Vancouver

Time of year? What types of things are you interested in? Indoor activities or outside? What interested you in going to Vancouver?

Are you arriving by boat, plane, car?
What time of year?
4 nights =3 days? , or 5 nights=4 days?
What sort of budget do you have in mind?
Have you been here before?

If you are unsure about what is available I will get you started with some of the basic, popular places people visit.
If you are staying in the downtown core then you will be able to get around quite easily using transit, and a day pass. Some places are easy to walk to such as Gastown, Stanley Park, and Dr, Sun Yet Sen gardens. You could bus to Queen Elizabeth Park, Granville Island, or the museum of Anthropology at UBC. You could also take the Seabus across to North Vancouver and Visit Lonsdale Quay, or take a bus to the Capilano suspension bridge, or to Grouse Mountain and take the tram up to the top. These would be the basics to start with, but it will all depend on your interests, so let us know what appeals to you.

MaryAnn,
Can you answer the questions posed so posters can better answer your broad question?

Vancouver BC and Victoria

This is our first time visiting we come to Seattle regularly. We want some good outdoor activities. I also want to visit the museum of anthropology.
We are good with public transportation and will not be renting a car.
We are wondering if there are any good Rick Steves style hotels not super far from downtown.
Any neighborhoods you would suggest staying in if we did not stay downtown.
I would be happy if we could find hotels in the $200-$300 range we don’t need anything super fancy.
Of course we would like to go to some good Vancouver restaurants that don’t cost an arm and a leg, but have good Pacific Northwest food and we would like to visit and sample some of the good local beers and wine.
Thanks

We will be visiting Vancouver BC from Seattle. We will be taking the train up. We will be there in the end of July beginning of August this summer.
Thanks

If you do not stay downtown, then look near the airport as you will be able to make use of the Skytrain to get downtown in about half an hour on the train, but you may have to walk a ways to the train. The same goes for the area around the Metrotown mall in Burnaby, easy train and bus access, and about 30 minutes by train. Broadway Ave. Is not far out of downtown, and has great bus service, as well as the Skytrain at a couple of main cross streets. Be wary of areas on east Hastings street closer to Main Street as that area has some problems with homelessness, drug addiction and derelict buildings. In fact, I would say that if you decide to look outside of the downtown core, then look south, not east.
Maybe start by looking at the transit map for the train lines, and bus routes first https://www.translink.ca/
I’ve done several Rick Steves tours, and the hotels vary quite a bit in price, and size, so I’m not sure what would compare. There are many places in your price range, though, so you should be able to find what you want. Just don’t wait too long, the cruise ship season is about to start.

The Museum of Anthropology is terrific! Enjoy! When we were there we were exploring Stanley Park one day and lucked out by finding a cricket game in progress. It was really enjoyable, even though we didn't understand all the rules. Everyone was in their "whites" and "veddy, veddy" proper. Have a good time!

Hi MaryAnn,
Vancouver hotels in the summer tend to be busy and expensive. The Sylvia in the West End (great location by the water and close to the shops and restaurants on Denman) is usually an affordable and pleasant option. A unique alternative - especially since you are interested in the Museum of Anthropology and like nature - would be to stay at UBC: https://suitesatubc.com/. UBC has great bus connections to get around the city and right from campus you can walk down to the beach or into beautiful Pacific Spirit Park. UBC doesn't have many interesting restaurants but Michelin-recommended Wildlight (https://wildlightrestaurant.ca/) is out there.

For other Vancouver activities:
- Granville Island is always great and if you like food tours this one is fun: https://foodietours.ca/granville-island-market-tour/
- For a great outdoor swimming experience, Kitsilano Pool (assuming it is open - schedule has been erratic the last few years due to maintenance issues)
- Taking the SeaBus to North Vancouver and exploring that area
- VanDusen Botanical Garden
- Walking the sea wall (my favourite is to start in Coal Harbour, go around Stanley Park and along English Bay and then catch the False Creek Ferry over to Granville Island)

I hope you have a wonderful visit!

Hi,
Vancouver hotels are very expensive in summer as it’s cruise ship season.
I’ve looked at prices of a random one night stay end of July, for hotels in the downtown area and they look to be around $400-700 or more, CAN per night , plus all the taxes.
As you’re arriving by train I’m guessing you want to stay within that area or not far.

I did find this:
https://www.booking.com/Share-9T14XZ
It’s the YMCA, now called Hotel Willo.
In your price range.
It seems to have good reviews and is in your price range.

Don't rent airnbnb type apartments here , as we have strict rules now regarding who can rent them out, sometimes under the radar of the law.

Let us know what you find so we can help decide on suitable places.

A second for the Van Dusen Botanical Garden. It is beautiful.

Hi,
I love all the info. Does Vancouver have Uber? Taxis? Can they be found on the UBC campus?
Would N Vancouver have any hotel rooms? They have a ferry that goes over to Downtown in 20 minutes. I may have to expand my hotel budget to $400.

Also we want to take ferry/boat from VC to Victoria on the Island. Can u give me yr experience/ thoughts on those please?

