Vancouver City Tour or DIY

[larcklorn]

Getting in early on July 4th to Vancouver off of the Celebrity Millenium and want to see the city before our flight out at 10pm. Would you suggest a city tour company or DIY it with a rental car?

 

If city tour - what company would you use?

[AmberCascades]

Nooooooooooooo! Do not rent a car if you are planning to look around downtown Vancouver. You will spend the whole day in traffic.

 

We did the HOHO trolley. You can do the complete loop in 2 hours, but we hopped off here and there and spent about 5 hours. We could have spent more time if we wanted to. It was a great way to see all the sights and they do a narrative as well, and point out things you would otherwise miss.

[Kamloops50]

Getting in early on July 4th to Vancouver off of the Celebrity Millenium and want to see the city before our flight out at 10pm. Would you suggest a city tour company or DIY it with a rental car?

 

If city tour - what company would you use?

 

Don't get a rental car . Most attractions are close to downtown or have shuttles Grouse Mtn or Capilano Suspension Bridge)

 

Nooooooooooooo! Do not rent a car if you are planning to look around downtown Vancouver. You will spend the whole day in traffic.

 

We did the HOHO trolley. You can do the complete loop in 2 hours, but we hopped off here and there and spent about 5 hours. We could have spent more time if we wanted to. It was a great way to see all the sights and they do a narrative as well, and point out things you would otherwise miss.

 

The HoHo bus will get you to most of the other attractions . Some are a short transit ride or walk .

[scottbee]

Getting in early on July 4th to Vancouver off of the Celebrity Millenium and want to see the city before our flight out at 10pm. Would you suggest a city tour company or DIY it with a rental car?

 

If city tour - what company would you use?

 

I wouldn't rent a car. Traffic and parking are both bad in downtown Vancouver. On the flip side, an all-day transit ticket is under $10, and will get you absolutely everywhere. The Hoho only sticks to the downtown core and you can't visit places like Lynn Canyon, Grouse Mt, QE Park etc etc.

 

Also, just use your transit ticket at the end of the day to get to the airport on the Skytrain Canada Line (subway)

[larcklorn]

I wouldn't rent a car. Traffic and parking are both bad in downtown Vancouver. On the flip side, an all-day transit ticket is under $10, and will get you absolutely everywhere. The Hoho only sticks to the downtown core and you can't visit places like Lynn Canyon, Grouse Mt, QE Park etc etc.

 

Also, just use your transit ticket at the end of the day to get to the airport on the Skytrain Canada Line (subway)

 

Absolutely interested in the Canyon, Grouse Mt, and QE Park - so it sounds like car is bad, but either a bus pass or tour is the best option. What other attractions would you put on your must do?

 

What do you do with your luggage during this time?

Edited June 3, 2014 by larcklorn

[martincath]

Absolutely interested in the Canyon, Grouse Mt, and QE Park - so it sounds like car is bad, but either a bus pass or tour is the best option. What other attractions would you put on your must do?

 

What do you do with your luggage during this time?

Luggage gets a bit tricky if you're not using a tour bus or rental car - the storage at the pier only keeps bags until 4pm, so you're stuck with returning to the pier and then dealing with bags again over dinnertime. You could try offering an up-front 'tip' to a hotel bellman to hold your bags for the day (Fairmont or Pan Pacific right at the pier are about as convenient as it gets), go sightseeing, have dinner early-ish then pickup bags & hop right onto the Canada Line to YVR.

 

With only one part-day, I'd strongly suggest prioritizing either the North Shore (Grouse, Cap, or Lynn Canyon) or Vancouver itself - trying to include both sides of the water will suck up a lot of your time in transit.

 

Since you seem to like gardens, parks, outdoorsy stuff I'd recommend considering Dr Sun Yat Sen garden in Chinatown - it's the best traditional Chinese garden anywhere outside China. Excellent location too, easily combined with exploration of Chinatown/Gastown on foot or by HOHO. Walk about 100 yards to the bus stop on Pender and you can hop a 7 or 19 bus to get you to City Centre Skytrain station and take Skytrain up the hill to QE park (about 600 yard walk from Oakridge/41st ave station).

 

Van Dusen is less than a mile from QE Park for even more gardeny goodness - and the 17 bus runs right past on Oak to get you back downtown (or take it instead of Skytrain if VD sounds better than QE to visit first...)

[larcklorn]

Luggage gets a bit tricky if you're not using a tour bus or rental car - the storage at the pier only keeps bags until 4pm, so you're stuck with returning to the pier and then dealing with bags again over dinnertime. You could try offering an up-front 'tip' to a hotel bellman to hold your bags for the day (Fairmont or Pan Pacific right at the pier are about as convenient as it gets), go sightseeing, have dinner early-ish then pickup bags & hop right onto the Canada Line to YVR.

 

With only one part-day, I'd strongly suggest prioritizing either the North Shore (Grouse, Cap, or Lynn Canyon) or Vancouver itself - trying to include both sides of the water will suck up a lot of your time in transit.

