Vancouver Travel Forum

Hi everyone,

Iīm wondering if you can help me to plan my first day in Vancouver, I know there are plenty of things to do but what do you suggest vising or seeing tomorrow? We are a family of four, kids 17 and 11. Thank you.

Day 1- City of Vancouver
Canada Place - famous hotel and cruise ship terminal, nice scenery
Gastown - Steam clock, old warehouses made into art stores, souvenir shops, restaurants
Robson St- some good shopping
Granville Island - Public Market, nice scenery, seafood restaurants, marina, just gorgeous on a sunny day
Stanley Park - take a Horse Drawn tour of the park, totem poles and Vancouver Aquarium

Day 2 - North Shore
Take the Sea Bus from Waterfront Station to Lonsdale Quay, where there's another Public Market, quite nice.
Then take the bus to Capilano Suspension Bridge and then to Grouse Mountain. Take the gondola up to Grouse Mountain - nice view of Vancouver.

Also, if you have a car, try parking it somewhere and taking the skytrain. It's an experience just on itself.

Have Fun!

The Vancouver Maritime Museum. Gary

Good morning, it is Saturday morning in here in Vancouver at 530am and looking out my window across Coal Harbour to the North Shore with the sun rising over the mountains, I see it is going to be a beautiful day. I would suggest going to Grouse Mountain, I am sure you and your family would love it, especially on a day like today. Take the SeaBus at the foot of Granville Street, located in the old CP train station, across Coal Harbour to Lonsdale Quay, the boat ride takes less than 15 minutes. There you can transfer to the #246 bus which will take you to the foot of Grouse Mountain. You can buy a day pass or the one way fare for the bus is $2.50. Not sure what the Gondola will cost you to the top. This would be a great day to do this.

Thanks a lot for your help and ideas. Iīll be here up to the 20 of this month, when my cruise departs to Alaska so I will have time to do all your suggestions. Today we will probably go to the north shore and Grouse Mountain. I let you know later on when I come, I aprecciate any more ideas for next days if you have more.
Have a nice day.

Try to wait until later in the day to go to Grouse Mountain and stay for dinner and watch the sunset and watch the city lights come up as it gets dark. It truly is an unforgettable view.

Since you have more days, go to Queen Elizabeth Park, you can take the #15 Cambie to get there. It is locate just outside the downtown area in a very nice residential area, about a 15 minute bus ride. One other idea was suggested above about going to Granville Island, even though you are going on a cruise, you might like to captain your own boat, you can rent motor boats or row boats. If the kids like to swim take them to 2nd beach in Stanley Park, stop by the IGA on Burrard and Smythe, you can pick up sandwiches and drinks at a reasonable price to take to the park, lots of picnic tables, swings for the kids etc. If you like shopping, take the Skytrain to Metrotown, BC's largest indoor shopping mall, over 300 stores, there are cinemas, and arcades for the kids. These ideas should keep you busy for a few more days.

What a handy question - I had similar things that I was wondering about. The Grouse Mountain suggestions are ones I will be following up on. I found a tour company that does a 5.5hour tour of Capilano Bridge and Grouse Mountain (including Gondola Ride, Theatre in the Sky and I think skating) for about $117. By the sounds of it you can do it cheaper by using public transport. Is there a website for the bus routes?

http://www.translink.bc.ca/

Has the buses and sky train :-)

You won't have a problem using public transit. As an retried transit employee you will find our system easy to use. Just like in all cities there are those that complain about how poor it is, but then they would not be happy unless they had something to complain about. If you are going to do more than one or two trips, buy a day pass, it is valid on buses, skytrain, or sea bus, the Translink website is not very good, difficult to navigate. Any questions? let me know.

Once more thank you for all your ideas. At the end I didnīt go to Grouse Mountain because i like the idea of having dinner there but I tried to book a table but it was imposibble , it is all full up, so I have sent them an e-mail and Iīm waiting their answer, I donīt ming going during the week and it seems that the weather is going to be nice.
I went to downtown Vancouver, the first option, I visited Gastown, Chinatown, the Pier, Granville island...and we also wehad some time left to spend in metrotown.
Today we will probably go to Stanley park adn i hope i get an answer quickly to go to Grouse Mountain tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
If you hae more ideas please let me know.
Have a good day

Call Grouse Mountain directly by phone a couple of times a day until you get your reservation. They give low priority to email requests because it is easier to say no in writing than in conversation. Even if you can't get in for dinner, you still need to go up there to see the view (particularly at night).