Vancouver Hotel Recommendation

[doone]

Planning a cruise to Alaska out of Vancouver.  We will be arriving 2 days ahead of time, looking for a hotel recommendation as we would love to rent a car and do some sightseeing, particularly heading to Whistler Mountain......thanks,

[hallux]

Did you have a budget in mind?  Did you want to be near Canada Place for ease of embarkation?  Have you looked at any of the numerous threads in this and the other Canada-related sections where people asked the same question?

[doone]

We would like to be near Canada Place for sure, but also close enough to maybe walk to a nice place for dinner or if we don't rent a car, within walking distance of perhaps Robson Street or Granville Island...........budget in mind would be $300 or less in US dollars.

 

I have tried to scour this site and look up information, I can hardly ever get any information that way any longer.

 

thanks,

[d9704011]

Recommend St. Regis Hotel on Dunsmuir.

[doone]

38 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

Recommend St. Regis Hotel on Dunsmuir.

thank you.

[lax19]

My wife and I recently stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront for two nights prior to our August 21st cruise. We booked a partial harbor view king room at $276 per night (after a $120 free night credit through Hotels.Com). We were upgraded to a top floor room with a stunning view of the Harbor. We took the Canada Line in from the Airport and had a short walk to the hotel from the Waterfront Station.  We walked all over Vancouver (Gastown, Chinatown, Granville Island) and averaged 6 miles per day.

On Embarkation Day, we called the bell desk, they took our luggage (and delivered it to the ship) and we walked across the street to Canada Place (actually we walked half a block to the cross-walk and then to Canada Place).  

[doone]

30 minutes ago, lax19 said:

My wife and I recently stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront for two nights prior to our August 21st cruise. We booked a partial harbor view king room at $276 per night (after a $120 free night credit through Hotels.Com). We were upgraded to a top floor room with a stunning view of the Harbor. We took the Canada Line in from the Airport and had a short walk to the hotel from the Waterfront Station.  We walked all over Vancouver (Gastown, Chinatown, Granville Island) and averaged 6 miles per day.

On Embarkation Day, we called the bell desk, they took our luggage (and delivered it to the ship) and we walked across the street to Canada Place (actually we walked half a block to the cross-walk and then to Canada Place).  

Excellent, thank you.

[martincath]

5 hours ago, doone said:

We would like to be near Canada Place for sure, but also close enough to maybe walk to a nice place for dinner or if we don't rent a car, within walking distance of perhaps Robson Street or Granville Island...........budget in mind would be $300 or less in US dollars.

 

I have tried to scour this site and look up information, I can hardly ever get any information that way any longer.

 

thanks,

Google Maps is your friend for all info related to 'is X near Y and how do I get there?' as you don't need to wait for folks on CC to respond, and you can guarantee actually verifiable data rather than just opinions. Basically, for most reasonable definitions of 'walking distance' you can pick literally ANY hotel in the downtown core and it will fit all your criteria. And with US$300 a night to spend, as long as you avoid the couple of 5* places and the handful of 4*s with views, you can probably choose from virtually every downtown core hotel budget-wise too!

 

For your convenience, here's a map with Canada Place and Granville Island preselected - just hit up Expedia, Trip Advisor etc. and search for hotels that are available and within budget on your dates then plug the hotel name into the middle slot of the directions (where I've currently, very arbitrarily, placed the Westin Grand) and you'll see the total distance on foot from the hotel to both of these locations (including the little ferries to GI - you can walk all the way around False Creek instead, or over a bridge and back, but the ferries are waaaaaaaay quicker). Canada Place itself is probably the least-relevant thing to be near as you only HAVE to go there once, to board. Since a cab from the furthest-away hotels in the core will only run about $15 tops (e.g. Sylvia at English Bay, Westin Bayshore) I'm sure that you will now realise that it's being within walking distance of the places you will visit most often that is more relevant... so tweak the map for Chinatown, Stanley Park, etc. etc. as you desire.

