Vancouver itinerary advice & questions

DH(67) and I(62) will be arriving by plane in Vancouver 8/31/18 to stay 2 nights prior to a cruise departure on Sept. 2nd. We hope to be at our ABnB near Commercial Drive by 2:30pm. After settling in for a bit, we'd like to venture out for the rest of the day and take advantage of the remaining daylight. Places we want to visit while in Vancouver are Granville Island, Stanley Park, Gastown, and possibly QE park. We've already purchased HO/HO tickets (good for 24 hours) as well as a hour boat tour of Coal Harbour. We're up for some walking but not riding bikes. My questions are: What is the best approach for the afternoon and evening explorations? Should we immediately access our HOHO tours? I'm aware they stop running around 5:30pm. Do you suggest we hop off, explore one or two stops? Take one route in the first afternoon, then taking the other the next day? Sometime during our stay, we'd like to eat at Cactus Club. Finally, would purchasing a day pass be beneficial? Are they good for 24 hours? Guess I'm just trying to figure out which is the best way to spend Friday afternoon and evening then we can go from there to plan Saturday and Sunday morning. I'd appreciate any suggestions. I'm so excited about starting our vacation in Vancouver!

Day Passes on transit may not be that useful to you - especially on the day(s) that you use HOHO. They are for just that day, not 24hrs - so they run from the first time you use it until services stop running (which is the wee small hours of the next morning). Where they are likelier to be a win for you is if you need to use a mix of bus and SkyTrain - bus tickets do not transfer onto SkyTrain, though they other way around works, so a Day Pass means not needing to worry about which order you do which kind of transport in... DH also qualifies for a Concession rate - you are still paying regular adult fare though.

While you should definitely use transit to get downtown rather than taxis - which will eat away whatever saving you made staying outside downtown - once you are downtown you probably won't need another trip until heading home again in the evening. Unless you take 4 separate trips daily, simply buying tickets individually is cheaper than a Day Pass (and now that you can tap Visa/MC credit cards with chips on the sensors, you don't have to worry about getting hold of Canadian currency and paying with exact change - but NB: that you will lose DHs discount, so 3 trips is the breakeven point for him).

By the time you get to your accommodation and then get downtown again, even if your flight was on time and the cab ride was quick it could easily be more like 4pm so the HOHO would be rather wasted. I'd actually suggest that you do QEP if you arrive on time, then explore your neighbourhood that first evening - The Drive is one of Vancouver's most popular 'hoods to visit and does have it's own character, very few buildings over a couple of stories and lots of independent businesses of all sorts. Lots of dining choices too.

QEP does require a transfer, either 2 buses or SkyTrain and bus, from The Drive, but it's still only about 30mins each way. Depending where you are though, a cab might be better value - try plugging the AirBnB address into taxifarefinder and see what the typical fare is to QEP (use Seasons in the Park restaurant as the target location, as the park itself is pretty big!) Sunset (~8pm on your trip) from up here is very, very nice - it's the highest point in the city so you see the full sweep of Vancouver itself and across to the mountains.

Seasons is overpriced for the food, because of that spectacular view - but it's the least overpriced of the Sequoia Group as that view is outstanding. Of course you can dine elsewhere and then just stand on the public terrace above the resto too - but the nearest options are a good 15mins walk down on Main Street so you'd have to eat early or late to see sunset from inside the park.

Saturday is the natural choice to focus on downtown, using the HOHO - which will take you to Stanley Park, Granville Island (use the free ferry ticket unless you also want to visit the Maritime Museum, Space Centre, or Museum of Vancouver) and Gastown. Be aware that multiple stops inside Stanley Park are popular - it can take a bus or two before you get back on again (though just 2 makes it much easier than big groups). Instead of hopping off everywhere, be strategic - get off at the Rose garden stop, then just walk down to the Totem Poles for example and board there. Prospect Point involves a steep hill so do try to get off and on again at that stop.

Also, check the maps to see where the two route loops have stops close together. Don't make the mistake of returning to Canada Place or the first Gastown stop to reboard loop 2 for example - that's a mugs game as you're fighting with cruisers and all the Joe Q Publics who see 'stop 1' and assume they should do them in order! The other overlapping stops don't see quite as many folks transferring, but even better is to get off at one of the boring stops in the middle of downtown and walk a couple of blocks over to the other loop stop, e.g. P17 and C5 are extremely close.

