Vancouver - Granville Island

What's the best (easiest / least expensive) ferry route to take to get to and from Granville Island on Sunday morning? We are staying at the Delta Marriott, if that matters.

Thanks.

You could walk. It's about 1.7miles according to google maps.

We really wanted to take the ferry. theaquabus.com leaves from Hornby Street, David Lam Park, Yaletown etc. Although I think I figured it out that Hornby sails directly to Granville.

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Yup - if it's just a trip over (or over & back) there's no point in picking up Aquabucks or False Creek Ferry equivalents. There's a marginal saving depending which company/dock you sail from, but you're quibbling over a matter of cents in terms of the docks that are convenient for walking from your hotel.

NB: Sadie, that 'walking' route actually involves a ferry (Vancouver Google maps always include ferries in walking directions unless you select Avoid Ferries). Because there's a significant overshoot going over Granville bridge - there used to be staircases above it but not for many years now - it's actually an extra half mile walking over the bridge compared to the shortest combined walk + ferry - which is indeed the Aquabus Hornby stop Pebbs.

Another option..... go take public transit or walk to one of the Eastern pickup points and take the Aquabus there. You get to see more of False Creek.

http://theaquabus.com/

Another option..... go take public transit or walk to one of the Eastern pickup points and take the Aquabus there. You get to see more of False Creek.

http://theaquabus.com/

You mean like the Plaza of Nations stop? About how long would it take to get to Granville from there?

You mean like the Plaza of Nations stop? About how long would it take to get to Granville from there?

False Creek isn't very big - each 'hop' between stops on the little ferries is just a few minutes so even going from the furthest stop (Village dock) it's about 10-15mins. Sometimes it's faster - if nobody onboard wants to get off at intervening stops they often skip one or more (it's easy to see if people are waiting for pretty far away). Even the round-trip 'minicruises' only last about 25mins - and those visit all the stops from the Village to Granville Island and back to where you started again.

While I also think you might enjoy a wee pootle around on the water rather than simply a point-to-point crossing, Plaza of Nations has nothing of interest around it (unless you want to visit the Casino or the BC Sports Hall of Fame). It's also inconvenient to get to since you have to make your way around a huge stadium, and with all the buildings works going on it's even trickier than usual.

If you were planning to visit Chinatown before/after a Granville Island visit PON is technically the closest stop - but it's still a boring few minutes walk until you get to anything interesting. I'd use the Village stop and follow the Seawall/Quebec St into or out of Chinatown instead.

Martincath,

Very helpful. We are planning on going to Chinatown after Granville.

Thank you.

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I agree Village stop is more appealing to me. Ride the ferry all the way East and then go on foot to the historic Chinatown. Distance is about 1 mile or 20 minutes (slower when embracing the water views).

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/The+Village+Dock/49.2804068,-123.0997246/@49.2783707,-123.1099979,16z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x54867163c83ba4b9:0xcd9f44faf55e431a!2m2!1d-123.1056762!2d49.2724408!1m0!3e2

Hmm... I notice you mention "Sunday morning". Perhaps go to Chinatown first to check out "Dim Sum" for brunch at the Floata restaurant. It's like an Oriental high tea experience.

Excellent xlxo. You two are awesome.

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If you are not familiar with Dim Sum... it's a great way to explore various Chinese eats.

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I'd strongly encourage you to follow xlxo's suggestion of Chinatown first. Not just because if you do take Dim Sum in Floata you can tell us how it was (they seriously renovated a year or so ago; before that food was thoroughly mediocre but since I've been seeing reports of a major improvement) but because Granville Island will be hoaching on Sunday 18th June with three ships departing that day - EVERY pre-cruise city tour includes a visit to GI!

I've learned to avoid the island in the mornings throughout cruise season - and a three-ship weekend day in mid-June is definitely not something you want to do if you have any choice about when you visit! Lunchtime is also busy on GI - lots of food options, so many non-cruise tourists like to eat there. I'd aim for a visit around 2-5pm

Chinatown first also ties in nicely with the free walking tour by Tour Guys, running at 11am Sundays. This handily-enough starts close to your hotel so you won't need to worry about accidentally walking off the 'nice route' to Chinatown and ending up in the less-salubrious parts of the Downtown East Side...

More details, in case you find useful:

1) Take Canada Line from the Waterfront station (5 mins or so walk from the cruise port, and from your hotel) to the Yaletown station (takes minutes). You get off near David Lam park, where you can board the Aquabus to Granville Island.

http://www.translink.ca/en/Schedules-and-Maps/SkyTrain/SkyTrain-Schedules/Canada-Line.aspx

Tickets are $2.75 CDN for 90 mins of travel.

2) When you are done, take the Aquabus and head over to Stadium/Chinatown or the Science World stop. Floata and Chinatown is around 10 mins walk away.

