Vancouver Travel Forum

Sue & I will be arriving in Vancouver on Sep 14 at 6.50am. We have 3 nights in Vancouver before setting off on a 19 day fire & ice cruise on the Carnival Spirit.

Looking for some help to fill in our 3 days in Vancouver. After a long flight from Melbourne, Australia our possible itinerary could look like this.

* Day 1 - not too heavy, maybe the Vancouver Trolley and take a tour of the city.

* Day 2 - Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain

* Day 3 - Vancouver Island - maybe a whale watch cruise. Checking out Victoria.

Any other ideas are much appreciated....is there anything else on Vancouver Island that we maybe able to have a look at in a day?

Thanks in advance
Col & Sue

Regarding Grouse Mountain, don't go if it is not a clear and beautiful day. If the clouds cover the top of the mountain you won't see much. On a clear day you can see forever (just an expression of course)

the Vancouver Island idea might take up too much time. I believe there is a day-trip whale watching cruise from Stanley Park in Vancouver at the website princeofwhales.com. I will be doing this myself in September. Also, there's really no 'trolley' in Vancouver to ride, not that I can remember. maybe it's something new? Try a tour through Stanley Park if it's a good day. You can easily rent a bike or rollerblade around the 'Seawall' if you are athletic. The Cap Susp Bridge is nice, too. Very touristy thing to do. September should be nice if it's not raining--leaves are starting to change color then. A drive to Steveston is rather nice too--oceanfront with quaint stores and fishmongers selling dircetly from the boat! I recommend eating at Pajo's fish n chips (if it's open--usually its open seasonally or sometimes only weekends) Enjoy!

it's a long day going to victoria just for the day. the ferry ride is nice but since you are going on a cruise right after, i'd consider dropping this part from the itinerary.

There is a "trolley tour" which is done by motorized vehicle. It is fashioned after the cable cars in San Francisco, since there is no "cable" they call it a trolley. You see these now popping up in so many cities.

ah, yes, I think this is the one that goes through Gastown, correct? I do recall it then, if so.

Thanks for the responses guys.....yep the Vancouver Trolley covers a big area.

http://www.vancouvertrolley.com/index.php

On the Vancouver Island visit, we have been told Victoria is a must see. A long day doesnt bother us. (9&1/2 hour driving days in NZ is fun lol). We know we are only in Vancouver for 3 days and want to see as much as posible. Cruise time is the relax time lol.

Have been looking at the first available A.M. ferry to Vancouver Island, having a look around Victoria, then doing a whale watch cruise in the afternoon before heading back to the hotel.

Thanks again guys
Col & Sue

In Vancouver, Stanley Park is a very nice large park near downtown if you want to do some walking. Also, the Art Gallery, Vancouver's art museum, gets some good exhibitions.

Hi Col & Sue from Melbourne

For a not too fast time your schedule sounds OK. We had 7 days in Vancouver last June before taking a 7 day cruise to Alaska. You will have a great time.

We went to Vancouver Island on a day tour, very good value and a "must see", Victoria is a good place.

In Vancouver you may have some spare time, catch the bus to Stanley Park and take the free tour bus through the park, or visit Granville Island, great markets , great sights, we walked there from Robson Street. Have a look through my Vancouver page.
Mike from Perth

More great ideas.....thanks everyone, much appreciated. :-)

Looked at your Vancouver pages Mike & nice stuff :-) Thanks

Cheers
Col & Sue

The Capilano Suspension Bridge is a tourist trap of Brobdingnagian proportions-a tragic waste of time with only 2 days in the city.

I suggest you rent some bicycles from one of the shops @ the entrance to Stanley Park and do a circuit of the park-if you're still game do the circuit around False Creek and straight to Granville Island.

While the Ferry trip to Victoria is lovely you're already going on a cruise and the city itself offers little more than tourist tat of the crassest variety.

It's possible to do Whale Watching from Vancouver botas leave every AM but be advised it's usually an all day affair.

As much as I would love you to see our Vancouver Island, I think you would need more time. You would spend a great deal of the day traveling and really see very little. Have a great holiday.

If you want to whale watch in Victoria just for the day, splurge on float plane tickets from Vancouver to Victoria. In Victoria, the float planes land at the same place the whale watching tours leave from. You'll save about five hours.

Thanks again for all input.

We kinda like the idea of the ferry trip to Victoria. Travel time is no issue, we live in Australia LOL.

Plans have changed tho:

Day 1 will be Vancouver sightseeing.

Day 2 we are gonna do a rail/fly tour to Whistler. Up on the Whistler Mountaineer and back by floatplane.

Day 3 Victoria including whale watch.

We know we will be busy but we have the cruise ahead to relax.