Cactus Club has several locations - I'd suggest that English Bay (west facing for those sunset views again) or Coal Harbour (looks across to the North Shore mountains) locations are best bets, as pricing is the same as others but you get the nice views. Making a reso would be a very good idea - 7pm ensures sunset during dinner and is well after HOHO stops running.

You didn't say when your boat cruise was booked for or if it's an open ticket so not sure what flexibility of timing you have on that to advise appropriately...

Lastly, while The Drive does have a lot of houses and virtually no condos so there's a better chance of AirBnB being legal, there are still many illegal rentals despite the new legislation and licensing. Double-check that your AirBnB is displaying a valid business license number - if not, it is illegal and now that enforcement is actually funded it's not a case of if the host can get away with it, but simply when they will be caught as AirBnB themselves have agreed to directly enforce the rules now. You do not want to find out that your accommodation has disappeared without notice!

A few folks have already been caught with fake license numbers - while there's no way for you to tell a valid license from a fake as a consumer, there are two easily-spotted warning signs: any host with 2+ properties is illegal, end of story, and those folks are being shut down quickly (but since there was a grace period until this month, there may still be some lurking). Also, anyone offering a property for extended periods is often not legit, as you are only allowed to rent your primary residence. If it's just a room inside a home, that could be legit all year round - but a whole apartment or house rental available for more than a month total per year is a serious warning sign and 6 months or more by definition is always illegal.

Thanks Martincath! I knew you'd have plenty of insightful answers! Our Airbnb is established, legit, with no worries! We haven't booked the Coal Harbour tour time yet; I was thinking maybe doing it on Sunday morning after we drop off our luggage. I'll check the bus loops for most convenient stops as you suggest. QEP will probably be a nice way to end the day Friday. After a full day of travel and 2 hour time difference, we`'ll probably retire fairly early. Coming from a rural "2 traffic light" community, Sky Train will be an adventure, too! Thanks again for your input!

I'd agree that Sunday morning is ideal for the cruise - drop your bags with the longshoremen, go do the harbour cruise, have a wander about/hit a spa and enjoy a nice lunch before boarding after 2pm would be my call.

Try boarding SkyTrain through the first set of doors - the very front seats have the whole windshield to look out, as no drivers. From The Drive into town it's mostly above ground so you get some nice views coming into downtown. But take a cab on your embarkation day - there's no luggage storage space on this line so bringing your suitcases is awkward, and despite the low risk of enforcement (no drivers!) you can be kicked off the train or fined if you put a suitcase on a seat or in a wheelchair or bike spot, or block the aisle.

You have two sets of traffic lights at home!? Fancy! I had a seven mile drive to the nearest set of lights where I grew up, not even a stop sign in my village, so I still enjoy the delights of urban life;-)

Commercial drive is the "little Italy" of Vancouver. Lots of very good restaurants, cafes and shops on Commercial between Vanables and Broadway. For that first night you might want to just wonder around the neighborhood.

Reposting this thread, in hopes of hearing again from doublej (how did it go?) and Martincath (your advice is always welcome!).

Our ship will arrive in Vancouver on Thursday, 6 June (2019), and we will stay post-cruise through early Monday morning. This gives us Thursday through Sunday to explore Vancouver following a 10-day southbound cruise and a 5-day pre-trip Denali adventure. That's a lot of movement and activity, but with plenty of ship time as well. We are a healthy 21 yo and her middle-aged mom; this trip is her college graduation present.  We love to hike, we love museums, we love learning about indigenous cultures, we are interested in the food scene, and we are interested in socially-engaged theatre.

With that, we would love your advice on our Vancouver plans so far.

Thursday 6 June: disembark Vancouver; check into hotel in Gastown area, explore; foodie tour in the afternoon/early evening.

Friday 7 June: UBC area, including Anthropology Museum, Botanical Garden (w/canopy walk), and Biodiversity Museum; end the day at Lonsdale Quay (N. Vancouver) for Friday Food Trucks.

