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Vancouver Sightseeing and Restaurant Advice


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We will be in Vancouver post cruise May 21 - 22. Ship docks the morning of 5/21. We are taking the train from Vancouver to Seattle on 5/22 at 5:30. We are staying at Blue Horizon.

We know we want to see Stanley Park and Granville Island. Would love to do the foodie tour on Granville Island.

 

Trying to plan this out to make best use of our time. Looking at the Hop On Hop off bus or trolley for Saturday. Maybe taking the entire loop with the stop at Granville Island and the foodie tour? Anywhere else we should stop? Sunday morning going to Stanley Park?

 

I know there's many other things to do and see but don't want to try to do too much in our limited time.

 

Can we walk to Stanley Park from our hotel. Doesn't look too far, but not sure about the route?

 

Would love to have Dim Sum? Recommendations?

 

Any great places for breakfast before we start our day?

 

Other dinner recommendations? Would love to dine somewhere that's a don't miss on Saturday night, not break the bank expensive but nice? We love all kinds of foodie and are somewhat foodies. :)

 

Appreciate any and all recommendations! Thank You!!

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Google Maps is your friend with local directions - even if you don't have a data package on your phone you can print a few handy routes before coming. But BH to Stanley Park is very simple - walk west along Robson until you run out of street! You do have to jink North or South to get to the popular park entrances (I recommend North to Georgia St, it's closest and will keep you walking anticlockwise like most others - cyclists actually have to go one way and it's easier to walk that way too). 3/4 mile from hotel to park entrance is short compared to the 5mile Seawall loop and more miles of walking trails!

 

The prettier, although slightly longer route, is to walk along the Seawall to the park - simplest to remember route is to walk North up Bute or Jervis (the streets bracketing your block of Robson). Turn left when you reach the Seawall and follow it. Oh, North means 'toward the Mountains' locally, it's not actually true north. About a mile going this way.

 

HOHO full loop is only a couple of hours, so you can easily get off at several stops (including doing some of the Park). For what you suggest, you may not need to worry about other transit methods. HOHO also includes one ride on a little ferry - you can cut off a lot of driving by heading over the Granville Island using that ticket, and unless you wanted to get off at the Maritime Museum you won't miss anything much. Check your available timeslots for foodie tours of GI though - by the time you check in, drop bags, and get onto HOHO it may already be impossible to meet an early tour even if you don't get off (GI is probably an hour from BH on the HOHO, it's about half way around the 2 hour-ish loop).

 

Dim Sum - do you care most about food quality, or do you want a 'pick from the trolley' experience? The best Dim Sum doesn't use trolleys - order a la carte instead for freshness. If you do want the trolley, your options are limited - Floata is the only one that springs to mind downtown. While their overhaul has supposedly increased food quality as well as decor, I haven't tried it since so can't in good conscience say it's better than their previous mediocre fair. Kirin is close to you and consistently good, and Dynasty Seafood (across False Creek - $20 cab ride, very long walk, or $2.75 transit) has once again racked up more awards than any other in this years Chinese Restaurant Awards (both critics and public love this resto) if you want to go for the best possible food that's reasonably convenient.

 

Breakfast - Medina is all you need to know if you're after the best brekkie in town. Their only downside is the wait time - no resos, and long queues daily but especially on weekends. Go a bit before they open at 9am for the shortest lines - 'peak brunch' on weekends can easily see an hour wait for a 2-top. If no reso is intolerable for you, Catch 122 on Hastings (in Gastown) is my secondary pick as they take Open Table bookings and offer a consistently excellent brekkie.

 

Dinner - with CAD relatively weak, it's quite possible even our swankiest places could be within your budget. If you are willing to spend say US$150 total for dinner for 2 then you'd be good for a decent meal just about anywhere.

 

We have a few regular Go To restos depending on food genre we fancy - L'Abattoir is probably the best balance of quality, value, and localness (French style cooking, but a seasonal menu mostly sourced close to or even in the city) if we had to plump for just one. Flying Pig offers a cheaper alternative - a minichain of PNW food, with some seasonal dishes and tremendous value Appy Hour (seriously, their beef carpaccio is the best value appy in the city).

 

If you didn't already Chinese yourself out at Dim Sum, then Bao Bei is a great dinner option (modern, cocktail-driven menu of tapas/sharing size dishes with a Shanghai/Taiwan spice palate) or either of the above-mentioned Kirin/Dynasty for more Cantonese style fare. Dinesty Dumplings is less fancy, but damn good and great value - and Peaceful offers a Northern style of good value cuisine.

 

Higher end seasonal - Hawksworth and Blue Water Cafe are probably still the kitchens to beat for Western food. If adding cab or transit to dinner budget is OK, then Bishop's out in Kitsilano is the grand-daddy of the locavore dining scene - and in May should have Spot Prawns on the menu (many seasonal menus will - but Bishops really does a superb job with these and other seafood dishes where the ingredients are the things that shine rather than a fancy presentation or sauce).

 

If you want a view with your food, Five Sails is a great high end option, Cactus Club Cafe at English Bay or Coal Harbour good bistro fare, and Tap & Barrel have very decent pub grub with the best patios around for outdoor dining.

