24 Hours in Vancouver??

Hi!

We are flying in one day early before an Alaskan cruise in June. We've always wanted to spend some time in Vancouver, but this trip will be a 'quickie'...kind of a 'sneak peek' at a possible future vacation.

So, we have about 24 hours to get a 'taste' of Vancouver....

We arrive about 1:00 in the afternoon, and board our ship about the same time the next day.

What would you do, where would you stay and where would you eat if you had 24 hours to 'experience' Vancouver?

I'm also posting this on the Alaska Board.

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks so much!

Hi CE,

We're also going to have about 24 hours in Vancouver before our June cruise. I just booked the Sheraton Wall Centre through Hotwire for $94 (I got tired of wrangling with PriceLine).

I think my son (age 15) and I will probably hop on the Vancouver Trolley and tour the city. The trolley makes 23 stops throughout the city, and you can get off and back on for the price of one ticket. I'm sure more experienced posters will have more specific suggestions, but I think for us this will be a good way to see the city over a few hours.

I have no suggestions for places to eat. I've heard that Robson street is great for shopping, so perhaps there are some good places there.

Laurie

Hi Laurie!

From what I understand, the last Trolley of the day begins it's 'loop' at 4:oo and ends at 6:00. We don't arrive until 1:00 then have to clear customs and get to the hotel (I put someone else in charge of that!), so it's unlikely the trolley will work for us.

Thinking about doing a walk through Stanley Park. Sunset isn't until 9:17 pm, so we should be OK doing that, at least.

When are you sailing? Which ship?

Christy

If you scroll down about 10 postings you will find a thread about Hys.....It is very very good. Also can you tell me where you looked to find out sunrise and sunset times?? I am such a control freak that I would just be too excited if I knew exactly how many hours each day I had at my disposal!! :D

Hi Christy,

We're on Serenade of the Seas June 5th. In an attempt to get more time in Vancouver, we're flying out of LAX at the crack of dawn -- or so it seems (what WAS I thinking?). You make a good point about that last trolley...I figure by the time we arrive, clear customs and get to the hotel it will be around Noon (I hope...). I know we won't be able to see everything, but I really want to see Stanley Park and Granville Island, so perhaps I'll need to find another way to get around. The hotel is 4 blocks from Robson Street, so, assuming it's a safe neighborhood, and it will be light out, I'm hoping we can walk to and from in the early evening (time enough to sleep when we get on the ship!). When will you be sailing?

Hi Dosi -- I also saw that thread about Hy's. I checked out their website and the menu sounds great! I figure we have only one night in Vancouver, so we might as well splurge. It will be a good start to 7 nights of overindulgence on the cruise!

Laurie

You're all making me jealous. We've been to Vancouver several times at the beginning or end of a cruise. It's a great town. We plan to take a vacation there for a week or longer one of these days.

If the trolley won't work for you, their public transportation system is pretty user-friendly. Ask at the front desk of your hotel.

We have stayed at several places in Vancouver, all on Robson Street. We were at the Blue Horizon which was OK but nothing to write home about. We've stayed at Le Soleil which was beautiful and we would recommend it. We've also stayed at Pacific Palisades which would be my first choice again. The hotel is beautiful and the service was fabulous.

Robson Street is a great place to walk at night. There are usually street performers around. Sometimes a balloon artist or two. And some human sculptures. It is very clean. The stores are a good mix of high end and tourist friendly. There are a few candy stores that should not be missed if you have a sweet tooth.

If you scroll down about 10 postings you will find a thread about Hys.....It is very very good. Also can you tell me where you looked to find out sunrise and sunset times?? I am such a control freak that I would just be too excited if I knew exactly how many hours each day I had at my disposal!! :D

Since we're cruising over June 21st (longest day of the year, and, coincidentally, my wedding anniversary-we planned that), I wanted to see how much daylight we had in Alaska.

I went to:

http://www.sunrisesunset.com/

and navigated through that. It was really handy!

Christy

Thanks, Christy!

That calendar is very cool! Sunset at 9:09 on June 4th! I love it! That will give me even more daylight hours to scour the candy stores mentioned by Bubbie above, and walk off the damage afterwards:D .

Laurie

Most of the restaurats are very good. If you are very adventurous, there are many Japanese Restaurants, Dim Sum restaurants, Malaysian, in addition to the pasta bars, steaks, etc... I work 1 block from Robson Street, so I go to these restaurants quite frequently. All these ethnic restaurants food are ethnic authentic with no western changes. Truly adventurous but oooh so delicious.!

Vancouver is quite popular for just eating! A world in a city.:)

I forgot to mention the world's best Chinese restaurant. Be sure you go to Shanghai Chinese Bistro at 1128 Alberni Street (2nd floor). They do a noodle show about 7:30 every night. At lunchtime they have a lot of dim sum. Try the vegetarian dumplings. By far the best I've ever had. They even made them for me at dinner one time..

If you decide to have a nice dinner, make sure to have reservations. We travel to Vancouver (from Seattle) at least once a year and have learned the hard way that the city does get crowded, especially in the summer. You can always cancel a dinner reservation at the last minute, but you can't always make one.

You will find that 24 hours barely scapes the surface of this wonderful city, but remember that you'll always be able to return! I recommend that you stay downtown, perhaps splurging on a hotel close to the cruise terminal (Pan Pacific or Fairmont Waterfront). If that's too much money, consider finding your hotel first (on priceline or hotwire, perhaps) and then making a quick tour agenda based on your downtown local. For example, Stanley Park is a long way from many of the downtown properties, but shopping on Robson (Sp?) Street, Yaletown, or Gastown may be more doable. Other quick tour suggestions include: taking the water taxi to Granville Island or up false creek to Science World or taking the seabus over to North Vancouver and the food market on the quay there. The Vancouver Aquarium is a great one (in Stanley Park).

For those wanting to see Granville Island, consider staying right on the Island at the Granville Island Hotel. We've stayed there a few times and were very, very pleased with the experience.

With such a short stay, a guided tour might be a great way for you to tour the city. We were going to do the trolley last year, but opted for a 3.5 hour tour. They picked us up from our hotel, then dropped us off at the port to board our ship after the tour. I've included a link, but I'm not absolutely sure this is the one we took, my cousin arranged it for us, we were a group of 15, but another 6 passengers were in our van, too.

http://www.vancouvertours.com/tours_1.html

Whatever your choices, have a great time in Vancouver, we loved it.

We have about the same amount of extra time as you. We are planning on that big scary bridge, Grouse Mountain, and the ALL YOU CAN EAT CHOCOLATE BUFFET at the Sutton Place hotel the first afternoon. Then in the morning before our cruise we are going to the Vancouver aquarium and have booked a Beluga encounter so we can meet the whales close up. It will be busy, but I don't mind!