Help with staying in Vancouver

I have to say that I've never been impressed with any of the 'local cruise' options, whether it's been for dinner/drinks/dancing or just seeing the sights. I really don't know why Vancouver sucks so badly at this - even just sticking to North America we've done dozens of such trips in Boston, Chicago, Halifax, NYC, Quebec, Seattle, Toronto and I've thoroughly enjoyed most of them; but here they've been universally underwhelming for everything except the very specific niche of whale watching.

 

 

There are so many cheap options to just see the views - like the FCF/Aquabus 'round trips' or SeaBus over to North Shore and back - that I had foolishly-in-hindsight assumed that the pricier cruises would have quality commentary from well-informed experts on local history etc., or at least offer decent food/bands if it's a dinner cruise affair. Let's just say that I've been solidly disappointed by every one out of Vancouver I've tried - even when I was paying heavily-discounted Groupon prices the value simply wasn't there. HOHO driver-guides sound less scripted than the cheesey, uninformed, or just out-of-date crap the harbour cruises spew out - and the food is basically school cafeteria level...

 

 

The only remaining flavour of 'cruise' I haven't gotten around to yet - and do hear good things about them, it seems to check off my boxes - are the First Nations canoe excursions e.g. through takayatours.com (NB: I can't personally vouch for them yet, I'm been trying to persuade the missus to take some kayaking lessons first so we'd be comfortable out paddling around).

 

Personally I'd try to do sunset on the SeaWall around Stanley Park/English Bay, or even better with drink in hand at a bar overlooking them;-)

Thanks so much. You have been a great help. Prefer not to waste money or time, so the Seawall it will be for at least one sunset.

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Wow, everyone. Thank you for all the great info. We are going to spend two days in Vancouver prior to our cruise. So excited!!

Wow, everyone. Thank you for all the great info. We are going to spend two days in Vancouver prior to our cruise. So excited!!

I know, right? I feel like I've hit the motherload here! Especially having a local give recommendations to the extent they have. So grateful!! I'm revamping our Vancouver stay due to the awesome advice. Getting more excited by the day, as we are only 85 days out before we arrive!

Do consider adding additional Vancouver days to take it all it.

Do consider adding additional Vancouver days to take it all it.

Wish we had more time, but we will have 1/2 day Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and then 1/2 day Wednesday before we board the ship. Hopefully, we will get to see most of our bucket list in the Vancouver area.

I somewhat echo what the other locals have said about harbour cruises - other than the Indian Arm lunch cruise which I took a couple of summers ago most of the waterfront around Vancouver can be seen from land - take sea bus over to Lonsdale Quay and you get a great view across to downtown Vancouver.

Marine drive out to Horseshoe Bay more great views - Dollarton Highway to Deep Cove - more great views.

If you drive over to the North Shore across the Lions Gate bridge and over to Ambelside you will get more views.

Also remember coming into or leaving from Canada Pier you get to see a fair amount of the harbour as you are docking etc.

Hope this helps some.

Cheers!

:D

I somewhat echo what the other locals have said about harbour cruises - other than the Indian Arm lunch cruise which I took a couple of summers ago most of the waterfront around Vancouver can be seen from land - take sea bus over to Lonsdale Quay and you get a great view across to downtown Vancouver.

 

Marine drive out to Horseshoe Bay more great views - Dollarton Highway to Deep Cove - more great views.

 

If you drive over to the North Shore across the Lions Gate bridge and over to Ambelside you will get more views.

 

Also remember coming into or leaving from Canada Pier you get to see a fair amount of the harbour as you are docking etc.

 

Hope this helps some.

 

Cheers!

 

:D

Thanks so much! I will add these to our itinerary.

Just a thought. We had more luck taking the sky train than in busses or cabs as traffic was NUTS! It was really easy and we felt safe. We went to Stanley Park and wish we had gone to the art museum which is right downtown. Our favorite, favorite restaurant was Cafe Medina. If we had one more day, we would have loved to gone up that highway to Whistler or gone to Victoria. Next time! We stayed in an AirBNB. We enjoy them and get good recommendations from locals.

Just a thought. We had more luck taking the sky train than in busses or cabs as traffic was NUTS!

• which hotel you are staying at. Most hotels are not close to the subway stations. There is a significant luggage drag where a cab would be more practical.
  