 

NB: renting a car is about the worst possible thing you could do unless you do head outside the city. Whistler is definitely a lot easier to reach with your own car (and cheaper than a bus tour for two, though there are shuttle buses which don't do commentary etc. that might work out to be cheaper than car, gas, parking costs), a handful of suburban sites in and around Vancouver too, but as first-timers you will find that probably 90% of all the popular sites are downtown or have a free shuttle from there - so unless your tastes are VERY outside the 'Joe Q Normal' range odds are that you will find a rental car more of an expensive inconvenience than an aid. Parking's pricey, often hard to find at all near popular places, and cars are subject to frequent break-ins all over downtown and at every major tourist site car park (if you do visit Whistler, hide ALL your shiny things in the trunk when parked there, or at any of the Waterfalls etc. en route).

[Northern Aurora]

Last fall we stayed at the Auberge as the Pan Pacific was totally booked (they were hosting a conference).  While I prefer the Pan Pacific, the Auberge was fine and included a breakfast in our rate.  From the Auberge we didn't even bother with a cab -- we just walked to the Canada Place cruise terminal on the morning of embarkation.

[rkacruiser]

My first choice of hotels is Pan Pacific followed by Fairmont Waterfront.  Either one ought to be within your price range.  Both are well located with multiple dining venues of different types within walking distance of the hotels.  Renting a car and using it only within the urban area is not something that I would consider.  I have never been to Whistler, so I can't make any recommendations about that.

 

Wanting to visit Granville Island, the Hop On/Off bus has a stop at Canada Place and is an easy way to visit the Island.

[doone]

You guys rock, great info, thanks a million.....

[ell52]

Don't know how much you've researched Whistler -- but it's a full-day trip if you plan to stop along the way,  spend time in the Village, and explore the mountains. There's a lot to do in Whistler if you like outdoor activities!  If not doing Whistler, I'd also advise against renting a car in Vancouver. 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

The hotels I stay at the most (usually on business trips) are the Sutton Place, Fairmont Vancouver and Fairmont Waterfront.

[doone]

I have been to Whistler several times, a few in my group have never been and thought it would be a great day excursion, however, with what I have read here, we may opt NOT to rent the car.  Its been a while since I have been to Vancouver, a friend of mine lived in Squamish, I visited her yearly, she has since moved back to the States, I was hoping to share some of my places I loved in this area with this group of friends.  Another great spot I always enjoyed was Horseshoe Bay.........so beautiful......

 

thanks everyone, you have been extremely helpful.............as always !!

[martincath]

You'll find that 'Squish' has expanded a LOT since you last visited! Frankly I always found the first part of the Sea to Sky the best - Horseshoe Bay, Britannia Mine Museum, Shannon Falls then lunch at the Howe Sound brewpub. The fancy gondola up the Chief has unfortunately been sabotaged, but they hope to be back up by Spring 2020 so hopefully an option on your dates.

 

You could easily spend most of a day just pootling around the Vancouver-Squamish parts if you hit up all the scenic viewpoints, then add in Lynn Canyon on the way up or back, and you'll have made excellent use of a car for one day. By the sounds of it you have a few people coming along, so a car rental is going to be great value compared to any kind of tour of these parts (and with parking split between enough people, you might find that strategic sites within Vancouver itself could actually be cheaper to visit than using transit too, e.g. Queen Elizabeth Park, UBC, even Stanley Park).

[doone]

3 hours ago, martincath said:

You'll find that 'Squish' has expanded a LOT since you last visited! Frankly I always found the first part of the Sea to Sky the best - Horseshoe Bay, Britannia Mine Museum, Shannon Falls then lunch at the Howe Sound brewpub. The fancy gondola up the Chief has unfortunately been sabotaged, but they hope to be back up by Spring 2020 so hopefully an option on your dates.

 

You could easily spend most of a day just pootling around the Vancouver-Squamish parts if you hit up all the scenic viewpoints, then add in Lynn Canyon on the way up or back, and you'll have made excellent use of a car for one day. By the sounds of it you have a few people coming along, so a car rental is going to be great value compared to any kind of tour of these parts (and with parking split between enough people, you might find that strategic sites within Vancouver itself could actually be cheaper to visit than using transit too, e.g. Queen Elizabeth Park, UBC, even Stanley Park).

Great suggestions, its been a while since I have been there, your so right, but always found that area so beautiful.  Oh yes, the Chief, that is a pretty spectacular site for sure....thanks a million everyone, you Have all been so helpful......

Edited September 4, 2019 by doone