Vancouver

Looking for any experiences of Vancouver. Thinking of using our Select tickets to have a visit in early September, is it a worthwhile city to visit, would 2 weeks be to long to stay there, any other areas I could combine rather than stay for 2 weeks?

Would appreciate any replies.

Never been to Vancouver but Seattle's only a short drive over the border, or you can take a ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles for the Olympic National Park.

[Nottingham Nick]

I love Vancouver as a city, there are a number of options.

As gumshoe suggests, you can drive south into the US, or you can go the other way up the 'sea to sky highway' to Whistler. They spend a fortune improving the roads for the winter olympics a couple of years back and it is now a nice drive.

Victoria is also lovely and a two week tour would give you plenty of time to see a lot of the area.

If you do manage to use the select vouchers, please let us know how easy it was to get availability.

Nick

I echo the delights of Victoria. You can get a ferry direct from Vancouver or via Nanaimo and then get the (one a day) train down to Victoria. - I did this a few years ago as I don't drive.

Whistler in the rockies is reasonably close and from there the world is your lobster as they say.!

In Vancouver I suggest a visit to

The Art Gallery
Grouse Mountain (via the cable car)
Granville Island - nice market and a brewery (who do tours and tasting)
Stanley Park - bike around the sea wall path
Anthropology Museum at University of British Columbia

Vancouver has an excellent transport system so is easy to get around. Igt is worth getting the skytrain to King George ans cross the SkyBridge which is one of the longest bridges in the world!

I was there a couple of weeks ago for a conference, which didn't give me a lot of time to explore the city, but - it is now on my future list for a vacation base. It is a lovely city. I thought it was architecturally very interesting - a little like Chicago. The Canada Place area is where the big cruise ships come in (again worth seeing). Shopping - good but no bargain city!

Things to do:
Walk around the 7km of Stanley Park
Take a seaplane tour of the city
Have dinner in the Blue Water Cafe (if you like seafood). £££ but fantastic - plan for £80-100 per person with a decent wine and a cocktail.
http://www.bluewatercafe.net/
I didn't have a bad meal whilst there.

Safety. I chose a little boutique hotel (converted motel) about 1.5km from the Canada Place area, and walked back and forth up and down Burrard St, sometimes twice day. Never had any sense of threat. There are no-go areas (E Hasting St) but there is no real reason for you to venture there. There are a fair number of beggars, but they were courteous and not threatening. One held the door to the 7-11 where I got my fruit/yoghurt for breakfast, and gave me a cheery good morning - needless to say he got most of my loose change!

I envy you going there. We have 2 weeks in SoCal this year but Vancouver might be on the list soon.

To be honest, I didnt think much of Vancouver.
However, it is the gateway to some amazing places and some of the most spectacular scenery we have ever seen. Victoria, Banff, Jasper and the Rockies, Harrison Hot Springs etc.

Vancouver is by far my favourite place in the world.

I won't repeat what others have said but will add:
English bay beach at sunset
Gastown
Lighthouse park in north van (it's a short bus ride away)

Seattle is also fantastic. I can recommend getting the train. It can be hella cheap!