Saturday 8 June: possible day trip to Victoria Island? Or explore more of Vancouver? What areas should we explore further in early June?

Sunday 9 June: explore Stanley Park, seawall, Totem exhibit. What else?

With thanks in advance for your insights,

Lucky DD - almost three weeks of vaycay!

Your second day might end up being a bit packed - MOA has a vast array of exhibits, even in just the regular collections. Big chunks deal with non-Canadian peoples though, so if you focus on doing the Canadian First Nations exhibits and suddenly find you've been there for three hours already (this happens to us every visit!) you don't need to feel bad if you leave without checking out e.g. the Pacific Islands exhibits (which has lots of small collections specific to many different groups) or Asian textiles (although the Chinese Opera costume section is pretty spectacular). The European ceramic exhibit is probably the single lowest-priority exhibit IMO, as you can see that sort of collection all over the world.

The Biodiversity Museum has a very non-traditional layout - aside from the one big whale skeleton (which you can see without paying as it hangs above the ticket counter) almost everything else is hidden inside cabinets and drawers that you have to open. Each section has a handful of exhibits exposed, so you can walk down the aisles and easily get an idea what kind of samples are in each section, but it's still a format that puts some folks off (imagine walking through an old-school library, but instead of bookshelves it's closed cupboards containing dead things in jars).

Since you mention culture as an interest, but not zoology, I'd be inclined to skip the Beaty so you have more time at MOA and the Botanic garden (without doing treewalk it's still a couple of hours wandering; with treewalk you could easily spend 3 hours there too). The Nitobe garden is also WELL worth visiting - it's small, very close to MOA (park in the Rose Garden carpark for both if you're renting a car), and one of the best-rated such spots outside Japan. The Rose Garden is nice too - but Stanley Park's is much bigger. Superb views from UBC Rose Garden though, so even just a couple of photos is worth the <five minutes walk from MOA.

Personally I would stick to Vancouver, or close by spots, rather than a one-day trip to the Island. Not that there isn't stuff to see there - quite the contrary - but the space between sites means at least a couple of days/1 night is the bare minimum to experience it. If you have Butchart Gardens on your bucket list and don't plan to come back, then sure head over to Victoria - but try to find the funds to fly both ways as this adds an enormous amount of sightseeing time compared to the ferry!

Things to do in Vancouver for your listed interests - the mini 'campus' of museums at Vanier Park is a good time spend (Maritime, Space, and Vancouver City museums are all pretty much right next to each other and are each worth ~90mins of your time - if you are interested in any of the IMAX movies/presentations at the Space Centre you can easily add another productive hour or so).

Steveston village out in Richmond is another nice spot for a morning or afternoon even if you aren't fans of Once Upon A Time (pretty much all the Storybrooke village filming happened here) - the Gulf of Georgia Cannery Museum is superb and offers interesting insight into Japanese settlement of the local area as well as a much-less-well-known Chinese industry (warning - there is some seriously racist material covered, though it is presented about as well as such topics can be without censorship of exhibits). The Chinese Cultural Centre downtown is very small, but interesting, and right nextdoor to the two Chinese gardens (free and for-fee; the latter is rated consistently as the single best traditional Chinese garden anywhere outside China and well worth the $14pp entry fee, especially since that includes a free guided tour)

Heading out of town northbound exposes you to the beautiful views from the Sea to Sky highway as well as waterfalls (most accessible is Shannon Falls), a gondola ride up the mountain, and the superb Britannia Mine Museum. It's awkward to visit any of these sites, except the gondola which does run a bus, unless you rent a car. If Whistler was a big draw for you I assume you would have mentioned it - but all of the above sites are on the first stretch of the road up to Squamish (which has some nice lunch options), no need to drive more than an hour out of downtown (as long as you avoid the commuter traffic!)

Your Sunday could easily be full enough - depends how much time you spend walking around Stanley Park! but since you'll be passing through downtown the Bill Reid gallery would be an easy addition if you have time (also perhaps on Thursday, which is currently a bit light). It's all First Nations art, a permanent collection (including lots of Bill Reid, as the name suggest!) and some rotating contemporary artists (we actually met one of the current exhibitees at a supper club recently, who has been doing some incredible basket-weaving).