Yes, uber is common and goes out to UBC. There are hotels in North Van, Lonsdale quay is close bit possibly not a cheaper option. I second the Sylvia for location.
You might want to look at harbour air, a float plane to get to Victoria. We took it last summer and it was so convenient and fun!

We stayed at the Hotel Sylvia in July 2023. I really loved the neighborhood.

https://sylviahotel.com/

Is your trip to BC four days total or do you have extra time to spend in Victoria? If it's four days total, the only thing that makes sense to me is to take the float plane. If you have more time, you could take the bus/ferry/bus combo, but it takes most of the day. https://bcfconnector.com

In the time you have, I would not suggest trying to get to Victoria by public transit. You would have to take the Skytrain to Richmond in order to catch a bus to the ferry, then the ferry ride over is an hour and a half. Then you have to get into Victoria by bus or taxi. Victoria is a much smaller city so the transit isn’t as frequent as Vancouver. If you want to splurge, then fly.
A hotel in North Vancouver that is near the Seabus probably won’t be much cheaper than downtown Vancouver. North Vancouver does not have Skytrain so you would be relying on less frequent buses to get around. Unless you are fine paying for Uber. But, if you are trying to save money on a hotel, it doesn’t make sense to then spend a lot of money on Uber.
There are many buses that go to UBC, some you can catch right downtown, some are express buses, and won’t take much longer than an Uber.

I have not stayed at the YMCA but a friend and her daughter did. The room was small but comfortable. By the way, the daughter is a bit of a princess and was absolutely fine with the place.

Take the Aquabus as much as possible. You could take it to Granville Island daily for lunch.

Richmond has some great Cantonese restaurants and can be reached by rail. The same line passes by Queen Elizabeth Park which has nice gradens. It's also where the minor league baseball team Vancouver Canandians play. It's a fun place to watch a game and reasonably priced.

We stayed here in April 2025 when we went for a Whitecaps match and found it very comfortable. We had access to a full kitchen where we made our breakfasts. It was mentioned above.

https://www.booking.com/Share-9T14XZ
It’s the YMCA, now called Hotel Willo.-

We rented e-bikes and explored Stanley park. You can ride all around the perimeter. It was beautiful. We also had great hot dogs at Japadog.

Have a great trip!

Victoria is lovely and the ferry journey was enjoyable but to V- V takes a half day. When I went to Victoria and Vancouver last year, I took the ferry from Victoria to Vancouver. There is a bus service ( BC Ferry Connectors/ operated by the Wilson Transportation group) between the 2 cities, with the bus driving onto the ferry. The ferry journey is about 90 minutes. The ferry terminals are a fair distance outside of the city cores so that's why the entire journey takes about 4 hours. In Vancouver, they pick up / drop off from several hotels

I'm guessing the float planes land at the Victoria harbour so would be a lot faster.

I enjoyed the Dr Sun Yat Sen Garden, Stanley Park and walking around Gastown, Capillano suspension bridge park and loved the Granville Island market. I wish I was staying somewhere with a kitchen so I could have bought some food for meals.

There are many homeless people and you will see them not just in the downtown east side/ Hastings St. area.

I've stayed at the Hotel Willo (formerly the YWCA Hotel) on several occasions, and found it clean and comfortable for decent prices. You can opt for more simple rooms with bathroom down the hall, a bathroom shared with 1 other room, or a private bathroom. All rooms have sinks and decently sized mini fridges, and there is access to full kitchens. It's super walkable to buses and SkyTrain/Canada Line. Both Uber and Lyft operate in and around Vancouver.

Second Beach Pool (an outdoor pool) is next to Stanley Park, and is a good option for outdoor swimming as an alternative to Kitsilano Pool. There will be lifeguards at several public beaches if ocean swimming is your thing. The seawall is awesome, especially along False Creek. The seawall along the southside of False Creek westbound from Science World (especially towards Granville Island and beyond) tends to be less touristy and more locals dogwalking/jogging/cycling/etc. Votes from me also for Queen Elizabeth Park (the highest geographic point in Vancouver proper) and Van Dusen Botanical Gardens. I love Granville Island (especially the market), but be warned can get quite busy during the day. If you opt to eat outside there, be mindful of the seagulls who like to steal food from people. I've had food snatched from my hand on a couple of occasions.

As someone else said, it is possible to get to Victoria from Vancouver via ferry without having a vehicle, but it is a moderate haul on transit to the ferry terminal on the mainland. A seaplane is much more time efficient, but more expensive.

We are regular e-cyclists and both Vancouver and Victoria are great locations for cycling.

In Vancouver, not only can you cycle around the shoreline of Stanley Park (and along its east side, near downtown), you can also cycle along the shorline southeast of the park (past Second Beach and its pool) on further around to False Creek, all along its shoreline areas, across Granville Island and over to Kitsilano. The outdoor pools at Second beach at Kitsilano are incredible.

Victoria has lovely cycling on the city's southern shoreline, away from the Inner Harbor, as well as two major trails, the Galloping Goose and the Lochside Trails. (From the center of Victoria, there is the E&N Connecter Trail that you take to the Galloping Goose.)