Your Best Vancouver Travel Recommendations
April 2, 2023 6:53 AM Subscribe
I am planning a family vacation to Vancouver and I'm hoping to get some advice and recommendations. We are a family of 2 adults and 2 young adults from Pittsburgh and we are open to other options in case Vancouver doesn't fit the bill. We want to go somewhere new, but not too far away, and we like a mix of city and nature. We will be flying from Pittsburgh in August and we are looking for recommendations on alternate cities that might have less expensive airfare.
In sum, we are looking for your magical advice on destination alternatives, lodging locations, day trips plus Vancouver Island ideas, what to do and where to eat.
We are also wondering where to stay in Vancouver. Should we stay in the downtown area or outside the city and travel in? We like to walk to things, but we would stay outside the city and drive to our daily destinations for a nicer and larger place to stay. We need 3 separate sleeping areas, either 2 large bedrooms with 3 total beds or 3 bedrooms and like a full kitchen so I expect airbnb to be the best solution. We are planning to have a car, but we could get one for only part of the trip.
In addition to exploring the city, we are interested in visiting other nearby areas such as Whistler. We are also wondering if we should go to Vancouver Island and how many nights we should stay there. We are planning to go for 8 nights and 7 days.
We like to stay busy during our vacations and we're looking for recommendations on what to do in Vancouver. We prefer to go early to a destination and walk around, grab a fast lunch, then go to another destination and walk around, then back to our lodging either grabbing food from a grocery store for dinner in or going back out for a fairly early dinner. We like to learn about the local area, interesting museums, free things, parks, great city walks (inexpensive tours), food destinations and local eats, casual restaurants, a couple of splurge meals, grocery stores, and hiking in beautiful places for a few hours.
Thank you in advance for your recommendations and thoughts.
In sum, we are looking for your magical advice on destination alternatives, lodging locations, day trips plus Vancouver Island ideas, what to do and where to eat.
We are also wondering where to stay in Vancouver. Should we stay in the downtown area or outside the city and travel in? We like to walk to things, but we would stay outside the city and drive to our daily destinations for a nicer and larger place to stay. We need 3 separate sleeping areas, either 2 large bedrooms with 3 total beds or 3 bedrooms and like a full kitchen so I expect airbnb to be the best solution. We are planning to have a car, but we could get one for only part of the trip.
In addition to exploring the city, we are interested in visiting other nearby areas such as Whistler. We are also wondering if we should go to Vancouver Island and how many nights we should stay there. We are planning to go for 8 nights and 7 days.
We like to stay busy during our vacations and we're looking for recommendations on what to do in Vancouver. We prefer to go early to a destination and walk around, grab a fast lunch, then go to another destination and walk around, then back to our lodging either grabbing food from a grocery store for dinner in or going back out for a fairly early dinner. We like to learn about the local area, interesting museums, free things, parks, great city walks (inexpensive tours), food destinations and local eats, casual restaurants, a couple of splurge meals, grocery stores, and hiking in beautiful places for a few hours.
Thank you in advance for your recommendations and thoughts.
No one gets excited to visit Vancouver, WA so I'm going to assume this is a trip to Vancouver, BC?
(Not to dig on Vancouver, WA, I have friends and family who live there, but it's just a city near a river.)
posted by fiercekitten at 9:05 AM on April 2, 2023
(Not to dig on Vancouver, WA, I have friends and family who live there, but it's just a city near a river.)
posted by fiercekitten at 9:05 AM on April 2, 2023
Best answer: See this recent AskMe about Vancouver. Different time of year, but plenty of the suggestions still apply.
With one week to burn, you have two options:
- spend most of your time in Vancouver, and do one day trip to Victoria, or
-split your time between Vancouver and Victoria
I am assuming that Victoria is, in fact, your destination on the island. If you're hoping to go somewhere further away like Tofino, then day trip is not an option at all.