Combining a little local culture and a lot of good food, don't miss the 'Indigibrunch' at Skwachays Lodge on one of your weekend days. It's much easier to get to than Salmon & Bannock, and while it's strictly a brunch only affair they have some really nice game and very niche local products - I had smoked Oolichan last visit, a really rich, small, oily fish that's extremely hard to find on any menu. You walk through the gallery to get to the brunch room, so there's plenty of opportunity to shop for souvenirs which 100% support a local First Nations-owned business and local artists. It's also one of very few hotels inside Gastown proper that isn't a horrific fleapit (although several perfectly decent chain hotels are on the western edges of the area - if you've booked a chain you should be fine, but if it's an indy hotel be VERY careful to check multiple review sites and make sure it's not an SRO or hostel masquerading as a hotel (e.g. the Patricia).

Other extremely popular, not-in-Vancouver-but-close options include Grouse Mountain and the two suspension bridges. Capilano has a 'free' shuttle (as does Grouse) but is packed with touristy stuff, whereas Lynn Canyon is not only completely free but has minimal development; a small cafe and a ranger station which offers nicely educational info. It also has a MUCH more impressive river - narrow and foaming white water whereas Cap, though a much longer bridge, spans a frankly boring canyon that is mostly gravel with the river just a small fraction of the canyon floor in summer. With your length of stay the relative hassle of getting to Lynn (public transit involves two buses or a bus and ferry, and needs at least an hour each way) may be worthwhile compared to Cap.

Grouse has bears, wolves, and falconry exhibits, outstanding views of Vancouver, various entertainment options from movies to lumberjack shows, and almost all included in the ticket price. In fact if you walk up the mountain you don't have to pay for most things - and the Grouse Grind is one of the most iconic hikes in the world (it's basically a very steep staircase, often referred to as 'Natures Stairmaster'!)

Your foodie tour and food truck evening will give you the opportunity to sample many different nibbles; if you're looking for more resto reccos then an idea of your budget and particular likes/dislikes would really help. Aside from Japadog there isn't really a unique-to-Vancouver foodstuff, although you just MIGHT get lucky and find fresh Spot Prawns still available (it's an extremely well-researched fishery with a very, very stringent catch limit that usually starts in early May and rarely lasts more then 3-4 weeks tops before the limit is hit). We do have an awful lot of very nice food - and while it's hard to find really cheap dining here, assuming the exchange rate remains similar you'll be getting a nice discount if you're from the US.

6 hours ago, Unibok said:

...and we are interested in socially-engaged theatre.

Big p00ps! I forgot about your theatre-mention, tried to Edit, but typed too much and got timed out! So here's a copy of what I tried to add to the reply above:

Edit - whoops! Almost forgot about the theatre! While Broadway type shows are not really a thing here (we get cut-back traveling versions of a handful for short engagements each year) local theatre companies, especially 'minority-oriented' are plentiful. There are several local companies whose memberships are mostly physically-disabled, visible minorities, LGBTQ+, or combinations thereof and a few festivals of such fare, though those tend to be in the quieter seasons.

Venue-wise, The Cultch is a bit out of the way from downtown, and a hassle to get to on transit, but does a lot of really interesting & challenging stuff. The Roundhouse is much easier to get to (it's in Yaletown just off the Seawall) and also quite supportive of smaller productions. Bard on the Beach is mostly the classic Shakespeare plays, but an outdoor theatre is still pretty quirky (and it's right next to the Vanier Park museums so potentially an efficient combo with some of those).

This list of Vancouver companies will give you a pretty good idea of what's out there - I've thoroughly enjoyed shows from Realwheels in particular. I used to volunteer with VocalEye, who put on described live theatre shows for the blind across everything from totally mainstream (Bard) to seriously niche (a one man show about life as a wheelchair-bound visitor trying to use foreign transit systems) which exposed me to a metric buttload of shows that I would never have thought about attending as a patron. It really turned me around on just how vibrant the local theatre scene is (coming to Canada from the UK was a huge step down in theatre frequency; even within Canada Vancouver reeeeaaallllly sucks compared to Toronto for big shows and my prior theatre-going was pretty mainstream stuff so I was really annoyed with how poorly served Vancouver is).

