I have a love hate relationship with Vancouver. I love the food, excellent public transport, the harbour, Stanley Park, Gastown, Granville Island, museums and the people. What I hate are the cheaply built residential high rises which are ugly it reminds me of Auckland city and the horrible apartment blocks, built in the 1980’s and 1990’s with cheap materials and resulting in lots of problems with leaks, fading and falling to bits. I hope Vancouver’s apartment buildings are not as bad and last a bit longer.
On the plus side, Vancouver has lots of great festivals and a few years ago we were lucky to be there during a fireworks contest with other countries.I think Vancouver won the fireworks contest. If you are going to Vancouver then check out to see if there are any events on while your there. One of my favourite things to do when visiting Vancouver is to hire a bike and cycle around Stanley park. The pathway is along the coastline with places to pull over and to enjoy the views of the bridge or the native American totem poles.
Five things to do in Vancouver
My list of top five things to do in Vancouver are:
Cycle around Stanley Park and its 8 odd kilometre track around the coastline, stop off and have a look at the Totem Poles
Visit Wander around Yale town and False Creek and take the Aquabus to Granville Island
Granville Island and enjoy the busking, restaruants, food market, shops and perhaps a visit to the Granville Brewery.
Visit the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park
Visit Gastown and see the worlds first and still working steam-powered clock.
There are of course many other things to do but as a taster I think this is a good introduction.
The other wonderful thing about Vancouver is the food. It truly has some wonderful restaurants and places to stay. Last time we stayed at a Best Western which was lovely. See my review about it below:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g154943-d182071-r136378658-BEST_WESTERN_PLUS_Chateau_Granville_Hotel_Suites_Conference_Ctr-Vancouver_British.html
Below are a few photos of visits to Vancouver and places in British Columbia.
-
- Rogers Pass
-
- Hiring the bike
-
- Stanley Park
-
- Beautiful Vancouver
-
- Boo – Grizzly Bear
-
- Firework display near Yaletown
-
- Yippee 1000 views
-
- Tasting some beer on Granville Island
-
- Mom and Dad’s RV in snow!
I think you nailed it. We pretty much followed your highlights when we stopped in Vancouver on our way home from your birthday and had a lovely time. The Stanley Park bike ride was lovely.
Thanks Rachel nice to think I got it right. Look forward to hopefully see you in San Francisco next year
Reblogged this on JohnandDebbieRTWadventure and commented:
Decided to update my Vancouver blog.