• when you need to go from and to the airport.
  
• whether there is a festival happening. Big ones are the fireworks competitions, pride celebrations, car free days, weekend marathons, protests and 420.
  

I've been looking closely at travelers cruise dates and advising of potential issues.

Traffic congestion depends...

• which hotel you are staying at. Most hotels are not close to the subway stations. There is a significant luggage drag where a cab would be more practical.
  
• when you need to go from and to the airport.
  
• whether there is a festival happening. Big ones are the fireworks competitions, pride celebrations, car free days, weekend marathons, protests and 420.
  

I've been looking closely at travelers cruise dates and advising of potential issues.

We will be staying at the Times Square Suites on Robson St @ Denman St for the nights of May 14, 15 & 16. Anything that you could tell us regarding the various public transit options near that location would be appreciated.

We will probably only keep our rental car one day for our Sea to Sky Highway trip.and use the HOHO, as has been suggested, for most of our touring in Vancouver. But we may decide on something that is not on the HOHO route, so it would help to know how feasible it would be to use some sort of public transit.

We will be staying at the Times Square Suites on Robson St @ Denman St for the nights of May 14, 15 & 16. Anything that you could tell us regarding the various public transit options near that location would be appreciated.

 

 

We will probably only keep our rental car one day for our Sea to Sky Highway trip.and use the HOHO, as has been suggested, for most of our touring in Vancouver. But we may decide on something that is not on the HOHO route, so it would help to know how feasible it would be to use some sort of public transit.

Unfortunately it's bus, bus, or bus from your hotel as I mentioned indirectly in my responses about using transit to QEP. With a daypass and no luggage it's very easy to use any transit mode - so any day you're considering going to 2+ locations and back to the hotel is likely to at least break even if not save money over buying individual tickets.

Only the 5 goes right past your hotel (on the Denman side) but if you walk two short blocks up to Georgia you reach one of the most densely-served bus stops in the city, as routes that later split onto Cordova, Hastings, Pender all run together along Georgia for a couple of blocks.

Google Maps is your friend - it's a one-stop shop for all modes of transit, walking, biking, and car routes in and around Vancouver (and also has more accurate times than the official Translink site for any route involving walking, even between stops, as Google has much more sophisticated data on walking speed, accounting for crossings and slope as well as distance).

Additional thoughts...

• May 14th is a Sunday night..... you are missing the weekend party athmosphere. You are also missing the weekday rush hour.
  
• Robson and Denman has high congestion in the weekday afternoon commuter traffic for cars trying to get home to the North Shore
  
• with a rental car.... research overnight parking options and cost with the hotel
  

Unfortunately it's bus, bus, or bus from your hotel as I mentioned indirectly in my responses about using transit to QEP. With a daypass and no luggage it's very easy to use any transit mode - so any day you're considering going to 2+ locations and back to the hotel is likely to at least break even if not save money over buying individual tickets.

 

Only the 5 goes right past your hotel (on the Denman side) but if you walk two short blocks up to Georgia you reach one of the most densely-served bus stops in the city, as routes that later split onto Cordova, Hastings, Pender all run together along Georgia for a couple of blocks.

 

 

Google Maps is your friend - it's a one-stop shop for all modes of transit, walking, biking, and car routes in and around Vancouver (and also has more accurate times than the official Translink site for any route involving walking, even between stops, as Google has much more sophisticated data on walking speed, accounting for crossings and slope as well as distance).

Thanks again. This week I should have time to plot it all out per your suggestions. I will definitely pull up google maps for any additional details. Thanks

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Additional thoughts...

• May 14th is a Sunday night..... you are missing the weekend party athmosphere. You are also missing the weekday rush hour.
  
• Robson and Denman has high congestion in the weekday afternoon commuter traffic for cars trying to get home to the North Shore
  
• with a rental car.... research overnight parking options and cost with the hotel
  

Thanks for the info. No worries as to parking. Our hotel has very reasonable onsite parking. We may or may not need (and only a night if so) as we are taking martincath's suggestion on that.

