Vancouver help please!

[MinnieMouse73]

Hi are any of you from Vancouver? We have just booked a 3 night stay on the way back from California at the end of August. There are 3 of us (me, DH, DD8) and we've never visited before.

What are the main sights/attractions we should be looking at seeing? We're not into museums or art galleries, we're mostly interested in the beautiful scenery - mountains, ocean, wildlife ... anything that's nice to take lots of photos of! Also anything that's not to miss for our 8-year-old.

Also any suggestions on where to stay please?

Our flight arrives at 9.30am on the first day (Tuesday) so we're planning on some sightseeing time that day, we then have 2 full days, and our flight home leaves 5pm Friday.

Sorry so many questions, I am very excited as I've always wanted to visit Vancouver Thank you!

 

[ado121]

stanley park. highly recommend that. theres even a water park there for the little one!

 

[MarcJ55]

Things to do:
- Stanley park is a good suggestion.
- If you're into the scenery, you could head up Grouse Mountain.
- If you're on a budget, you could even check out the Seabus, which goes from downtown Vancouver to North Vancouver. It provides a nice harbour ride for next to nothing (included in public transit fare).
- Capilano Suspension Bridge
- Your 8 year old might also enjoy Science World.
- False Creek Ferry: A mini ferry that toots around the harbour.

Places to stay:
- People have been reporting Priceline hotel "wins" for around $80/night at 4-star hotels on HotelDealsRevealed.com:
winning Priceline bids for Vancouver

Enjoy your time in Vancouver.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

There's a huge thread about all the things to see and do in Vancouver and Whistler in the cruise line forum.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2283011

 

[MinnieMouse73]

Thank you I started looking at some websites and saw the Capilano suspension bridge and Grouse Mountain - I think they will definitely be on our list

Which areas of the city would be good to stay in?

 

[MinnieMouse73]

Oh and thanks for that link - I will take a look now ...

 

[visitingapril09]

When you have hotels in mind just pm me. I can tell you if the area is good. Most of the big chain hotels that are downtown are near the financial area which is an ok area. The trouble with that is they are the most expensive. If you find somewhere, just send me a note. There are some areas of Vancouver you don't want to stay in, as with any big city.

The things to do suggestions are great! Granville Island, which you take the little ferry to, is fun and has a kids market there also.

Definately Grouse Mountain. Near the base of Grouse mountain there is Clevland Dam and they have lots of nice hiking trails around there for walks.

Ambleside Beach area is nice in West Vancouver but Stanley Park and Jericho Beach also have great beaches to have fun on.

The aquarium in Stanley Park is a lot of fun also.

Make sure you do some searches for online discount coupons. You can often save a few dollars off of admissions by looking for them.
Enjoy!!

 

[MinnieMouse73]

Thank you

We have some airmiles and were thinking of using them to book the Vancouver hotel (since we added it on as an extra to our California trip!) - if it's ok I'll pm you a list of the airmiles hotels that we have enough points for and see if any of them are nice?

Thanks for the kind offer

 

[Sue M]

Stanley Park is #1, beautiful! You can rent bikes there too. Capalino Suspension bridge, it's a park and has some other stuff to do too. Not just the bridge, If it's a clear day the gondola that goes up Grouse Mtn affords great city views. If it's overcast i wouldn't bother.
Grandville Island, you can take the water taxi there from Science World, good place to grab a bite to eat. There's a market with many different types of food.
Chinatown? Jericho Beach, Queen Elizabeth Park.
The PNE will be going on at the end of August, it's a fair with exhibits, rides, 4-H club, animals etc. If you have the time, the drive up to Whistler is beautiful.
Or the ferry to Vancouver Isl, or one of the Gulf Islands, like Salt Spring Isl.

 

[MinnieMouse73]

Thanks again for all your help on this thread. Our trip is approaching and I have a few more questions for you if that's ok ...

We are staying at the Sandman Suite on Davie - what would be the best/cheapest/easiest way to get there from the airport? We will have quite a bit of luggage to transport - 3 weeks shopping in California on top of the clothes etc we're taking with us! - so were thinking maybe a cab? We've never been before so aren't familiar with the city, so would it be complicated/annoying to do skytrain then bus with all the luggage? With 3 of us would it be much cheaper than a cab anyway?

