Vancouver Travel Forum

Hello there!!
A friend and I will be visiting Vancouver for the first time this winter. We'll be spending Christmas and New Years there and we were wondering what sorts of activities vancouver has to offer. What can we do and where can we go?
We're aware of the wet weather!! Please let us know what might be fun during this time. Thanks!! :)

it's a 2 hour bus ride to whistler to go skiing in one of the best ski resorts in the world.

unfortunately it will be too cold and wet to visit the local nudist beach.

Most of the typical tourist attractions are still worthwhile if the weather is right.
The Capilano Suspension Bridge.
Parts of Stanley Park get decorated around christmas and they have a special run of their train over the xmas holidays.
Taking the gondola up to Grouse Mountain for drinks, maybe dinner to watch the city light up below you and the sun set.
The Yale bar down on Granville always has great blues bands.
BC Place Stadium usually hosts a huge Christmas craft fair over the holidays.
Granville Island Market is always worth a visit.
Vancouver Canucks hockey should be happening, but a cheaper and maybe more entertaining thrill would be the Vancouver Giants Junior hockey.

Grouse Mountain has a few attractions only available in winter. You can catch the "Theatre in the Sky", or go on a sleigh ride. Also, as someone else mentioned, Stanley park puts on a few extras attractions for Christmas.

Take notice of the construction cranes on top of the buildings. It's the only city I've seen that puts Christmas lights up on them.

If you want to go skiing, there are a few choices. You could go up to Whistler, which is a little bit expensive but world-class. If you don't want to spend as much, you could try Grouse Mountain which is just a 15 minute drive from downtown. Or, if you're new to skiing, you could try Seymour Mountain, which is also close to Vancouver. It's a good mountain for adult beginners because the easy slopes are long enough to be interesting still. Seymour is also the cheapest of all the mountains around Vancouver.

A little tip about Boxing Day (now extended to Boxing Week). The day after Christmas, people often go shopping to snap up all the sales that happen right after Christmas. If you're going to try this, I strongly suggest to don't drive to the mall. Take the skytrain, bus, or just walk, because the traffic and parking are an absolute nightmare. I prefer to just stay away, and spend my time either at home with my feet up, or sitting in a coffee shop watching the world go by.

As for what you can do when it's raining; the answer is almost anything you'd do when it's not raining. You can still walk around Stanley Park, just bring a raincoat or an umbrella. Something that would probably be really nice to do would be to visit the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. It has loads of Native art and artifacts, and is a beautiful and peaceful place to visit. You can see some totem poles that are not quite as gaudy as those you find in Stanley Park. There's also the Nitobe Japanese Gardens at the UBC campus, which is meant to be beautiful when experienced in the dimness of a Vancouver winter's day. All of the droplets of rain on the leaves really adds something to the garden.

Hi there, although there is a fair amount of precipitation in Vancouver throughout winter, being from back east I loved the fact that you do not have to shovel it. A simple quick ride up one of the local mountains, Seymour, Grouse or Cypress and you are in a snow filled winter wonder land. My favorite was Cypress, Where you can rent all the equipment need to enjoy the snow. They have snow shoeing, cross country skiing, down hill skiing and a great toboggan run. There are golf courses open almost year round, and driving Rangers galore. Get some hockey gear together and virtually every rink has lunch hour hockey, pay a few bucks and skate till you drop. Cycling the seawall around stanley Park is amazing, no matter how many times or what time of year.

Enjoy your visit