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Sorry for delay replying, offline yesterday. You have taxi pricing correct. With tangible numbers to compare ($100 a day - I assume you mean per 24hrs, so $300 total from Sun PM to Wed AM? Did you mean USD or CAD though?) it should be pretty easy to figure out $ savings by ditching the car. If it's CAD$300ish, still cheaper to rent for only one day and use transit/shuttles/even HOHO - if you meant calendar days not 24hr periods, and USD not CAD, then US$400ish makes cutting back on the rental even more of a no-brainer.

 

First - every airport rental has an unavoidable hike in fees of approx 20%. While it's not impossible that supply & demand means you can find a cheaper rental at the airport, that extra fee makes it very unlikely to be cheaper than a downtown rental except for one-ways to Seattle (where avoiding a fixed drop-off penalty is much more important).

 

Second - your transportation costs while in town. A HOHO ticket for 4 adults will run approx CAD$180 all-in, but - this includes a visit to the Lookout (normally $15pp). There are various discount booklets available - the better ones at cost e.g. the 'Entertainment Book' which runs about $50 for Vancouver (NB: prices are already dropping as we're into 2017 - stocks do run out, but they go as low as $10 if you risk waiting until right before you visit!) and includes tons of 'buy one get one' deals so you'd need 2 to get the best value. The more focused City Passports ($25 - but occasionally Groupon resell them for $15pp) would probably be ideal for you as they include mostly the higher end things that tourists have actually heard of and many want to visit, rather than padding with bajillions of obscure places like the EBs.

 

Roughly-speaking, even if we include a day on a HOHO, your total 'instead of renting the minivan' travel will run (all in CAD):

1. $31+tip for minivan cab to hotel on May 14th (NB: hotel is wrong side of Denman - since front door is on Robson, this means it's in the Stanley Park $37 zone. BUT - Kintaro Ramen, literally across the street, is in Downtown $31 zone, so say this is where you're going to!)
   
2. $180 for 4 adult HOHO tickets on May 15th or 16th
   
3. $50 for a one-day rental (Fullsize car, SUV - no need for lots of luggage space for day trips - are both available for $33-42 incl tax for day rentals May 15 or 16 approx 8am-6pm from downtown agencies)
   
4. ~$20 incl tip for minivan cab from hotel to pier on May 17th
   

Total of approx CAD$285 (plus gas for 1 day). If you skip the commentary aspect of HOHO - which you wouldn't get in your rental car either of course! - a Day Pass on transit will cost a whopping $9.75pp and gets you almost 24 hrs of access to all buses, SkyTrain, SeaBus in Vancouver and neighbouring municipalities. I would not recommend transit to your hotel from YVR though - there's a $5 surcharge on tickets bought at the airport, and nearest SkyTrain is far enough walking to your hotel would be a real hassle. Buses do go right past, but they have zero room for large bags.

 

As to an itinerary - with an on-site carpark available at low cost, I'd be tempted to actually rent the day you arrive but NOT at the airport (or at least compare airport-rental-with-downtown-drop and see how it compares to inbound cab fare plus a 1.5 day rental to see which is cheapest - I'm confident downtown will be cheaper) and visit QEP/VD the day your arrive as you planned, then keep the car overnight and drive up Sea-to-Sky next day (from my price-checking, should run about CAD$80 total depending on car).

 

QEP/VD en route from the airport is an efficient route, but does have the element of danger to your stuff in a minivan (open trunk easily seen through windows). While statistically it's not as bad as the peak downtown zone for 'smash & grabs' from cars, in tourist season multiple cars are sometimes hit in car parks with high popularity like QEP (it's large with multiple road entrances and even easier to leave on foot since there are no fences to surrounding streets). I'd be more than willing to give up the efficiency of visiting on the way to or from YVR for the safety of getting your bags to hotel whether you take a cab to hotel/check-in/rent a car/return to QEP or rent a minivan at YVR/go to hotel/ check-in/return to QEP.

 

Either way, it's a solid pick for your first afternoon, as you get to stretch your legs while walking around some nice gardens - and you'll avoid fighting weekday traffic on your first day driving in unfamiliar territory. A couple of hours in each is usually enough, so you'll be easily able to visit both (NB: do VD first, since they close long before the park) and have time to get back downtown for dinner; or treat yourselves to a meal in Seasons, IMO the best restaurant view in the city. Food is good, does suffer from being more expensive than equivalent-quality food somewhere without a view, but the view is pretty durn awesome.

