Vancouver and area

We stayed several days in Vancouver prior to taking an Alaska cruise. It was great. Our hotel was downtown and we walked everywhere.

Stanley Park is great, don't miss it. We did a great side trip to Victoria and Bechert Gardens. Also, we went to Grouse Mountain north of the city. Further, we visiting the site of the Winter Olympics, forgot the name of that small town.

Stanley park is nice any time, but will certainly depend on the weather. Gastown is a fairly small area that is an easy walk. Unique stores and good restaurants. Granville Island is easy to get to by bus and has a nice public market and lots of artsy crafts stores. Queen Elizabeth park is a little further on transit, but also nice, and uphill so good views from there. The planetarium and museum are in the same location, a little further past Granville Island. The museum of Anthropology at UBC is easy to get to by transit, also. I would be cautious of visiting Chinatown right now as the area has a serious homeless problem right now and the streets in the area cluttered with tents etc. Not a nice walk. You could take the Seabus across to North Vancouver, there is a nice public market there also, and you could take the bus to Grouse Mountain, or the suspension bridge at Capilano. There is a free suspension bridge at Lynn Canyon, also.

I would not stay IN Gastown.
Perhaps find somewhere in the West End, or near to Robson Street.
You can walk to Gastown from there.
As Anita said, we have a serious homeless and drug crisis in that area, and in others nearby.
It's very unfortunate, but we have had people being randomly attacked on the streets all around that area.
There really is nothing much of interest in Gastown now.
A lot of the interesting shops have closed.
You'd be better sticking to see areas near Stanley Park and appreciating nature instead of the inner-city areas.
You can walk or bike (rental places nearby) all around the seawall in Stanley Park, seeing marvelous mountain views along the way.
I don't know anything about Abbotsford.

BTW: if you are driving a car to Whistler, it's mandatory to have actual snow tires on any car now on the highway to there from Vancouver.
Hope you are taking the bus instead.

https://www.whistler.ca/services/advisories/notice-winter-tires-or-chains-are-required-hwy-99-october-1

Will you be arriving in Vancouver in mid-March or later in the month? Rental cars don't always have the best tires for driving in winter conditions and at that time of year, there could certainly be snow in the Whistler area. The Sea-To-Sky highway seems to have regular MVI's so you'd need to drive very carefully.

I agree with a previous comment that it's not a good idea to stay in the Gastown area. I'd suggest staying more in the centre of the downtown area in the vicinity of Burrard & Georgia Streets. There are lots of nice hotels in that area, Pacific Centre mall and lots of nice restaurants along Robson Street. Most hotels seem to charge for parking.

I assume you'll be visiting someone in Abbotsford, as there's not really a lot to see in terms of "tourist attractions" in that area. I don't know of any "resorts" in that area, other than Harrison Hot Springs which is some distance from Abbotsford and on the other side of the Fraser River. How many days are you planning to stay there?

One word of caution.... traffic on Highway 1 from Abbotsford and back to Vancouver can be extremely congested at certain times of the day, with bumper-to-bumper traffic and moving only a short distance at a time. You could use the older Lougheed Highway route on the other side of the river and go across to Abbotsford via the bridge at Mission or the Golden Ears bridge in Maple Ridge.

What to do in Vancouver..... there are lots of options. Some that come to mind are Stanley Park, the Capilano Suspension Bridge, Grouse Mountain, Granville Island and the Art Gallery is right in the downtown area. You could also try the Sea To Sky gondola or the Britannia Mine Museum on your way to or from Whistler. You may have already looked at this website - https://www.destinationvancouver.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx8fUroXs-wIVygqtBh3hxQOiEAAYASAAEgJiivD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds . One night in Vancouver is not going to allow much time to see anything, so you won't have any trouble finding activities for the few hours you'll have for sightseeing.

One note about Stanley Park.... the Park Board has just voted to remove the bike lane that was put in place during the pandemic. The bike lane used one of the traffic lanes, so that now opens the park up to normal vehicle access.

Thank you all for the insightful replies.
Gastown is now out. Thinking to stay at The Sylvia Hotel or Summit Place.
With only 24 hours I think we’ll aim to try and see Capilano bridge, Granville Island and Stanley Park.

We will be renting a car and I’ll be sure to get the winter tires. Thanks for that tip. Thanks also for the heads up about Hwy 1 being slow.

The family wants to rent an air bnb near Abbotsford but if that falls through I’ll look at Cultus Lake.

There's not going to be much happening at Cultus Lake in March, and if the weather is overcast / cold / raining, it probably won't be very pleasant.

Could you elaborate on the desire to rent in Abbotsford? Is there something you specifically want to see there?

Hi Ken,

Thanks for adding that info. Cottage country in Ontario in March isn’t ideal either.

We are going to Abbotsford for a family member’s graduation. It’s not a place we’d choose to visit otherwise in such a beautiful province.

One day in Vancouver? In March? Go to the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology. Better totems than Stanley Park, Bill Reid's Masterpiece, fantastic use of old military fortifications, and possibly the best thing in the city. Then Granville market. And if you have time Stanley Park (I love the aquarium).

