What to do with teens in Vancouver and Vancouver Island

[CommeIlFaut]

We have flights booked for Vancouver for two weeks in August. So far, we have booked accommodation and car hire but that is about it. we have three nights in Vancouver (near Stanley Park), four nights in Port Hardy (the very north of Vancouver Island) and five nights in Tofino before heading to Seattle to visit friends for a couple of days.

We are a family, with DD15 and DS12. DS in particular absolutely loves outdoors activities and wildlife. We have enjoyed many summer holidays in the Alps and he loves the sorts of activities available there. He is also fascinated by first nations cultures and has loved masks (a bit specific, I know) since he was a toddler. He is autistic and has issues with executive functioning and so we have found that short and sweet activities tend to work better. I think he would struggle with whole day bear watching excursions, for example. DD enjoys finding out about different cultures, visiting towns and cities, and is a bit of a foodie. She will enjoy visiting anything ‘cool’. But she is also happy to do outdoors and wildlife activities, being a keen Scout.

We are all really excited, it’s a bit of a trip of a lifetime for us. However, it has been such a busy year for everybody. I feel like I have not even begun to think about what to do when we get there. We have a decent budget so I can afford to do a few special activities.

Any ideas, suggestions and experiences would be very welcome.

In Vancouver, I’d recommend FlyOver Canada, Bloedel Conservatory, Granville Island, Capiliano and hiking Grouse Grind. We also took The Squamish Connector bus out to the Sea to Sky Gondola, and stopped off at the Britannia Mine Museum en route. Details are here www.squamishconnector.com/location That was a brilliant day out.

Fort Vancouver, the Anthropological Museum, Stanley Park itself. Also for geeks, many filming locations for TV shows such as Stargate and X-Files 😁

Stanley Park - hire bikes or just walk
Deep Cove - kayaking
Mt Seymour - hiking
Fort Langley - historic site

Just noticed the Anthropology museum is closed until June for earthquake proofing!
However if your DS is interested in First Nations culture he should love this place, it's full of wonderful artefacts and works of art.
https://westcoastcurated.com/museums/museum-of-anthropology/

I love Vancouver Island! Hike out to the natural hot springs near Tofino. They are amazing. And whale watching up in the north of the island is fantastic.

I did kayaking and a surfing lesson on Vancouver island which were both fab.

Thanks. There are some great ideas here. I’m going to sit down with a cuppa tomorrow morning and plan an itinerary.

You can do bear and/or whale watching boat trips from Tofino. We did an evening trip to watch bears which was just a couple of hours but was great (saw bears and cubs foraging for crabs on the shoreline).

Are you doing Vancouver to Port Hardy in a day?

I'd also be tempted to cut down the time in Tofino and spend a night in Victoria.

We did bear watching and whale watching trips in Torfino- both were only about 3 hours each I think.
There is a good taco place - Tacofino.
We did a long coast walk and the place we stayed had paddle boards etc. it was self catering so we did bbqs and fires on the beach etc. was fab.

Capilano suspension bridge

I'd also be tempted to cut down the time in Tofino and spend a night in Victoria.

^

Agreed.

Can you go up to Whistler for a night or two? Get the greyhound, it goes on the amazing Sea to Sky highway, one of the most beautiful in the world

DD enjoys finding out about different cultures, visiting towns and cities, and is a bit of a foodie

^

Granville island. Get the little boat shuttle across. It's toal paradise for goodies, and there's a brewery

Unfortunately, our accommodation is all booked so we would not be able to get to Victoria or Whistler. There was a bit of a shortage of accommodation on Vancouver Island and so we booked where we could, in a bit of a rush. I would like to visit Victoria but was overruled because my husband and son much prefer to be in the wilderness. However, there does seem to be plenty to do and I think we would all appreciate a couple of relaxed days around the beach.

I think we will be leaving from Victoria to get to Seattle. So we will get to see some of the town.

We are planning to travel from Vancouver to Port Hardy in a day. I know that it is going to be a very long day and we will probably need to catch the first ferry out of town. We will pick up a hire car at the port and then make our way up the highway. The route planner says 6 hours, and we will give it 12.

On the plus side, I am married to Zimbabwean who thinks nothing of a 12 hour drive through the wilderness in a pick up truck with wild animals lurking all around us in the dark.

We hired bikes for a visit to Stanley park, in fact our hotel had them for free. It was a very pleasant morning and there was an area of totem poles on the route.

This vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/totems-and-first-nations-art.aspx

Vancouver - aquarium, Chinatown (great food) and Playland Amusement Park.

Vancouver Island - Strathcona Provincial Park

Hire bikes, even tandems around Stanley park. Granville island is interesting for lunch. Take the cable car to grouse mountain if you get clear weather.

On Vancouver Island book to go sea kayaking, bear watching, I've mostly stayed in the south so I can't recommend providers.

In Seattle see if there's anything happening in discovery park at the Native American centre, I went to a salmon bake there when I lived there. Best thing in Seattle though is the museum of flight if aviation is of interest

We took a guided bike tour around the city - with a great guide so it was very interesting. If you budget can stretch there’s always the sea planes - trip of a lifetime for us!

The taco truck in Tofino is very instagrammable. Sounds like you will have so much to do in those places to suit you all. There's great beaches at Tofino and a kind of board walk area if I remember rightly, good for a short hike.

Make sure you stop at Wally Creek for a dip on the way to Tofino - it's unbelievably beautiful and the water was clear turquoise, chilly but swimmable when we went in August. Find it on Google maps (it's on the Pacific Rim Highway).

I love on the island, and spend all my free time up Island.
Gorgeous place, loads to do!
From Port Hardy you can do day trips to Alert Bay (world's tallest totem pole, totem grave yard, amazing museum) Sointula on Malcolm Island, Telegraph Cove, and even out to San Joseph Bay (go with a tour compy and save your cars life)

Hi your holiday sounds amazing. So jealous!

Tofino, make sure you book restaurants very early. Taco van is good but queues are very long.
we did tours with these guys
https://www.adventuretofino.com/bears and a few hours fishing trip. The surfing is really good too there.

i wasn’t a massive fan of Vancouver, but we did enjoy cycling around the park and going down to the beach there.