 

Back at the hotel, perhaps take in Fly Over Canada if you are still all awake? It's right at the pier - so you can check out the area without cruise crowds. Walking from your hotel is about a half-hour, <1.5 miles, not great with bags on embarkation day but possibly just fine for you without luggage tonight.

 

Your Sea-to-Sky & Whistler day will be looooong if you also include Grouse & Lynn. To be frank, I'd ask what you plan to achieve by visiting Whistler - if it's just to look at nice mountains, then the views up the highway are far better than anything you get in Whistler itself. The village has almost zero architectural, historical or cultural value with the one worthy exception of the SLCC (great cafe with bannocks & game meat, and exhibits that are IMO superior to anything 'native' in the AK ports) and even that pales to insignificance compared to MOA in Vancouver.

 

If you're planning actual activities that you need to be in Whistler to do - Peak to Peak gondola, bear tours, downhill-only mountain biking (for lazy fit people) then great. If it's the views, then turn around partway up the Sea-to-Sky - at least go as far as Squamish, and while a lot of locals feel that both Brandywine and Alexander Falls are worth seeing, Shannon Falls is most popular, a little south of Squamish, and super-close to the highway with extensive parking (NB: this is another spot with posted signs warning of theft from cars, so take your daypacks with you even though it's just a few hundred yards to the falls & back). Even cutting it back like this, I'd be inclined to split this day into Sea to Sky plus ONLY Lynn Canyon.

 

Grouse has free shuttles from downtown, right by the pier, so it's easy to do that separately (in fact it's an ideal thing to do on embarkation morning - drop bags at terminal, get shuttle, have lunch at Grouse, head back on shuttle arriving c. 2pm, board ship; this will pretty much guarantee saving you at least an hour of waiting around in queues compared to boarding earlier). Britannia Mine Museum is my fave attraction on the whole Sea to Sky - it's fun, educational, and is a pretty spectacular building in scale and shape (many movies & TV shows have used it since it closed) and it works better than Grouse for this day - it's right on the route and rental car is the only practical way to visit for most.

 

Also - if the Peak to Peak was on your Whistler plan, perhaps the Sea to Sky gondola would be acceptable instead? Again close to Squamish, and has a suspension bridge high up at the top you can dare to cross. More variable views than P2P, plus a bridge, for lower cost.

 

Your other site that is of marginal usefulness with a car is Stanley Park (parking is for the entire park - so you can stop at every car park, walk around nearby parts, get back in car and move it to the next one; lather, rinse & repeat) and all-day parking even in tourist season is only $13. However, you are so close to the park that frankly walking, or even better cycling, is the best way to see it. Bikes can go anywhere that you can walk and the best-value rental spot near the park is literally next door to you - EzeeRiders on Robson.

 

With late evenings in May, walking through the park after dinner is quite feasible. There are lights on parts of the Seawall - once it's actually getting dark I'd stick to those areas. Despite a recent uptick in crime very recently it's generally a very safe place crime-wise, but it's very large and forested so it's really easy to get lost especially in the dark. You're paying for a hotel, so it'd be a shame to have an impromptu camping experience! Depending on your timing Sunday, you might feel it's worthwhile driving around the park on your way back from QEP - e.g. if you want to take sunset photos so you don't have to walk from the far side of the park to your hotel in twilight.

 

So with all that waffly reasoning above, here's a summary of the actual plan as suggested by me:

Sunday 14th

1. Cab from YVR to hotel
   
2. Rent car downtown, go to VD then QEP
   
3. Choice - dinner in QEP, or back downtown to hotel then walk to dinner
   
4. Optional - sunset drive into the park (NB: just pay for parking by the hour, $3.50, instead of all day) or FlyOverCanada, or Lookout. Since your bodies are 2 hours ahead today, good idea to try to stay awake until at least 9pm to adjust (FOC is conveniently open until 9pm!)
   

Monday 15th

1. Sea to Sky Highway Day - on the road early! Britannia, Shannon Falls, Squamish for lunch
   
2. Do Lynn Canyon on the way BACK, not outbound. Outbound you'll be driving with some of the rushhour commuters on the highway, VERY slow!
   