Near Gastown I stay at the Delta, it's a Marriott property but more of a boutique/business hotel.

Here's an idea.
It sounds like you have family in Abbotsford.
You could ask one of them to pick you up in Vancouver to go out to Abbotsford and bring you back after the graduation.
If they have already offered, I would take them up on it.
Pay their gas, dinner, etc.
We still can sometimes get awful weather for driving, even in March, and they would already be familiar with it and the area.

Today, the highway to Whistler is a complete mess with heavy snow and cars all over the place.
https://www.silvhornautomotive.com/highway-99-road-conditions

Not trying to scare you, but I used to drive that road twice a week years ago in winter, December until April, as I volunteered on Blackcomb Mountain.
It was bad then, and worse now.

The buses to Whistler go direct from Vancouver Airport, so much easier for you rather than trying to rent a car.
https://yvrskylynx.com/whistler-express-whistler-shuttle-yvr-skylynx/
And you can relax and see the view!

If you're going to ski, you don't need a car to get around Whistler Village, it's all walkable....and beautiful!

One point to mention.....

If you were thinking of visiting the UBC Museum of Anthropology, you can take that off your list. It was just announced that the Museum will be closing for renovations on 15 January and not re-opening until late 2023.

Thanks for the heads up about the museum.

What about White Rock instead of Cultus Lake? It is almost as close, and you would have the ocean to walk along and restaurants. There are a number of airbnb and also a nice hotel Ocean Promenade , I think it is called. Spring is a little more likely to have arrived there then at Cultus too.

“BTW: if you are driving a car to Whistler, it's mandatory to have actual snow tires on any car now on the highway to there from Vancouver.
Hope you are taking the bus instead.
https://www.whistler.ca/services/advisories/notice-winter-tires-or-chains-are-required-hwy-99-october-1”

I am having an insanely difficult time securing a rental car that has winter tires and hoping someone here might have ideas. We will need a car while there.

My sister in law works in the travel industry and tells me that rental companies only reserve vehicles with snow tires for corporate bookings.

I reached out to the only rental agency at the Vancouver airport that I could find a direct # for and they confirmed that it’s not possible to reserve one. It’s first come first served.

This is ludicrous to me given it’s their own laws that require it and Whistler is a major winter destination for tourists!

Is the graduation at the University of Fraser Valley? My wife went back to school there about eight years ago. Nice school. There are no fancy resort hotels in Abbotsford. The Coast and the Sandmans seem nice. You can google map and also find some B&Bs which seem okay.

The legal definition of "winter tires" in B.C. includes "M+S" which are "all season" tires which are found on all rental cars. It is rare for rental cars to run true "winter tires" or "all-weather" tires as defined in the tire industry i.e. the ones with the mountain snow flake because they are more expensive, made of soft compound and wear out quickly; not cost effective for car rental companies. If you are a competent winter driver (which part of Canada are you from?), the M+S tires are sufficient for the Sea-to-Sky highway. The road up to Whistler is plowed and salted regularly. It is nothing like how it used to be before the 2010 Olympics. And March is nearing the end of any severe winter conditions.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/driving-and-cycling/traveller-information/seasonal/winter-driving/about-winter-tires

It's very likely that the car rental companies will be using all weather tires, rather than all season, as they can use those year round and still get reasonable performance in winter conditions. It's simply not practical or economical to outfit an entire rental fleet with proper snow tires, as they'd have to reinstall them in the spring and some of the vehicles may have been replaced by that time. All weather have the "snowflake" so should be legal for driving to Whistler. This provides a better description....

https://www.tirereview.com/is-all-weather-tire-right-choice/

The weather should be starting to improve in March, and I doubt you'll have any problems driving around Vancouver and Abbotsford at that time of year as it will more-than-likely be wet. The drive from North Vancouver to Squamish should be reasonably good also but depending on conditions at the time, north of Squamish to Whistler is the part you'll have to be most careful with. If driving early in the morning through shaded areas, you could encounter black ice.

Hope this helps.

Thank you all again for the invaluable information. We are going to skip renting a car for the Whistler part of the trip and take the Skylynx bus there and back instead.

It sounds like you're getting all the details sorted. I hope you have a wonderful time!

THE best value to stay in downtown Vancouver hands down is the Y Hotel for value, location, cleanliness. I have stayed 2 times, most recently Sept 2022. I prefer the room with a private bathroom attached but have stayed in the shared bathroom as well. I am super picky with cleanliness and price, so have no worries about recommending this place.

The Sea-To-Sky highway seems to have regular MVI's so you'd need to drive very carefully.

MVI's ???

MVI= Motor Vehicle Incidents but guessing you know that?

joe32F,

The previous post provided the correct answer for my use of the term "MVI".

The RCMP (and I'm assuming other police forces in B.C.) use that term rather than "MVA" as it's more accurate.

The Sylvia is a great choice.

Don't assume whale watching isn't worth it in March. We went in the "off season" (November) from Victoria one time and had an amazing experience. Not only did we see a number of Orcas, but we also saw humpbacks and had a humpback "mug" our zodiac for about 25 minutes in total!