But volunteering means going to shows that your client wants to see (or rather hear!), and the smaller companies - especially the ones who are attempting to overcome societal prejudice in some form - tend to be really good about offering free companion tickets, allowing folks in to describe the visuals, and generally catering to fellow 'not straight, rich, white, old people' groups with discounts so they made up the lions share of available seats. I've been absolutely blown away by some of the shows I've attended from these more niche local companies!

Martincath, you are amazing! Thank you for your careful, thorough, and generous responses. I will look into the theatre schedules and see if anything appeals to us. We'll pass on the Biodiversity jars (thanks for the warning!), and think about adding the other gardens you mention. For restos, we have a loooonnnngg list of more than we could possibly visit, many of them culled from your earlier posts. Good tip about the Spot Prawns -- we'll be sure to order them if we are lucky enough to be there at the right time.

We won't have a car, so will be using a combination of public transportation and cabs to get around. We do want to spend the better part of the day at UBC, as DD is considering it as a possible grad school. Also, I'm glad to get your seal of approval on Skwachay's, as we are staying there for the duration.

Alright, armed with your responses, I have some more research and revision to do. Again, thank you so much!!!!

You're very welcome. By not having a car you're actually avoiding one of the more legitimate complaints about Skwachays Lodge - the car park isn't accessible from inside the hotel, you have to walk around the back then up an alley (and all alleys in Gastown are less-than-delightful, with odds very high of coming across drug paraphernalia, unconscious addicts, and the grittier side of urban life). The hotel has an active artists-in-residence program - many of the folks with stuff on display downstairs in the gallery live there - and I believe that as residents you can get to see the Sweatlodge and top floor terrace if it's not booked already (various purification/ceremonial experiences are available for a fee). It is still a wee bit scruffy on the blocks immediately around Skwachays, but many of the bad reviews seem overly-paranoid about street life on Pender (the lodge is literally yards away from one of the biggest malls in downtown with a multiplex cinema in it, the Chinatown Gate, and the Sam Kee building so there is tons of foot traffic until late at night).

I have a few friends and acquaintances who teach and/or attended UBC for grad school recently, and while it suffers from all the typical for-profit university politics everyone who's studying rather than teaching rates it highly! The main campus is very nice, but folks staying off campus should be aware of just how over-subscribed the main bus routes are (the long-awaited SkyTrain connection is still several years away, and until it opens the 99 bus especially will remain a living nightmare). Combined with Vancouvers incredibly limited rental property market, it could be a real challenge to find somewhere nice to rent that is also convenient for UBC travel - and on-campus/close enough to bike or walk rentals are fully aware of the travel difficulties and charge accordingly high rates!

If DD does decide to attend, it's a really good idea to get onto student housing lists at the earliest possible opportunity - unless you're also looking to make an investment in property, in which case buying a condo for her could be an extremely lucrative long-term plan (every student we know with wealthy enough parents has done this, making a very nice profit on resale or keeping the home and renting it out with a view to cashing in on their retirements). I'd reach out to Admissions and ask about any opportunities to meet current students, get a tour that includes seeing actual accommodation and the like rather than just the glossy brochures - if they don't offer such a thing, get DD to reach out to local Redditors on r/UBC (and r/Vancouver for more general renting/neighbourhood type info).

Assuming you don't pack your schedule too much, feel free to drop me a line nearer the time about getting together for coffee or something. I'm almost always in town the first fortnight of June as my school-based volunteering runs until at least the 3rd week so we take a big vaycay late June.

Thank you for the terrific follow-up and generous offer, martincath.

Thanks, also, for the UBC perspective. DD will take the next 6 months to decide where to apply, so our trip to Vancouver may have a bearing on whether or not she applies (I think she will, as UBC has a very strong program in her area).

Is this board the best way to try to reach you when we are in town?

6 hours ago, Unibok said:

Thank you for the terrific follow-up and generous offer, martincath.

Is this board the best way to try to reach you when we are in town?

You're very welcome. Email's the most sensible way to contact me - drop me a line with your contact info when you get to town and we can figure out a mutually-convenient timeslot. Use cruisecriticmarty@gmail.com