3. Drop rental car (depending which agency, this may have to be as early as 5:15pm but Enterprise is good until 6pm)
   
4. After dinner, walk into the park or FlyOverCanada or Lookout, or go boozing;-)
   

Tuesday 16th

1. Possible HOHO Day, Bike rental Day, or Transit DayPass Day - I'll do the attractions clockwise, since that's the only way HOHOs go...
   
2. Stanley Park - if you haven't already seen enough of it the Trolley and WestCoast both include multiple stops. If you are HOHOing, do take advantage of the included ticket for the little ferries - the bit of the drive you skip is relatively boring, with the only stops of interest at the 'mini-campus' of Museums (Maritime, City, Space Centre). If you do want to see one or more of these, stay on the HOHO instead of taking the ferry to...
   
3. Granville Island - depending how many bits of the park you get off at, or if you visit Museums, it could be a good lunch time as you arrive or during your stay. Lots of dining options here, many restos at various prices plus a food court. If you get takeout food, sit outside on the waterfront and be entertained by a busker while you eat.
   
4. Chinatown - aside from just wandering and eating, best actual site here IMO is Dr Sun Yat-Sen garden. Best of it's type anywhere outside Suzhou, China. Free park in similar but much less authentic style next door if you want to catch the vibe, see if you feel the paid admission is worthwhile. Visit on the hour for no-extra-charge guided tours.
   
5. Gastown - while you didn't mention it, no visit to Vancouver is complete without it. While the streetlamps, Steam Clock etc. are actually very recent (to entice tourists!) it is the oldest part of the city with many buildings of over a century (that's a HUGE deal for this neck of the woods). More bars & restos than you can shake a stick at, and several Generic Crappy Tourist Stores for souvenirs. Less extensive selection (small stuff like magnets, no T-shirts & fleeces) is available much cheaper in the big mall in Chinatown at Yokoyaya 'dollar store' (most items are $2) along with many weird & wonderful Japanese knickknacks.
   
6. Lookout - if you are HOHOing and get a free ticket, you need to wait until after starting HOHO to visit this. Dinner is quite passable, and it's the least jacked-up rotating restaurant I've ever visited for food quality vs price.
   
7. Other option - Grouse for dinner and sunset views over the city. The Observatory (very swank) gets you a free ride up on the gondola - so compare the menu pricing with the regular Grouse admission charges to see what the value is like for your group! If you do decide to do this and were HOHOing, don't wander about Gastown to save a little time.
   

Wednesday 17th

1. Cab to pier to drop bags at approx 9:30am
   
2. Take free shuttle from outside to Grouse if you didn't do it last night; if you did then walk down into Gastown for the morning and have a leisurely pootle around. Lunch on land somewhere nice, then head to the pier no earlier than 2pm; 3pm if you can tolerate the stress. You are unfortunately boarding on a dreaded 3-ship day, which means massive queues for Security and CBP - the only time you are not fighting with the other 2 ships passengers is at cruise check-in, since there are 3 different lines involved (Celebrity and HAL plus you).
   
3. Seriously - the only way to avoid 90min-3 hour queues is to show up as late as possible (but no later than 90mins pre-departure!) Folks who start lining up as soon as bag drop opens (10am or earlier) will obviously get on board first, but they will wait around until some time between 11am and 11:30am before boarding even begins; 11am-1pm is peak queue time anyway, but with the extra volumes of 3 good-sized ships it will stay busy until at least 2pm. Personally I'd aim for a 3pm arrival if your ship leaves at 5pm, still well outside the 90min cutoff but with the best possible chance of all the queues being minimized.
   

OK - I think I covered all your planned sites plus a couple of extras, and warned of appropriate traffic/boarding busy periods. Anything else? Restos, likeliest places to find a decent Sazerac or La Lousiane? ;-)

Thanks again for your suggestions. I have just secured a Full Size Car rental from Enterprise @ Downtown Canada Place for only CAD $45.56 total for 1:30pm Sunday - 1:30pm Tuesday. Score!!! ( I used Costco discount.) We may not need it that late on Tuesday, but by reserving it until Tuesday we won't have to worry as to the time we get back from Sea to Sky Highway trip. Our original plans had our rental costing CAD $337.70 . We can do a lot of HOHO and transit for that amount of savings, not that the cost would deter us if that was our best bet. I'm actually looking forward to having someone else negotiate the parking, etc., especially in the downtown area.

