Vancouver ideas
Discussion
Looks like I'm going to have 3 days in Vancouver next month on the way home from Whistler.
Anyone spent any time there? I know it usually tops the charts of best cities in the world so I've got high hopes.
I'll probably arrive pretty skint, what's great to do / see on a reasonable budget? I don't mind a bit of night life, but I'm not what you'd call a big drinker and I'm a jeans and
T-shirt type of bloke so nightclubs are out of the question.
Anyone spent any time there? I know it usually tops the charts of best cities in the world so I've got high hopes.
I'll probably arrive pretty skint, what's great to do / see on a reasonable budget? I don't mind a bit of night life, but I'm not what you'd call a big drinker and I'm a jeans and
T-shirt type of bloke so nightclubs are out of the question.
That's going to depend on what your into, grouse mountain has summer activities, get the tram up and its got good views of the city if you are below the cloud, although you may be summer ski resorted out by then if you are coming down from whistler.
On the road to grouse there is capilano suspension bridge and park, if you are into trees, bridges and suspended walkways then you will enjoy this.
Some excellent scenery can be seen from the Vancouver island ferries, especially if there is low cloud hanging in the islands as it has a real dark, sinister moody look about it all. If you get the ferry back to Tsawwassen there is one point where they go through a passage between two islands where they basically handbrake turn the huge car ferry to get between them and through the gap, but horseshoe bay probably has the better scenery.
There is also stanly park which is worth a look and the view of lions gate bridge
On the road to grouse there is capilano suspension bridge and park, if you are into trees, bridges and suspended walkways then you will enjoy this.
Some excellent scenery can be seen from the Vancouver island ferries, especially if there is low cloud hanging in the islands as it has a real dark, sinister moody look about it all. If you get the ferry back to Tsawwassen there is one point where they go through a passage between two islands where they basically handbrake turn the huge car ferry to get between them and through the gap, but horseshoe bay probably has the better scenery.
There is also stanly park which is worth a look and the view of lions gate bridge
Agree about Grouse mountain
If you like Chinese food - head to Chinatown. When the transcontinental railroads were finished all the labourers ( mostly Chinese) came to rest in Vancouver. Excellent food and restaurants
The Aquarium is good too - not quite up to Miami standards - but we enjoyed it
If you're driving down - stop at kicking horse pass and look at the spiral tunnels on the railroad, front of the train is coming out at one end while the end is going in hundreds of feet below.
If you like Chinese food - head to Chinatown. When the transcontinental railroads were finished all the labourers ( mostly Chinese) came to rest in Vancouver. Excellent food and restaurants
The Aquarium is good too - not quite up to Miami standards - but we enjoyed it
If you're driving down - stop at kicking horse pass and look at the spiral tunnels on the railroad, front of the train is coming out at one end while the end is going in hundreds of feet below.
If you like Photography, head up to Prospect Point in Stanley park as it looks out of the Burrard Inlet and the Lions Gate bridge which is cool at night.
Right now there's Bard on the Beach if culture's you thing.
Lots of excellent restaurants here in town. If you want to see some nice cars, head over the Burrard bridge and on the Kits side you have the Aston and Ferrari delaerships next to each other.
Right now there's Bard on the Beach if culture's you thing.
Lots of excellent restaurants here in town. If you want to see some nice cars, head over the Burrard bridge and on the Kits side you have the Aston and Ferrari delaerships next to each other.
Jasper Gilder said:
If you're driving down - stop at kicking horse pass and look at the spiral tunnels on the railroad, front of the train is coming out at one end while the end is going in hundreds of feet below.
I agree with seeing the spiral tunnels, although going through them on the RM was a bit of an anti climax, but they are rather a detour on the route from Whistler to Vancouver, now if he had said banff..... Thanks for all the great ideas all, really looking forward to it now!
A lot of it depends on how badly broken I am after Whistler, 6 days in the Bikepark will prbably mean I'll be black and blue.
Ferry sightseeing trips and Asian food - sounds like my kind of day, pretty much sums up my ideal Sunday when I lived in Sydney, only then it was Thai instead of Chineese.
A lot of it depends on how badly broken I am after Whistler, 6 days in the Bikepark will prbably mean I'll be black and blue.
Ferry sightseeing trips and Asian food - sounds like my kind of day, pretty much sums up my ideal Sunday when I lived in Sydney, only then it was Thai instead of Chineese.
If you're going up Grouse Mountain, consider the posh restaurant, who will give you a free cable car ticket if you have a main course. (We did this.) You can also walk / run up and get the cable car down. See the Grizzlies up there, and the lumberjack show is pretty funny too.
You could go on a seaplane around the city, we did, it was pricy, but worth it. There are whale watching trips as well, have a Google.
If you're a man, the Capilano Bridge will hardly give you the jitters. I took the wife. She was scared. I bounced it quite a bit. She went white, then a bit green. Then red with rage when we were back on land.
She's not even Italian.