The reason I say that is because the ferry crossing takes at least 3 hrs each way: ~30mins drive from the city to the ferry terminal, arrive at least 30 mins before the sailing to keep your reserved spot (and in August, you're probably gonna need to have reservations to avoid several sailing waits), 1.5 hrs for the actual sailing, and then another 30 mins to drive into the destination city. I know the sailing itself is part of the whole "let's go to the island" experience, but IMO the first thing you decide is how much you want to see/do on the island.
If you want to do a day trip, take an early ferry, like 7 or 8am out of Tsawwassen. Split your day into 3 and visit: Butchart Gardens, and Downton Victoria (inner harbour, Royal BC Museum, parliament free tour), and lastly Beacon Hill Park + one of the lookout points by the water (Ogden Point, Finlayson Point, etc.). Get back into Vancouver on one of the late sailings, 7/8/9pm. This will be a very long day, and you'll be knackered off your feet as that's a lot of walking! But you can say you've "done" Victoria.
If you have more time on the island, you can explore more of the Saanich peninsula, Sooke, and the Malahat/Cowichan Valley area, and do more hiking/nature walks.
On the lower mainland (Vancouver) side, you can organize your days like this:
- Day trip to Squamish and/or Whistler. Lots of hiking in either area. Squamish is a rapidly growing and gentrifying area but still has a bit of that smaller town feel, while Whistler village is of course a resort. Peak to Peak gondola is super cool but also quite expensive.
- Day trip to Bowen Island (another ferry ride, but much shorter). Island vibe, some hikes and lookout points, and quirky shops.
- Richmond: Steveston village, Georgia Cannery museum, Garry Point park, and you will be dizzy with food options on Alexandra Road and around Aberdeen mall area.
- North Shore: Lynn Canyon suspension bridge (free!) plus all the hiking trails there. Deep Cove. Grouse Mountain if you want a resort-type experience with shows. Though if you want to save money, maybe just choose one btwn Grouse or Whistler Peak to Peak.
- Downtown: Vancouver Art Gallery, Stanley Park and seawall bike/walk loop, English Bay, lots of yummy food along Davie, Denman, and Robson streets.
- False Creek area: These places are all accessible and connected via Aquabus. Sunset Beach, Granville Island, Vanier / Hadden Park (there are two museums here: Museum of Vancouver, and Maritime Museum), Olympic Village, Science World.
- Vancouver neighbourhoods: should have your mix of quirky shops and good food: Commercial Drive (Broadway to Venables), Main Street (7th Ave to 28th-ish), West 4th Ave (Burrard to Balsam). West Point Grey / UBC /Pacific Spirit Park area.
posted by tinydancer at 9:17 AM on April 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
With one week to burn, you have two options:
- spend most of your time in Vancouver, and do one day trip to Victoria, or
-split your time between Vancouver and Victoria
I am assuming that Victoria is, in fact, your destination on the island. If you're hoping to go somewhere further away like Tofino, then day trip is not an option at all.
The reason I say that is because the ferry crossing takes at least 3 hrs each way: ~30mins drive from the city to the ferry terminal, arrive at least 30 mins before the sailing to keep your reserved spot (and in August, you're probably gonna need to have reservations to avoid several sailing waits), 1.5 hrs for the actual sailing, and then another 30 mins to drive into the destination city. I know the sailing itself is part of the whole "let's go to the island" experience, but IMO the first thing you decide is how much you want to see/do on the island.
If you want to do a day trip, take an early ferry, like 7 or 8am out of Tsawwassen. Split your day into 3 and visit: Butchart Gardens, and Downton Victoria (inner harbour, Royal BC Museum, parliament free tour), and lastly Beacon Hill Park + one of the lookout points by the water (Ogden Point, Finlayson Point, etc.). Get back into Vancouver on one of the late sailings, 7/8/9pm. This will be a very long day, and you'll be knackered off your feet as that's a lot of walking! But you can say you've "done" Victoria.
If you have more time on the island, you can explore more of the Saanich peninsula, Sooke, and the Malahat/Cowichan Valley area, and do more hiking/nature walks.