As you pointed out, we didn't need the mini-van for sightseeing, only to get all our luggage to the hotel. Also, I feel better that at least anything that we may put in the trunk of the car is not visible as it would be in a mini-van or suv to attract smash-n-grabs. I'm again grateful that you pointed out that danger.

Thanks again,

Kathy

Thanks again for your suggestions. I have just secured a Full Size Car rental from Enterprise @ Downtown Canada Place for only CAD $45.56 total for 1:30pm Sunday - 1:30pm Tuesday. Score!!! ( I used Costco discount.) We may not need it that late on Tuesday, but by reserving it until Tuesday we won't have to worry as to the time we get back from Sea to Sky Highway trip. Our original plans had our rental costing CAD $337.70 . We can do a lot of HOHO and transit for that amount of savings, not that the cost would deter us if that was our best bet. I'm actually looking forward to having someone else negotiate the parking, etc., especially in the downtown area.

 

 

As you pointed out, we didn't need the mini-van for sightseeing, only to get all our luggage to the hotel. Also, I feel better that at least anything that we may put in the trunk of the car is not visible as it would be in a mini-van or suv to attract smash-n-grabs. I'm again grateful that you pointed out that danger.

 

 

Thanks again,

Kathy

Daaaannnnnngg! It was Costco pricing I checked and got the $40ish a day figure I noted above. Great deal for a full 48hr rental! One last tidbit related to driving - since I assume it's the usual 'bring it back full of gas' rental basis - is that there's an extra local tax on gas in the Vancouver area, that doesn't apply further out. Plus, despite Vancouver having invented the modern filling station, there are very few gas stations in the downtown core.

The Chevron station on Georgia, just after you come back into the city from driving through Stanley park, is by far the closest & most convenient station to the pier for you if you need to bring it back full to the brim - but filling the tank up in Squamish avoids the local transit tax so prices are about 8c/L (~30c/Gallon) less (actually that particular station downtown tends to be among the most expensive, so it could be more like 10c+/L difference). This way you only need to pay the higher rates on your last wee top-up (about 40miles between Squish and downtown).

Daaaannnnnngg! It was Costco pricing I checked and got the $40ish a day figure I noted above. Great deal for a full 48hr rental! One last tidbit related to driving - since I assume it's the usual 'bring it back full of gas' rental basis - is that there's an extra local tax on gas in the Vancouver area, that doesn't apply further out. Plus, despite Vancouver having invented the modern filling station, there are very few gas stations in the downtown core.

 

 

The Chevron station on Georgia, just after you come back into the city from driving through Stanley park, is by far the closest & most convenient station to the pier for you if you need to bring it back full to the brim - but filling the tank up in Squamish avoids the local transit tax so prices are about 8c/L (~30c/Gallon) less (actually that particular station downtown tends to be among the most expensive, so it could be more like 10c+/L difference). This way you only need to pay the higher rates on your last wee top-up (about 40miles between Squish and downtown).

Thanks for that tip on the gas prices. We'll be sure to fill up at Squamish and then top it off at that Chevron. Anything to easily save some money.:D

As for the rental pricing, it was really strange. It was the same for 24 hours as it was for the 48 hours. But then when (just being curious) I priced it for the entire 3 days, the price doubled. Go figure. I really don't think we will keep it even very long on that Tuesday, as the HOHO or bus will probably be on our agenda that day. Still trying to figure out if we want to do the HOHO or the bus.for that Tuesday, but leaning towards the HOHO.

Daaaannnnnngg! It was Costco pricing I checked and got the $40ish a day figure I noted above. Great deal for a full 48hr rental! One last tidbit related to driving - since I assume it's the usual 'bring it back full of gas' rental basis - is that there's an extra local tax on gas in the Vancouver area, that doesn't apply further out. Plus, despite Vancouver having invented the modern filling station, there are very few gas stations in the downtown core.

 

The Chevron station on Georgia, just after you come back into the city from driving through Stanley park, is by far the closest & most convenient station to the pier for you if you need to bring it back full to the brim - but filling the tank up in Squamish avoids the local transit tax so prices are about 8c/L (~30c/Gallon) less (actually that particular station downtown tends to be among the most expensive, so it could be more like 10c+/L difference). This way you only need to pay the higher rates on your last wee top-up (about 40miles between Squish and downtown).

