What to see in Vancouver?

Booked into Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre for 2 days before our cruise of Sept 7/05. What to see while there? Anything within walking distance of the hotel.

We were thinking of renting a car for 1 day and going to Victoria. Is it better to rent a car or take a tour to Victoria? Do you have to book reservations for ferry to Victoria.

I live in Toronto but Vancouver is my favourite Canadian City to visit.

If you are interested in seeing a lovely city and beautiful gardens, I would highly recommend a tour of Victoria and Butchart Gardens. A tour from Vancouver might be easier for you as it involves a ferry and definitely requires a reservation or you may have a long wait. Victoria is a great city to stroll around. In September, the flowers will still be blooming. Butchart Gardens (which is about a 30 minute drive north of Victoria) has amazing gardens and you will enjoy strolling throughout the various gardens.

If you love the mountains, rent a car and drive up to Whistler. It is a beautiful ski town, which is lovely to visit during non-winter months. The drive from Vancouver takes about 1.5 hours along a highway with spectacular views. Whistler is great for just walking around, enjoying great food and boutique shopping. You can also take a gondola ride up Blackcomb Mountain from where you will have spectacular views of the surrounding area. Closer to Vancouver is Grouse Mountain. You can take the Gondola up to the top where you can hike and enjoy the restaurant which has fantastic views of Vancouver.

I have some Internet web site names and when I find them, I will post them for you.

Tourism Vancouver web site:

http://www.tourismvancouver.com

Hope this helps

Cheers

Dennis

Just a warning that the trip to Victoria makes for a very long day. We spent 3 days in Vancouver post-cruise this past August, and absolutely loved Vancouver, but kind of wished we had spent the extra day in town instead of going to Victoria. That is just our personal opinion, and the Butchart Gardens were beautiful if that interests you. We contemplated renting a car also, but you really don't need one in Vancouver and going to Victoria whether you have your own car or take a bus tour you will be stuck on the ferry anyway, so the bus tour seemed more efficient. After much thought, we ended up taking a floatplane there and back (my mother still opted for the bus), which saved us a good amount of time, but still a full day, which other than Butchart Gardens can't say we really loved. For the bus, my mom was out of the hotel by 8am, and not back until 9pm, and she was pretty tired.

If you are traveling with kids, as we were, the Vancouver Aquarium was really nice. It's a great city to just be in if you enjoy cities. We spent some time in Stanley Park, Granville Island, the art museum and enjoying some good meals, along with our hotel pool a bit (we were at the Four Seasons).

A couple of our favorite restaurants were Cin Cin and Diva at the Met.

to see in Vancouver that you don't need to go to Victoria.

You are within walking distance of great shopping and eating! Stanley Park and the aquarium are near by and so is the waterfront and beaches. We always have festivals on.

GREAT info keep it coming thanks!