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The downtown peninsula is very walkable. We usually drop the car off at one of the few secret free parking spots and go for a walk. Agree that best route to the eastern part of Stanley park is along the seawall along Coal Harbour. We just walked this stretch yesterday but went from near the entrance of the park to Canada Place and then back to the car along Robson passing by the Blue Horizon. Great view of the north shore and harbour. Just watch out for the separate pedestrian and bike paths or face the ire of an angry cyclist. :D

 

If you're going to walk to Stanley Park, my only caveat is to understand the layout of the park. While the seawall goes around the park at sea level and takes a couple of hours to walk, it might not be practical with your limited time. And you can't easily go from the east side to the west side in the middle of the park vs at the entrance mouth of the park. You might want to focus on the east side where the totem poles, aquarium, lighthouse, rose garden, etc are. Or hop on the hoho that will ring the park on the perimeter road but elevates in the north end of the park to Prospect Point. The west side of the park along the seawall is really nice too but the main attractions are the beaches, a pool, etc. The English Bay (west) side is really nice during sunset.

 

Dim Sum

Most of the really good dim sum places are outside the downtown core. The ok options are Kirin and Victoria Restaurant (in the Hyatt) and they are both on the pricier side. The Kirin downtown location kind of cramped too because of it's layout.

If you typically go to dim sum in Seattle (or wherever you're from), I'd say skip Floata. But it is an option if you really want dim sum in Vancouver at a less expensive price point with good variety,

One twist option I'll add is Dinesty which is a few blocks down from the Blue Horizon. It's northern food and dim sum items though with xiao long baos, green onion pancakes, and those sort of dishes.

My wife says if you're staying downtown, skip the dim sum and go to Sura (also a few blocks down from the Blue Horizon) for their lunch special which is also available on weekends. It's Korean and they have a $15/person set and a $20/person set with a zillion tasty little banchan dishes.

 

Just to throw out an alternate breakfast option, If you want a lighter breakfast to save your tummy space for lunch, I'd recommend picking up a coffee and pastry from Breka Bakery & Cafe which has a location a block away from the Blue Horizon. Really delicious baked goods.

 

+1 to all the dinner locations martincath suggested. It really depends on what you're looking for.

 

+1 to the 100 best resto list as it hits most of the big hitters and new hip places. While many are in the downtown core, a few are going to be harder to get to.

 

One quirky seasonal side activity I'm debating to suggest is the Richmond Night Market if the weather is nice. Note, there is the Richmond Night Market by the River Rock Casino in Richmond vs the Summer Night Market further east in Richmond. The Richmond Night Market should be easy to get to from downtown along the Canada Line and is relatively cheap to get in (~$3). It should be open by May and it's kind of a hub of activity. The merchandise being sold is kind of meh but sampling the various food vendors, which lean heavily towards Asian dishes, is kind of fun for a foodie.

 

And one side note, Monday May 22 is a stat holiday. Not sure if that will have any implications on how busy things will be that weekend.

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Thanks everyone!

 

As I think about this more, not sure we are going to want an upscale place for Saturday night. Although I would love to, I'm thinking after touring all day, at the end of a 7 day cruise, we may be a little tired. That said, what about sushi or pub or microbrewery close to the Blue Horizon?

 

Thanks again, so appreciate the help.

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Thanks everyone!

 

As I think about this more, not sure we are going to want an upscale place for Saturday night. Although I would love to, I'm thinking after touring all day, at the end of a 7 day cruise, we may be a little tired. That said, what about sushi or pub or microbrewery close to the Blue Horizon?

 

Thanks again, so appreciate the help.

Depends on your definition of close, and how picky you are about sushi and beer.

 

Closest I can personally recommend for a sushi-primary would be Shuraku at Granville & Robson, about 900yards - but there are plenty of sushi spots within a few blocks that do well on e.g. Yelp, and also Guu Izakaya 400 yards away that does decent sushi and a range of other Japanese food.

 

Pub-wise, you chose the hotel almost as far from pubs as you can get in downtown! There's a ring of pubs, all over a half-mile away, in almost any direction you care to walk, but Robson and streets around it the middle of the pensinsula are just too pricey and too lacking in local residents for a pub to actually succeed. The closest spot that qualified as a real pub was the Fat Badger at 1616 Alberni, ~700 yards away - and despite having one of the best chefs in the city, an English guy to boot, and a staunch Brit expat customer base it lasted only three years. I believe they're in the process of turning it into an Irish bar now with new owners, but not open yet so I can't say if it's another god-awful overpriced 'stick some tat on the walls and make all the waitresses wear kilts' kind of place or something a bit more authentic.

 

Bars there are a-plenty along Robson though, so 'pub grub' can be had - you actually have a god-awful fake Irish bar right under your hotel called Shenanigans (the name should be a clue as to how authentic it isn't!) Personally I'd hit Milestones, a block east, for a broad menu at a decent price and decent quality. If you actually do want on-site brewing, rather than just a selection of good craft beers, then heading to Gastown for Steamworks will be the shortest walk (just across a carpark from Waterfront Station, pretty much bang on a mile from BH). If a good selection of beers will do, then Tap & Barrel at the Convention Centre is closer, about 1,000 yards.

Edited by martincath
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