Very tentative plan of action looks like this ... I would be VERY grateful for any comments or suggestions please!

Tuesday (31 Aug) - flight arrives approx 9.30am so we're hoping to be at the hotel by lunchtime. Probably visit Stanley Park in the afternoon/evening?

Wednesday - Grouse Mountain ... is it possible to go to the Capilano suspension bridge in the same day? They look quite close together in the guidebook we have, but are they - is it easy to get from one to another? Is there a better order to do them in - Grouse Mountain then Capilano or the other way round? The guide book actually recommends Lynn Canyon Park over Capilano because it's free, less busy and almost as good - would it be better to go there instead, especially if combining in a day with Grouse Mountain?

Thursday - Granville Island, then maybe a nice long walk around some of the other parts of the city e.g. waterfront area, Gastown. We had thought about trying to do a whale watching tour but it looks like they would take all day and it seems like we would miss a lot of the city. But again we're open to advice!!

Friday - we should have the morning but don't want to plan too much here - think we'll need to leave for the airport at around 1pm. If we did the whale watching tour would we have time to squeeze in a visit to Granville Island here instead?

Sorry I've just re-read and realised how many questions there are here - but I hope someone can help again!

Thank you

 

[Kat&Dom]

Have you been collecting points on Lays ChipTrips.ca? There are lots of 2 for 1 coupons for Vancouver - carriage ride at Stanley Park, Capilano Bridge admission, Harbor Cruise, etc (there are 10 different options). It is chiptrips.ca and you just enter the code off of Lays Potato Chips to get points and redeem for the coupons.

It might be interesting to log onto the site and see what the different tours offer as they have the website link on them in the chiptrips site.

Have a wonderful time.!

 

[aristocat65]

Thanks again for all your help on this thread. Our trip is approaching and I have a few more questions for you if that's ok ...

We are staying at the Sandman Suite on Davie - what would be the best/cheapest/easiest way to get there from the airport? We will have quite a bit of luggage to transport - 3 weeks shopping in California on top of the clothes etc we're taking with us! - so were thinking maybe a cab? We've never been before so aren't familiar with the city, so would it be complicated/annoying to do skytrain then bus with all the luggage? With 3 of us would it be much cheaper than a cab anyway?

Very tentative plan of action looks like this ... I would be VERY grateful for any comments or suggestions please!

Tuesday (31 Aug) - flight arrives approx 9.30am so we're hoping to be at the hotel by lunchtime. Probably visit Stanley Park in the afternoon/evening?

Wednesday - Grouse Mountain ... is it possible to go to the Capilano suspension bridge in the same day? They look quite close together in the guidebook we have, but are they - is it easy to get from one to another? Is there a better order to do them in - Grouse Mountain then Capilano or the other way round? The guide book actually recommends Lynn Canyon Park over Capilano because it's free, less busy and almost as good - would it be better to go there instead, especially if combining in a day with Grouse Mountain?

Thursday - Granville Island, then maybe a nice long walk around some of the other parts of the city e.g. waterfront area, Gastown. We had thought about trying to do a whale watching tour but it looks like they would take all day and it seems like we would miss a lot of the city. But again we're open to advice!!

Friday - we should have the morning but don't want to plan too much here - think we'll need to leave for the airport at around 1pm. If we did the whale watching tour would we have time to squeeze in a visit to Granville Island here instead?

Sorry I've just re-read and realised how many questions there are here - but I hope someone can help again!

Thank you

The easiest way to your hotel would be a taxi. It would probably run about $30 +. Taking the Canada Line train is also a good option. You could catch a taxi from where you get off it downtown to your hotel rather than bus it with your luggage.

Capilano Suspension bridge is on the way to Grouse Mountain. We pass it when we drive up to ski. Grouse is maybe about another 5 minutes up the hill. Definitely you can do both in a day. Make sure it is a clear day before paying to take the gondola. Not really worth it if it is overcast and you can't see the views. I don't think it really matters which order you do them in. I agree that Lynn Canyon is a good free option. It doesn't have quite as much there as Capilano though which has the treetops walkways.