On the lower mainland (Vancouver) side, you can organize your days like this:
- Day trip to Squamish and/or Whistler. Lots of hiking in either area. Squamish is a rapidly growing and gentrifying area but still has a bit of that smaller town feel, while Whistler village is of course a resort. Peak to Peak gondola is super cool but also quite expensive.
- Day trip to Bowen Island (another ferry ride, but much shorter). Island vibe, some hikes and lookout points, and quirky shops.
- Richmond: Steveston village, Georgia Cannery museum, Garry Point park, and you will be dizzy with food options on Alexandra Road and around Aberdeen mall area.
- North Shore: Lynn Canyon suspension bridge (free!) plus all the hiking trails there. Deep Cove. Grouse Mountain if you want a resort-type experience with shows. Though if you want to save money, maybe just choose one btwn Grouse or Whistler Peak to Peak.
- Downtown: Vancouver Art Gallery, Stanley Park and seawall bike/walk loop, English Bay, lots of yummy food along Davie, Denman, and Robson streets.
- False Creek area: These places are all accessible and connected via Aquabus. Sunset Beach, Granville Island, Vanier / Hadden Park (there are two museums here: Museum of Vancouver, and Maritime Museum), Olympic Village, Science World.
- Vancouver neighbourhoods: should have your mix of quirky shops and good food: Commercial Drive (Broadway to Venables), Main Street (7th Ave to 28th-ish), West 4th Ave (Burrard to Balsam). West Point Grey / UBC /Pacific Spirit Park area.
posted by tinydancer at 9:17 AM on April 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: there is a lot of good advice on this recent thread about visiting vancouver with teens over spring break. it covers your options of suspension bridges (lynn canyon is free, capilano isn’t), mentions cherry blossom season (it has just now arrived). walking at queen elizabeth park (which has blodel conservatory) or granville island (fun and touristy), or renting bikes to ride around stanley park (has the aquarium; you can walk either). thread also has a lot of food recommendations. (edit: i see tinydancer beat me to posting this!)
not sure where to recommend you stay. if you are doing airbnb, perhaps main street area (you can use queen elizabeth park as a point of reference), or commercial drive area (close to the skytrain station so you can transit easily). either main or commercial have good food and coffee, and would be more chill than downtown. however, if there are airbnb in downtown west end, that would be incredibly central.
enjoy your stay!
posted by tamarack at 9:22 AM on April 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
not sure where to recommend you stay. if you are doing airbnb, perhaps main street area (you can use queen elizabeth park as a point of reference), or commercial drive area (close to the skytrain station so you can transit easily). either main or commercial have good food and coffee, and would be more chill than downtown. however, if there are airbnb in downtown west end, that would be incredibly central.
enjoy your stay!
posted by tamarack at 9:22 AM on April 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Underrated spot for a lower-key hour or so is the Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.
In August, the Night Market in Richmond will be open. It's a little cheesy, but fun.
If you like or have ever wanted to try escape rooms, Find and Seek is the first one I ever did and, while I wouldn't call it life-altering, it won me over to the genre. It's more imaginative than most.
The standard "splurge" recommendation is Hawksworth, which is a solid option. Or...watch two months in advance to get a spot at Published on Main.
posted by praemunire at 10:01 AM on April 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
In August, the Night Market in Richmond will be open. It's a little cheesy, but fun.
If you like or have ever wanted to try escape rooms, Find and Seek is the first one I ever did and, while I wouldn't call it life-altering, it won me over to the genre. It's more imaginative than most.
The standard "splurge" recommendation is Hawksworth, which is a solid option. Or...watch two months in advance to get a spot at Published on Main.
posted by praemunire at 10:01 AM on April 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I really, really enjoyed Ubuntu Canteen. Very good seasonal, local ingredients, great service, small enough to feel special but large enough to be good for a family of four.
posted by Gadarene at 6:43 AM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Gadarene at 6:43 AM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Mitheral at 9:04 AM on April 2, 2023 [1 favorite]