Cheers
Col & Sue

Hi Col & Sue

Whatever you do you will enjoy, Vancouver is a great place.

e took a tour to Vancouver Island , day trip, last July. Pick up at our hotel, taken to the Victoria Island Ferry wharf which is not the cruise wharf but at least 40 minutes drive from Vancouver, onto a very large car/passenger ferry for 9:00am departure.

The cruise took 1.5 hours and is excellent, beautiful water, islands and some other boats, but we did not see any whales, our guide said he sees them nearly every trip. The ship has a public address commentary, cafe etc etc.

On arrival we were back on our small 16 seater bus for a tour around the upmarket residential districts parks etc as we drove along the coast for 30 minutes to reach Victoria, a most beautiful city, building height restricted to 3 or 4 stry buildings, mostly old buildings beautifully preserved. A nice harbour , mueseum which just happened to have the Titanic relics on display, plenty to see in the city centre and good cafes and restaurants.

We met again at 3:15pm and the bus took us to Buchart Gardens, world famous and a "must see". The gardens were a half hour drive, and we stayed 1.5 hours. Back o the bus at 6pm we then drove along the Saanich Peninsula to Swartz Bay and the ferry cruise back to Vancouver.

Details of tour coy.
Land & Sea Tours
www.vancouvertours.com
phone 604 255 7272

Hope this helps

Mike

Travel time IS an issue if you only have one day. From downtown Vancouver to downtown Victoria by boat is about four hours, and it's the same return. The earliest you can get to downtown Victoria is about 9:45 am as you're in rush-hour traffic all the way from the Swartz Bay ferry terminal into downtown Victoria (and I'm not sure how the transit connections from downtown Vancouver to Tsawassen are at 5:45 am either!), and you have to leave again by about 7:30 pm to make sure you're on the last ferry.

Hi

Most important, I forgot to mention the tour cost Canadian $ 159 per person. I thought it very good value, particularly as time was a major factor.

Mike

Thanks Mike & Jet :-)

Jet, we based our tavelling on this link here...

http://www.bcferries.com/schedules/mainland/tssw-current.html

Just over 1&1/2hours to Victoria from Tsawwassen and getting to Tsawwassen from our hotel at Ramada Suites Metrotown shouldnt be a problem. (please correct me if I am wrong). Last ferry back at 9.00pm.

Cheers
Col & Sue

The ferry doesn't take you into downtown Victoria. It's a thirty-minute drive in empty roads, but if you come in the morning you'll be driving in with the thousands of people who live between the ferry terminal and town, which is why I estimated just over an hour from the time the boat docks to the time you arrive downtown. So, that's a little more than two and a half hours from Tsawassen to town. I don't know how long it will take from Metrotown to Tsawassen, especially as I don't know your mode of transport. Suiting up for the whale watching will take at least half an hour if you're going out on a zodiac (which is a much better way to go than the big boats), and about twenty minutes for unsuiting afterwards.

Hi Col

Sounds good, we did Grouse Mountain and Vancouver Island and found both to be excellent. Did not take the trolly tour as we had 7 days and walked most places. Gas town and a walk back along the waterfront past the ferry terminal to Stanley park is very interesting, see the float planes coming and going and a good look at the city. Stanley Park has a free trolly bus tour around the park. Check out the Vancouver pages of members who have replied. As for Grouse Mountain you do not need a tour, do it yourself, 10 minute ferry ride to North Vancouver then catch bus just outside the NV ferry terminal.

Good Luck,
Mike

Thanks for that info Mike, much appreciated.

As we arrive quite early in the morning, we have arranged with our hotel to drop our bags and head straight out to some sightseeing. Will go do Grouse Mountain and hopefully Capilano Suspension Bridge 1st up.

There is so much we wanna see in Vancouver in such a short time that what we miss close to the city on Day 1 we can then try to do in the morning on the day our cruise leaves. Then if still we have missed stuff we have a shore day back in Vancouver between cruises. Plenty of time to relax on the cruises :-).

Our planned itinerary now looks like this.

Day 1 - arrive Vancouver & do Vancouver sightseeing...Grouse Mountain, Capilano & whatever else we can fit in. Dinner at the Tower.

Day 2 - day trip to Whistler...trip up an Whistler Mountaineer & trip back on floatplane.

Day 3 - day trip to Victoria. Have arranged to catcg Pacific Coach from downtown Vancouver at 5.45am to get us to Victoria at 9.30am, for 10am whale watch cruise. 1pm we have booked a Grand City & Butchart Gardens sightseeing tour. Head Back to Vancouver around 7pm.

Day 4 - (cruise leaves at 5.30pm) check out stuff we missed on day 1 things like chinatown, gastown n the like, stanley park.

Only 159 days to go LOL

Cheers
Col & Sue

That is an ambitious program. I hope we can serve you up some great weather.

Yes that would be very much appreciated :-)

We arent there for long so we want to make the most of it. And Vancouver has so much to offer.

Col & Sue