Vancouver inspiration!

[Heyyaheyya]

Hi
Just booked a week to Vancouver in tne summer. DH and 2 older teens are coming. Booked flights. 3 days stay in Vancouver and 4 on Vancouver island.
Main thing I'm looking at is a whale watching trip from Victoria. But after that I'm literally overwhelmed at options of what else to do!
We are not hiring a car so will be using public transport

Any inspiration?
Looking at Grouse mountain to see tne rescued bears?

In Vancouver - Stanley Park is very pleasant, Granville Island Public Market for interesting cafes, crafts etc, the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia which has a huge and fascinating collection of native artifacts
https://moa.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Museum-of-Anthropology-Haida-House-Photo-By-Cory-Dawson.jpg
Oh, and Capilano suspension bridge and treetop walkways, if you don't mind heights.

I don't know what to suggest on the Island, we've only visited BC to stay with relatives so mostly got taken by them to places they thought we'd like and on the island that was beaver dams, nature reserves etc. The scenery is lovely, but distances are huge!
Victoria is very nice, the old houses are wood, painted in pretty colours. DH and DS went whalewatching from there, I didn't fancy the seasickness 😬. They saw loads of seals and orcas, and were lucky enough to see 2 humpback whales as well.

My favourite place on earth! You will struggle on the Island without a car though. There’s Butchart Gardens immediately after the ferry from Tsawwassen then somehow get across to Victoria. Lovely town, we stayed in the Fairmont on the Harbour and went whale watching, you can also get “flightseeing” on sea planes from there.

Our favourite part however was the incredible drive up to Tofino and the few days we spent enjoying the Pacific Rim National Park. Went bear watching and saw loads, including a mother with cubs, loads of hiking, gorgeous beaches and incredible scenery. I’m not sure it is possible with a car though!

Forgot to say, if you are getting to the island by ferry, the voyage from Tsawwassen (Vancouver) to Victoria is great, you sail past lots of little islands. Beautiful.

Yes we are getting that ferry across to Victoria!!

We went last August and now my favourite place on earth.
Vancouver is so lovely. We stayed in Kitsilano,great beach ,outdoor waterside swimming pool . Looks across to North Vancouver.
Granville island has a great vibe, grouse mountain is stunning but I personally thought the brown bears looked quite sad .
The drive to the ferry terminal for Vancouver Island is stunning.
The crossing beautiful and you might spot a whale whilst on ferry.
We went whale watching from Victoria,fabulous day.
So many islands that you can visit from VI by ferry.
We stayed at Maple Bay .
My son who lived in Vancouver has a video of a big black mummy bear walking across the main road with two of her cubs.
We didn’t see any when we were there but we did have a raccoon outside our accommodation in Vancouver city just chilling!
Stanley park is a day out and gorgeous,ferry’s can be used around Vancouver Harbour….will definitely go back.
If you have time drive to Whistler,absolutely spectacular,get the lift( forgotten what it’s called ) up to the summit…incredible.
Enjoy.X

Oh wow! I've not heard a bad word about VAncouver so far!! I might give the bears a miss then😪

Cycle around Stanley Park in Vancouver! Zip line in Grouse Mountain. And Butchart gardens.

If anyone in the family is a map nerd or otherwise enjoys geographical curiosities, drive down to Delta and go to the US border at Point Roberts, whose existence is a quirk of the agreement that gave all of Vancouver Island to Canada, even the bits below the 49th parallel.

The petrol is priced in litres, not gallons, because almost everyone filling up is Canadian, and it's rumoured that over 10% of the population is in the witness protection programme. Once the school kids get past elementary, they ride to school on a bus that takes them through Canada and back into the main part of Washington state.

You can cross into the US on foot or in your car, but you will need an ESTA.

Love Vancouver

We got the tourist hop on/off bus to Stanley Park and also to Granville Island (got wee ferry back across) and also went to the museum/space museum which was small but a good visit. The planetarium was epic.

We also got the ferry across to North Vancouver and went to Lynn Valley canyon for the little suspension bridge (DH scared of heights so wouldn't cope with Capilano) and that was a beautiful day walking the trail there.

The BC museum in Victoria is excellent.

Our absolute favourite thing in Vancouver was a Vancouver Canadians baseball game. We’d never been to a baseball game before but DS was a bit of a sports nerd. It was so much fun, a glorious sunny afternoon with beer and hot dogs in an old fashioned small baseball park. Loved it.

Grouse mountain was completely shrouded in fog when we went up there. We could just about see the bears through the mist.

Oh I'm.so excited. Thanks for all the ideas! I'm going to have to have a very tight schedule with my time frame. I should have booked longer, but this is costing enough

We are a ten minnwalk from Stanley Park!!

I agree with all the other posts and would highly recommend a car in the island if possible. Our favourite activities were lake swimming / SUPing and river tubing. The river tubing was the highlight of the trip after the whale watching tour.
https://www.cowichanriver.com/

A car is a no go. I certainly wouldn't drive. And to me driving isn't a holiday . Dp would if he had to. But I really don't want a car!!

Driving isn’t that difficult in Canada. You are missing out on VI if you don’t. Maybe there are buses? Going for a week is very limiting. All that way and not seeing VI would kill me! Driving might not be a holiday activity but it’s necessary on VI.

We went 2 years ago with teens. Enjoyed walking about all the streets in Vancouver and hiring bikes to go around Stanley park. We also went and did the Grouse Grind (it was actually quite fun walk up - short but v steep!) and then got the cable car down. We did white water rafting and they will pick up from Vancouver. Victoria is a lot more laid back. The Prince of Whales whale watching was great. Whilst we did have a car we didn't actually venture very far as everywhere is so far away and we didn't want to do that much driving. Sooke potholes were great for a relax by a river but not sure what public transport is like.

I think the great value of the car is to get to a wildlife area on VI. Otherwise I’m not sure of the value of 4 days there other than sea activities from one base.

Thanks for this @samarrange

I'm.a huge map nerd (my mum was a geography teacher) and wasn't aware of Point Roberts.

We're thinking of going to Canada and Rockies next summer (I'm looking at maps already) so this quirk is definitely something to add to the list

A week is very limiting but I don't think I could afford longer! and my main goal is whale watching(hopefully).
A car is out of the question

We spent 4 days in Victoria and 4 in Vancouver without a car and loved it. We had fantastic weather though so spent a lot of time just chilling. DS who was about 19 then loved Victoria’s quirky laid back style. We did Whale watching and the BC museum. Butchart gardens was a bit of a waste of time for us as it was jam-packed.

Yes to grouse mountain, you could go up to Whistler too on the bus too, lovely in summer

@BestIsWest It’s a shame you didn’t see much on VI. It’s far better than that.

Yes, we do plan to go back, we’d just done a busy week elsewhere (and saw loads of wildlife) and were grateful just to chill tbh.
Love Canada, we have been back since but not to Vancouver/VI.