Not too sure what to advise on your other questions, except maybe skip Gastown. It is very close to the downtown eastside, which is not what we want our visitors to see

 

[MinnieMouse73]

Thank you both

We are in the UK and we don't have Lays potato chips over here but I wonder whether there are other websites that have discount coupons etc for attractions?

Thanks for the advice about Gastown! It sounds quite nice in the guide book we have lol

 

[Sue M]

Thanks again for all your help on this thread. Our trip is approaching and I have a few more questions for you if that's ok ...

We are staying at the Sandman Suite on Davie - what would be the best/cheapest/easiest way to get there from the airport? We will have quite a bit of luggage to transport - 3 weeks shopping in California on top of the clothes etc we're taking with us! - so were thinking maybe a cab? We've never been before so aren't familiar with the city, so would it be complicated/annoying to do skytrain then bus with all the luggage? With 3 of us would it be much cheaper than a cab anyway?

Very tentative plan of action looks like this ... I would be VERY grateful for any comments or suggestions please!

Tuesday (31 Aug) - flight arrives approx 9.30am so we're hoping to be at the hotel by lunchtime. Probably visit Stanley Park in the afternoon/evening?

Wednesday - Grouse Mountain ... is it possible to go to the Capilano suspension bridge in the same day? They look quite close together in the guidebook we have, but are they - is it easy to get from one to another? Is there a better order to do them in - Grouse Mountain then Capilano or the other way round? The guide book actually recommends Lynn Canyon Park over Capilano because it's free, less busy and almost as good - would it be better to go there instead, especially if combining in a day with Grouse Mountain?

Thursday - Granville Island, then maybe a nice long walk around some of the other parts of the city e.g. waterfront area, Gastown. We had thought about trying to do a whale watching tour but it looks like they would take all day and it seems like we would miss a lot of the city. But again we're open to advice!!

Friday - we should have the morning but don't want to plan too much here - think we'll need to leave for the airport at around 1pm. If we did the whale watching tour would we have time to squeeze in a visit to Granville Island here instead?

Sorry I've just re-read and realised how many questions there are here - but I hope someone can help again!

Thank you

The Skytrain does go directly to the airport. They have elevators as well as the escalators. Your hotel should be able to give you directions. If you have a laptop go to the Translink site.

Ask where the Tourisim BC kiosks are, you can get discount tickets for Grouse & Capilano.

Stanley Park is awsome. You can rent bikes to get around, bike or walk the Seawall.

Yes, you can do Grouse & Capillano the same day. Doesn't matter which is first, but time of day with best visibility is good for Grouse.
I just took out of town friends to Capilano and they loved it. They have a tree-top walk that is pretty neat.

While you're at the water front, be sure to see the Olympic Torch! It's down the block from Canada Place and Pan Pacific (the building with the white sails on top.

For your Gas Town/Granville Isl. day It may be fun to take The Big Red Bus.
It's a hop on/hop off bus that stops at all those places and more. You can ride it once around first, then get off at the places you want to explore. They make a continuous loop.

Have fun in our city!

 

[c&m]

What are the main sights/attractions we should be looking at seeing? We're not into museums or art galleries, we're mostly interested in the beautiful scenery - mountains, ocean, wildlife ... anything that's nice to take lots of photos of! Also anything that's not to miss for our 8-year-old.

If you're looking for beautiful vistas, Grouse Mtn in the summer is nice. But also try taking the Sea-to-Sky Hwy and going to Whistler. The view during the drive is breathtaking.

When you're in Whistler, do the River of Golden Dreams (check out the website - don't remember what it is but just google "River of Golden Dreams Whistler"). You get on a canoe that starts at Alta Lake and then you paddle down this stream. The view you see is spectacular. The canoe trip is about 2.5 hours - really depends on how fast/slow you paddle. It ends just before Green Lake, where you hop off and somebody greets you there to drive you back to where you parked your car.

We are part-time residents of Whistler and actually just came back from doing this for the second time over the weekend. Your 8-year-old would love the adventure. Also, we live at Legends @ Creekside, and we just saw a family of black bears outside our balcony on the weekend, taking a dip in the creek. There's your wildlife.