Speaking of Costco, do the Costco's in Vancouver area sell alcohol? We plan on bringing on board our allotted wine allowance and I love an excuse to go to Costco. I see a liquor store not far from our hotel, but am familiar with Costco products/pricing and would prefer to shop there, if possible.

Speaking of Costco, do the Costco's in Vancouver area sell alcohol? We plan on bringing on board our allotted wine allowance and I love an excuse to go to Costco. I see a liquor store not far from our hotel, but am familiar with Costco products/pricing and would prefer to shop there, if possible.

Nope - while in theory there are now some supermarkets with liquor licenses, the red tape involved in this 'relaxation' of our very, very stringent booze laws effectively means no Costco can ever sell any kind of drinking-alcohol at this time. Provincial liquor stores are your best bet - nearest is very close, one block along Robson, and two more (including a Signature store - bigger selection, higher-price items, staff with extra training) within 1km. There are some private liquor stores but in general their prices are higher, sometimes significantly - where they win out is the ability to sell different products than BCL rather than compete on price.

Nope - while in theory there are now some supermarkets with liquor licenses, the red tape involved in this 'relaxation' of our very, very stringent booze laws effectively means no Costco can ever sell any kind of drinking-alcohol at this time. Provincial liquor stores are your best bet - nearest is very close, one block along Robson, and two more (including a Signature store - bigger selection, higher-price items, staff with extra training) within 1km. There are some private liquor stores but in general their prices are higher, sometimes significantly - where they win out is the ability to sell different products than BCL rather than compete on price.

Thanks.

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Thanks!

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The Chevron station on Georgia, just after you come back into the city from driving through Stanley park, is by far the closest & most convenient station to the pier for you if you need to bring it back full to the brim - but filling the tank up in Squamish avoids the local transit tax so prices are about 8c/L (~30c/Gallon) less (actually that particular station downtown tends to be among the most expensive, so it could be more like 10c+/L difference). This way you only need to pay the higher rates on your last wee top-up (about 40miles between Squish and downtown).

Thanks for that tip on the gas prices. We'll be sure to fill up at Squamish and then top it off at that Chevron. Anything to easily save some money.:D

http://www.vancourier.com/news/fill-er-up-with-condos-georgia-st-chevron-sold-to-developer-1.13666563

Thanks for posting - I walked past it a couple of weeks ago and said to myself "I must search for that thread I mentioned this station in not long ago" and then completely forgot.

Only remaining downtown peninsula station is now Esso @ Davie/Burrard (the other Chevrons that are mentioned on signage at the station site are MUCH further away). Esso is actually about the same distance from the pier, so no issue in terms of you using up extra fuel between last top-up and drop-off, but it'll be a few minutes more driving (though potentially great people-watching along Davie!)

fyi.... the Chevron on Georgia is now closed.

 

http://www.vancourier.com/news/fill-er-up-with-condos-georgia-st-chevron-sold-to-developer-1.13666563

Thanks for posting - I walked past it a couple of weeks ago and said to myself "I must search for that thread I mentioned this station in not long ago" and then completely forgot.

 

Only remaining downtown peninsula station is now Esso @ Davie/Burrard (the other Chevrons that are mentioned on signage at the station site are MUCH further away). Esso is actually about the same distance from the pier, so no issue in terms of you using up extra fuel between last top-up and drop-off, but it'll be a few minutes more driving (though potentially great people-watching along Davie!)

Thanks to you both for the updated information.

Your help is much appreciated.

Kathy

Thanks to you both for the updated information.

Your help is much appreciated.

Kathy

No problem - and you should be OK for May, but I just saw that the Esso site is now for sale too! So just in case there's a very sudden sale, Shell @ Main/2nd and Chevron @ Hastings/Vernon are the next-closest to the pier... both involve overshooting by a little under 2 miles mile if you come through the park, so a ~3.5 mile round trip. Filling up in North or West Van before coming over the bridge there are many stations, but all are still further away than this (closest is ~4.5miles and if you crawl along in traffic over the bridge and through the park, as is often the case, you'll burn extra gas).