YWCA Vancouver for sightseeing?

[VermeulT]

How hard is it to travel around downtown for sightseeing?

I'm leaning very strongly to the YWCA but it looks to be about 3km to Stanley Park - how (besides walking) would be best to get there?  Same question for Canada Place and Granville Island.

 

Thank you all.  CC is so very helpful!

[martincath]

Like all downtown core hotels, the Y is closer to some attractions but further from others! It's one of the most convenient for  Yaletown, Chinatown, and Gastown but of course that means it's on the opposite end of the core from Stanley Park. Since the best way to see the park is by bike, you can easily enough just rent one close to the Y and then use the bike to get to the park as well as around it - prices are inflated right next to the park entrances as far too many people rent spur of the moment from Spokes and their ilk instead of checking into prices in advance.

 

Granville Island is easily enough reached the same day as the park by continuing to ride around the Seawall - or you can shave off about 5 klicks by taking the little ferries instead (personally I'd ride one way to see the Athletes Village, ferry the other - there's no charge to take a bike and Aquabus actually have RORO boats they call their Cyqabus model, where bikes & wheelchairs just get pushed straight on with no steps needed).

 

If your whole group cannot ride bikes, or it's raining and you don't want to, then the number 19 bus goes right into the park; the number 50 is the closest service to Granville Island and also stops in Chinatown - these are the two best 'tourist buses' among regular transit options. But you can even overcome the issue of non-riders by renting adult tricycles, or if some folks can ride but others can't pairing up a rider with a non-rider on a tandem. These are both available at JV Bikes, which is only 500 yards away and conveniently en route to the north False Creek part of the Seawall, about 5mins on foot. Simons Bikes is even closer but only rents 1 person 2 wheelers (though I think they have some eBikes these days if it's more of a physical stamina thing than a balance thing that prevents folks riding).

 

The other bike option to consider, which works well for tourists making lots of photo stops, is a one-day MobiBike pass - for just $12 you get to ride for 24 hours, provided you do it in 30 minute or less chunks (extra charges apply after 30mins). Given how many MobiBike racks are all over the city now, including multiple spots within Stanley Park, it's surprisingly practical to treat this like a 'bike HOHO' and go point-to-point. As long as just 1 person has any kind of web-enabled device you can release up to 4 bikes - and the citywide free #VanWiFi network enables web access to sign up if you decided to wait until on the day.

 

Canada Place - on embarkation day a cab is probably the easiest, as you'll have luggage - but if you can walk a mile on minimally-sloping sidewalks you can certainly just walk there too.

 

[VermeulT]

3 hours ago, martincath said:

If your whole group cannot ride bikes, or it's raining and you don't want to, then the number 19 bus goes right into the park; the number 50 is the closest service to Granville Island and also stops in Chinatown - these are the two best 'tourist buses' among regular transit options.

 

3 hours ago, martincath said:

The other bike option to consider, which works well for tourists making lots of photo stops, is a one-day MobiBike pass - for just $12 you get to ride for 24 hours, provided you do it in 30 minute or less chunks (extra charges apply after 30mins). Given how many MobiBike racks are all over the city now, including multiple spots within Stanley Park, it's surprisingly practical to treat this like a 'bike HOHO' and go point-to-point. As long as just 1 person has any kind of web-enabled device you can release up to 4 bikes

 

Thank you Thank you Thank you

[scottbee]

On 1/28/2020 at 9:39 AM, VermeulT said:

How hard is it to travel around downtown for sightseeing?

I'm leaning very strongly to the YWCA but it looks to be about 3km to Stanley Park - how (besides walking) would be best to get there?  Same question for Canada Place and Granville Island.

 

if you like public transit, this is a great system

 

Stanley Park: #19 bus goes up Dunsmuir, two blocks from your hotel

Canada Place:  Skytrain Expo line runs from Stadium Station (one block from your hotel), straight to the cruise terminal (Waterfront Station - ½ block away)

Granville Island, #50 bus runs from Dunsmuir (2 blocks) to Granville Island

 

Again, translink.ca is great resource

[VermeulT]

20 hours ago, scottbee said:

 

 

Again, translink.ca is great resource

Appreciate it!