3) When you are done, take the Expo line ($2.75) which will take you back to the Aquabus station.

You can do it backwards if you prefer Dim Sum first (they open at 8AM, and it will get busy past 11AM) -- take Expo line to Science World or Stadium/Chinatown, Dim Sum, take Aquabus to Granville Island, and Aquabus to Yaletown/David Lam Park and Canada Line back to Waterfront.

Or, if you prefer cheaper and still want a ferry ride, you can visit Lonsdale Quay via Seabus. It's also $2.75 for 90 mins of travel.

We are staying downtown at the Hyatt. We are thinking of just taking a cab back and forth to Granville. I can't imagine it would be too pricey?

Do you consider Granville to be an "all-day" area. Could we spend a day and evening there, or if we got there in the afternoon would we see it all by the evening? Would love to tour the Brewery.

To clarify.... there's Granville the street, the Granville Entertainment district. I assume you speak of Granville Island. Granville Island is best visited when the public market is open prior to 7pm.

Cab ride is generally easy.... however . final half mile can be painful with congestion. It may be better to be dropped off at the entrance instead of the market.

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It has been a while since I take a cab between downtown and Granville Island, but I imagine it would be around $20-30 each way. It could be difficult getting one on the way back, so you might want to get the number of a taxi company from the hotel before you go just in case there isn't one passing by (Vancouver doesn't have Uber).

Granville Island is pretty small. Especially if it rains (and we get plenty of that in Vancouver), it's could be quite limited depending on your interest. Definitely a brewery tour (http://www.gib.ca/tours-tastings/), take a walk around the market (the sandwich/soup shops are quite good and popular), see a glass blowing demo if you are interested; if you are taking kids, they have a kids market with an arcade on top (if I remember correctly). A day/evening might be a bit of a strench, unless you are planning to have dinner there (with Monk McQueens closed, Sandbar might be another choice)

Note that on weekends or if there's a festival, it could get quite busy. So plan some extra time for waiting for tables, etc.

Cabs are horribly inefficient to Granville Island from downtown - they have to overshoot even more than pedestrians due to the height of the bridge, and as xlxo mentioned driving on the single approach road then the 'island' itself is a living nightmare in tourist season. Cars averaging walking pace are doing incredibly well! Getting a cab back is also brutal - nobody wants to come pick you up due to not being able to bill for their time stuck in traffic coming to you!

Take a cab to Aquabus/False Creek Ferry pier instead if walking isn't feasible for you. Both of these little ferries get you over to the island for much less than the extra cab fare getting over the bridge and down again (~CAD$3pp).

All day? Unless you browse every shop, sample both breweries and sake makers entire ranges, and take in a show at one of the theatres/comedy clubs, no chance. It's just not that big - two hours is plenty to walk around literally every street, through each market building, snap pics of art, watch some totem pole carving. Add on time eating/drinking/shopping - you know how much you enjoy such things better than I do - and it can easily go 3-4 hours, but more than that would he a serious stretch IMO.

I'd definitely visit the eponymous brewery linked above if you actually want a tour - but if you have more typical US drinking tastes, the other brewery in the GI Hotel may be much more likely to work for you in terms of product. GIB does more bitter beers like IPAs as a staple - they do have lagers as well, but Dockside has a much more 'what most Americans call beer' focused list (4 of their core 7 beers are lagers and they do seasonal German styles on top).

As to dining - Monks was never on Granville Island in the first place but at Stamps Landing; they closed well over four years ago now and reopened as another Mahoney & Sons pseudo-Oirish extravaganza over three years ago after a major reno that frankly ruined the entire indoor space (deck looks better now to be fair). If you want good food on GI, Edible Canada is top dog of the kitchen options - Sandbar is as overpriced as the other Sequoia restos (not bad food by any means, but they charge as if they have fantastic views in all their operations even though only Seasons actually has a view worth the markup). There are tons of food stalls in the Public Market and if you eat outside you'll be entertained by buskers.

Wow, again, to all you Vancouverites who so graciously share your logistical knowledge and love of your city with us! Thank-you xlxo, optimus-prime123, and martincath.

I am so looking forward to our stay in Vancouver!

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If you walk 3 blocks to Granville Street from the Hyatt.... public transit get you to Granville Island entrance in 12 minutes for $2.75.

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Hyatt+Regency+Vancouver,+Burrard+Street,+Vancouver,+BC/Granville+Island+Public+Market,+Johnston+Street,+Vancouver,+BC/@49.2762454,-123.1457075,14z/am=t/data=!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x54867181950118d3:0x64d3ac2e5a7db8df!2m2!1d-123.1205555!2d49.2852026!1m5!1m1!1s0x548673ce77bc7a1b:0x47a4150bc8697d20!2m2!1d-123.1350655!2d49.2723568!2m2!7e2!8j1488974400!3e3!5i2