Vancouver - please suggest an affordable nice hotel in July! So expensive

[Sunbeds]

Hi,
We’re going to Vancouver/Vancouver Island in July this year and land around 7pm (their time). I need to find a hotel in a nice part of the city for a couple of nights before crossing over to the island but so far they seem horrendously expensive!
We need two rooms (me, DH, DS22 and DS9). Ideally handy for Stanley Park but just don’t want to blindly stumble into a rough part of the city.
Have any of you ladies been? Would love to hear from you 😊

Vancouver is a smallish city, the ‘nice’ parts will be expensive! We stayed at the Shangri-La and Opus for 2 nights each. Id suggest as you’re arriving so late to stay in an hotel near the airport and just get a bus into the city for the day. You’ll get a reasonable hotel for £200 a night

BTW where are you staying on VI?

It’s a few years ago now but we stayed at the Times Square Suites. Great location close to Stanley Park and loads of good restaurants along Denman St. you can walk in one direction to the beach and the other to the marina.

We've stayed in Vancouver. All the hotel are pricey, I don't think there's any getting away from that. We stopped at The Loden, which is a lovely hotel in the right location but it's expensive, so can't offer advice on that. The Canada Place area is really handy for Stanley Park but it is cruise ship central, hence the prices.

One thing I'd say is steer well clear of the East Hastings Street area Even driving through, it was awful. People in tents (although they clear them from time to time) clearly off their heads on drugs, standing like zombie statues bent over, not moving. Shopping trolleys with people's possessions. It was so sad, and utterly shocking juxtaposed against the wealth just a block away. It will stay with me forever.

On the island, there's so much to see, I assumed you're going whale watching? That's an unbelievable experience.

We stayed at the Exchange Hotel last year which was lovely and very central, but not exactly cheap. You just need to make sure you don’t go too far past the Gaslamp Quarter to avoid the fentanyl junkies.

@Soontobe60 thank you. That is a good idea really as we would be in the right area probably for the days afterwards. Is it a safe area? Reasonably pleasant? We land on a Thursday evening, have Friday at Stanley Park, hire a car Saturday morning and then depart for Vancouver Island - or that’s what I’m thinking (best plans etc…). Are there buses up to Stanley Park from the airport area?
@FirstsignsofSpring and @Flatandhappy thanks for the advice - will avoid it. It is shocking that they haven’t got the support. How on earth can you get out of that way of life without help?

@WickedGoodDoge Times Square Suites Hotel looks great! Actually a few years ago we went to Alberta and toured the Rockies staying in self catering motels. That’s EXACTLY what I want to do this time.

We don’t mind doing some cooking and saving the money for excursions.
Sadly, unless I find a miracle cure for DS22 we won’t be whale watching at sea. Took him from Kaikoura in NZ a few years ago and he was soooo sick. You only have to put him on a swing for him to get motion sickness. Such a pity. He has to be the driver to avoid it and I doubt they’ll let him captain the ship!

If you have ANY tips for Vancouver and Vancouver Island please share. All I’ve done so far is book flights and travel insurance.

I haven't been to Vancouver for some years now (sadly) but I used to stay at the YWCA Hotel https://ywcavan.org/hotel . I can't speak for the area now but it was fine then, and the hotel is very reasonable.

My suggestion would be to hire bikes and ride round Stanley Park, we did that and was such a nice way to see the park, it was recommended as an activity by friends who lived in Vancouver for a few years. If you have time two other places I’d recommend visiting is Capilano Suspension bridge park, and Grouse Mountain, both just north of Vancouver, but both stunning. You can get free shuttle buses to both places from Canada Place.

Edited to add, if you like swimming there is a fabulous open air pool at Kitsilano, it’s massive and has amazing views over the city and the mountains (something else our friends recommended)

Has DS tried the Dramamine travel sickness tablets? They are great, come in a yellow tube. I have never seen them in the UK but bought them in the US so hopefully maybe in Canada too. They are brilliant.

I stayed at the sandman. Has a car park, with car hire in the basement so we took the metro there and hire the car at 9am the following morning saving quite a lot as there no airport surcharge

Rent bikes for Stanley park (tandems are fun) go across to grouse mountain, go to the market on the island (Grenville I think, name escapes me), then on Vancouver Island Victoria is lovely, I found a reasonable but 5 star hotel which had a kitchen etc. zoo, gardens etc

We’ve stayed at the Pinnacle Harbourfront a couple of times. (February and June).

@Flatandhappy yep, discovered that by walking too far! Couldn’t believe how quickly a central location if a major city deteriorated. We were there pre Covid and the homelessness was awful I’m sure it’s worse now,

@Sunbeds we stayed at the westin near Stanley park but can’t remember how much we paid. It was a lovely hotel in a good location. We always enjoyed eating in Earl’s - a chain of bars that does different (often alliterative) deals each day, so margarita Monday, wing Wednesday etc. also Cora’s does the best breakfasts. In Vancouver, capilano suspension bridge park is great. In Victoria we loved the museum of BC history - spent a whole day there.