 

Since you seem to like gardens, parks, outdoorsy stuff I'd recommend considering Dr Sun Yat Sen garden in Chinatown - it's the best traditional Chinese garden anywhere outside China. Excellent location too, easily combined with exploration of Chinatown/Gastown on foot or by HOHO. Walk about 100 yards to the bus stop on Pender and you can hop a 7 or 19 bus to get you to City Centre Skytrain station and take Skytrain up the hill to QE park (about 600 yard walk from Oakridge/41st ave station).

 

Van Dusen is less than a mile from QE Park for even more gardeny goodness - and the 17 bus runs right past on Oak to get you back downtown (or take it instead of Skytrain if VD sounds better than QE to visit first...)

 

Very good information - although I now feel like I should have started planning this part about a year ago. I really like the idea to prioritize ourselves. Like any large city - you just cannot visit for a day and see everything thanks :)

[BCHappyGal]

With only 1 day IMO I would head to Capilano Suspension Bridge (using the free shuttle you catch it right in front of the Cruise ship terminal) or buy an all day transit pass and cross the harbor on the SeaBus then grab a Capilano Road bus to Capilano Suspension Bridge. Allow yourslefs about 1.5 hours at the bridge. Exit the bridge and reboard the transit bus continuing uphill to the end of the route and you are at Grouse Mtn. Enjoy your lunch on top - watch the Loggers Show - take in the film - meet our resident Grizzley Bears - see birds of prey show... (allow about 4 hours for this) once down the mtn reboard the city bus and ride to the end of the route you are at the Lonsdale Quay terminus for the Sea Bus for the ride back to Vancouver. Once back in Vancouver exit the Sea Bus terminal (used to be the Canadian Pacific Railway Station) and turn left to walk to Gas Town - this was the original settlement of Vancouver and called Granville. (allow about 30 mins for this)

If you have time after this take a bus to Stanley Park and spend whatever time you have left there. You can take a horse drawn trolley tour around the park!

 

Use your all day transit pass to ride the Skytrain to the airport (takes about 30mins)

 

Luggage - either stow it with the bellman at the Pan Pacific Hotel or put it in luggage storage in the cruise ship termianl for an extra fee they will tranfer it to the airport for you and you collect it from their airport storage facitlity ...

[geekypenguin]

Do the luggage transfer to YVR! It's worth it. I just made a post about the prices, it's $40 for four bags. We did the HOHO last year and it wasn't terrible, but if I did that again, I'd just buy a transit pass.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

HOHO trolley best way ..

[lamchops]

With a 10pm flight, you shpuld be at the airport by 8pm so your sightseeing should end before 7:30. For me , I would choose one of the following options.

 

1) Rent a bike for the day near Canada Place and ride the sea wall to Stanley Park and spend some time there. Have brunch in the English bay area or you can ride to Granville Island and spend a couple of hours there. I would leave Granville Island around 3:30 and ride towards Chinatown and spend the remainder visiting Chinatown and the Gastown area befor returning the bikes at 7pm. Hop on the Skytrain at Canada Place and you'll be at the airport in 30 minutes.

Vancouver is a very "bike friendly" city and most of the route I described have bike lanes and you will not need to ride on the road. You can google & plan your route ahead of time. My DW and I are in our late 50's and find this ride flat and safe. Good way to work off the cruise and be tired enough for a good sleep on the plane. :)

http://www.letsgobiking.net/2010/05/10-seaside-four-routes.html

 

2) Buy a bus pass and take the seabus/bus to Grouse Mountain and spend the morning there. Have lunch and make you way back to Canada Place by stopping at Cleveland Dam, Capilano River Fish hatchery, Capilano Suspension Bridge, and finally Lonsdale Quay. All the stops are on the same route so it should be easy. You can have dinner at the Quay or head back on the seabus to see Gastown and have dinner there.

You can use "google maps" to plan your stops.

 

You can't see it all but you'll get a taste and want to come back.

Edited June 17, 2014 by lamchops

[karen s]

I have a similar Q...we're arriving off of the Radiance early on July 25th and spending the night at the Hilton near the airport. My family group of 9 want to see Vancouver that day, but have no idea what to do with our luggage. Any ideas of a private tour company that could accommodate all of us and our luggage for the day (or any other options)?

[martincath]

I have a similar Q...we're arriving off of the Radiance early on July 25th and spending the night at the Hilton near the airport. My family group of 9 want to see Vancouver that day, but have no idea what to do with our luggage. Any ideas of a private tour company that could accommodate all of us and our luggage for the day (or any other options)?

I answered your original Q yesterday on the Alaska forum at least with alternatives to a tour co... sorry, haven't used a private tour co so can't recommend any.

[MarcJ55]

As a general rule, I'm a big fan of taking a city tour. I like hop-on hop off. You won't see everything but you'll get the highlights and will be able to enjoy yourself hassle free while enjoying some color commentary.