOT of them. But I think that would be true of any large city.

 

[MUN]

Hobos? Wow, haven't heard that word in a long time!
To be fair, the most unsavory part of the city is the Downtown Eastside, which is Canada's poorest neighbourhood. In general, most of the city, especially the tourist areas (Stanley Park, Robson Street, etc) are NOT riddled with drug dealers,drug users, prostitutes and the like. There are panhandlers....a LOT of them. But I think that would be true of any large city.

We saw plenty of hobos (my daughter calls them that I think because of the Kit movie) and drug addicts on Granville Street.

 

[tink too]

We visited Grouse Mountain and Capilano in the same day, going to the suspension bridge later in the day was a good choice for us as we seemed to have the park to ourselves. The only thing I would suggest - research transport options. We got dropped off by the bus at Capilano, no problems there. When we left, we found the buses were few and far between. We asked the staff at Capilano if they could provide a contact number for a cab company - they very kindly called one for us. Cost wasn't too high (can't remember exact price) and we were back at the hotel quickly.

 

[havoc315]

We visited Grouse Mountain and Capilano in the same day, going to the suspension bridge later in the day was a good choice for us as we seemed to have the park to ourselves. The only thing I would suggest - research transport options. We got dropped off by the bus at Capilano, no problems there. When we left, we found the buses were few and far between. We asked the staff at Capilano if they could provide a contact number for a cab company - they very kindly called one for us. Cost wasn't too high (can't remember exact price) and we were back at the hotel quickly.

Thanks for the feedback. What time does the Capillano shuttle bus run until?