Thank you everyone xx
oh my goodness, if the Dramamine works, that could open up such a lot of options 🙏

We are going to be in Canada for 10 nights. I have nothing planned yet. How would you spend the time? Carte blanche!

If you've not already done so, you need to look at booking your ferries over to VI, plus your car hire. Whereabouts on the island do you want to visit? Again, at that time of year you need to book accommodation asap.
Also, at 22, if your DC doesn’t want to go whale watching, leave him on land and go yourselves!!

Re travel sickness, has he tried hyoscine? I'm queen of travel sickness sadly and get sick in a pedalo on a lake, after a couple of miles in a car etc but am fine with hyoscine, even on a whale watching boat. It's the most effective of all the treatments in trials, and you can get patches which last for several days if you're travelling a lot. It's in Kwells and one of the Boots OTC Owen brand tablets (Travel Calm I think).

This stuff is amazing in Canada. I need to go back just to buy some!

Eagle Wing Tours are fantastic for whale watching from Victoria (even if you can't all go), the guides are so knowledgeable and nothing feels rushed.

I'd say whatever you do, book everything that needs booking well ahead. We went in May and had to work hard to keep away from masses of tourists with selfie sticks. Fortunately DH found lots of off the beaten track places to visit, but it will be very busy.

Vancouver is £££ & TBH the difference in price between an average hotel and an excellent one was about £22 a night 18m ago. With that in mind, I booked 3 nights at the Hyatt because it was voted best hotel breakfast in the city.

It was amazing.

The location was great and we walked everywhere. We also went whale watching and dosed DD (v travel sick) up and she did great.

we then spent time with friends in Port Moody, went to Kitsilano a couple of times then drove the sea to sky highway up to Whistler for 4 nights skiing. Heaven.

edited to add - DH & DD weren’t fussed about whale watching but seemed taken aback when I said it was something I was absolutely going to do but it was so £££ that they shouldn’t come if they were ambiguous about it. They both changed their minds and agree it was a really incredible experience for us all to share.

We were in Van last July. Highlight was definitely Whale watching trip. We went with Prince of Whales.
We also cycled round Stanley Park and drove the Sea to Sky Highway.
Check whether the International Fireworks competition is on. That was amazing everyone sat on the beaches and whatever floating thing they could get their hands on to watch the fireworks in the bay!
Gastown is supposed to be dodgy. There are probably a lot of homeless and people sleeping off drugs around. I might not recommend it for smaller kids but it didn't bother my teens. They are used to it from our city.

My tip if you do find a cure for seasickness and go whale watching (we went from Victoria) is wear something warm. It was 75 degrees in July but it was bloody freezing out at sea.

Also agree with PP that the BC museum in Victoria is brilliant.
Don’t waste your time going to Butchart Gardens. It was pretty enough but rammed.

We stayed in an apartment in the Sutton Place in Vancouver - there was a lovely supermarket next door for breakfast stuff.

Hi OP we were in Vancouver last July visiting my son who was working there .
Vancouver is absolutely stunning,we rented a house in Kitsilano ( where my son lived ) . We stayed there for 5 nights and it cost about £1000 and it was close to bus route,beach ,open air pool in Kitsilano Beach which unfortunately was closed but has now been repaired and reopened.
Strongly recommend drive to Whistler ,beautiful drive and stunning views from top of the mountain. Grouse Mountain was stunning as well .
We stayed in Maple Bay on Vancouver Island. We hired a car from airport and had it for 10 days ,so took it over to Vancouver Island. We went whale watching South of Vancouver Airport and it was fabulous . We also had a black bear cross the road in front of us as we were driving on Vancouver Island.
We really had an amazing time ,favourite holiday ever.
I also loved Stanley Park ,hire bikes , granville island . So much to do in Vancouver m each,mountains ,food heaven ,clean and just avoid East Hastings Street which is actually quite a walk from the central part of Vancouver.My son loved living there for a year .

The Pinnacle Harbourfront would be my suggestion for a more affordable, decent hotel. Walking distance to Stanley Park and downtown. If you are planning on driving to the Island then make sure you get your ferry booked soon- you do not want to attempt to travel without a reservation, you will spend all day sitting in the ferry lineup.

A day trip up the Sea To Sky highway towards Whistler would be a good day out. You don’t even need to go all the way to Whistler- stop in Squamish and go up the Sea to Sky Gondola, visit Shannon Falls, you can keep going a bit further north - Tantalus lookout just north of Squamish has beautiful views.

On the Island, I highly recommend taking the time to go over to Tofino and / or Ucluelet on the west coast. Look into accommodation now - lots of self catering but gets booked up quickly and is $ but it’s just the most beautiful place. Stop in Coombs to see the goats on the roof and buy a doughnut on the way there.

Victoria is a nice city, a day would be enough I think.