You can walk the coast path of Stanley Park leisurely in about 3 hours easily. Start from Coal Harbour, and have an Ice Cream from the Marble Slab place in English Bay. It's ace. You can bike Anti-Clockwise around Stanley Park too, and there are trails through if you wanted to do a bit more.
We stayed in English Bay Hotel, and if you're looking for fairly cheap digs, you could do a lot worse. Let me know if you want more details.
If there's anything else you want to know, just ask!
You could go on a seaplane around the city, we did, it was pricy, but worth it. There are whale watching trips as well, have a Google.
If you're a man, the Capilano Bridge will hardly give you the jitters. I took the wife. She was scared. I bounced it quite a bit. She went white, then a bit green. Then red with rage when we were back on land.
She's not even Italian.You can walk the coast path of Stanley Park leisurely in about 3 hours easily. Start from Coal Harbour, and have an Ice Cream from the Marble Slab place in English Bay. It's ace. You can bike Anti-Clockwise around Stanley Park too, and there are trails through if you wanted to do a bit more.
We stayed in English Bay Hotel, and if you're looking for fairly cheap digs, you could do a lot worse. Let me know if you want more details.
If there's anything else you want to know, just ask!
Take a seaplane ride from the harbour. If you take a plane to an actual destination then they use relatively modern turbo-prop thingies. But they were using a De Havilland Beaver [ooh er missis] for the shorter sigtseeing groups - so a proper radial engine with supercharger and someone gets to sit up front with the pilot , sounds absolutely superb. No idea of the age of the one we were on, but I gather they started building them mid 40s, and ended in the 60s. Something very petrol-head about a 16 litre 9 cylinder engine. Pilot claimed is was rated at 450hp, but with the supercharger on for takeoff it would muster 500hp. In restrospect we were very glad we took the cheapskate 1-hour trip rather than the 1/2 day excursions as everything else seemed to use turboprops.
, sounds absolutely superb. No idea of the age of the one we were on, but I gather they started building them mid 40s, and ended in the 60s. Something very petrol-head about a 16 litre 9 cylinder engine. Pilot claimed is was rated at 450hp, but with the supercharger on for takeoff it would muster 500hp. In restrospect we were very glad we took the cheapskate 1-hour trip rather than the 1/2 day excursions as everything else seemed to use turboprops.louiebaby said:
Capilano Bridge
We stayed in English Bay Hotel, and if you're looking for fairly cheap digs, you could do a lot worse. Let me know if you want more details.
If there's anything else you want to know, just ask!
Thanks, the Bridge looks fun, frankly after the bike park we'll be sporting thousand yard stares and completely drained of adrenalin so it'll be a nice sightseeing walk We stayed in English Bay Hotel, and if you're looking for fairly cheap digs, you could do a lot worse. Let me know if you want more details.
If there's anything else you want to know, just ask!
Hotels are becoming a sticking point, I'll have a look at English Bay, Vancouver is really expensive to stay it seems!
I'm in a group of 5 friends, we range from growing up in a scuzzy estate to a fringe member of the aristocracy so we're looking at (aka fighting over) everything from Backpacker Hostels to 5* Hotels, and everything in-between, posh boy is tight as hell as you can imagine.
English Bay Hotel is about 30 mins walk from the shopping and nightlife area of Downtown. The parking is $10 a car a night plus tax. The "suite" we had was a double and a single, with a small kitchenette, TV, dining table and bathroom.
If you are good friends, get two rooms and draw straws for who gets a double to themselves and which two have to share.
The hotel is worn, but was clean, didn't smell too bad, and was in a reasonable part of town. I would happily live in one of the rooms for the summer months, but the windows were very thin for the winter.
There is a Safeway about 10 mins walk away to get breakfast essentials, and full sized fridge in the kitchenette.
Give them a ring, after 17:00 UK time, and speak slow, as they as are Asian, and there English is a bit slow. Much better than my Korean, or whatever, and they were very helpful once they understood the question.
If you are good friends, get two rooms and draw straws for who gets a double to themselves and which two have to share.
The hotel is worn, but was clean, didn't smell too bad, and was in a reasonable part of town. I would happily live in one of the rooms for the summer months, but the windows were very thin for the winter.
There is a Safeway about 10 mins walk away to get breakfast essentials, and full sized fridge in the kitchenette.
Give them a ring, after 17:00 UK time, and speak slow, as they as are Asian, and there English is a bit slow. Much better than my Korean, or whatever, and they were very helpful once they understood the question.
The four seasons is very nice but pricey. Sutton place is still a pretty good 5* hotel but is cheaper and sometimes not much more then lesser hotels in downtown. Both are just a half to a block off Robson st, so right in the middle of the shopping and restaurants etc
You may bump into a few b grade tv stars in the sutton as its just up the road from the ctv studios and has a long term residence section, we saw lex from smallville in the spa rehearsing his lines on our first visit, shame it wasn't chloe or lana
You may bump into a few b grade tv stars in the sutton as its just up the road from the ctv studios and has a long term residence section, we saw lex from smallville in the spa rehearsing his lines on our first visit, shame it wasn't chloe or lana
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