Family Vacation Filter - Vancouver vs Newfoundland
January 28, 2020 8:41 AM   Subscribe

A friend is trying to decide which to go to this summer. Are there any one-off special events happening in either of these two places in July/August? Family of four, two kids, aged 10-12 who like Lego, comics, nature, music and books. And the usual kid things :) The family will eventually visit both, but just wondering if there's anything that would argue for going in summer 2020. Thanks for any tips!
posted by storybored to Travel & Transportation (3 answers total)
 
If your kids like fireworks, Vancouver hosts an international fireworks festival every year. It's right over the water, too, so it's an especially lovely view.

There's also the Vancouver Folk Festival near the end of July, which takes place on the very lovely Jericho Beach.

One last suggestion is the Powell Street Festival that celebrates Japanese Canadian arts and culture. So much good food!
posted by thebots at 9:05 AM on January 28, 2020


So Newfoundland is probably overall less exciting than Vancouver, but I went there a couple years back and it was great! It'll be much more outdoors-oriented and less urban. St John's is great but really only good for a couple days. We flew over (on a tiny plane!) to Gros Morne park and it was amazing. We went kayaking on a bay and saw a whale fairly close up, we did some hiking and took a boat tour of Western Brook Pond. There's also a few little villages around the area that are nice to visit, one had an old tall ship docked that we got to tour. Overall a very memorable vacation.

All that said, these are not time-sensitive activities. Gros Morne has a bunch of summer festivals but they all look like annual affairs.
posted by GuyZero at 10:58 AM on January 28, 2020


I think for the 10-12 set you gotta go with Vancouver. Its so immediately beautiful, you don't have to drive forever to get places, its city / parks / nature where ever you look. Lynn Canyon, right in the city, has wild suspension bridges, fun scrambling... and there are other places like that there, too. As said above, tons of festivals in the summer, good weather, and easy to get around city plus easy to go on other fun trips.
posted by RajahKing at 11:27 AM on January 28, 2020


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