Holiday: Is 10 days enough in Vancouver?

seachto7

Hi all,

Thinking of heading over the beginning of September. I'm just going to head to Vancouver and the surrounding area.

I had thought of possibly going to Seattle, but maybe this would be too much to fit in over ten days?

Fly in to Seattle, and then head up to Vancouver before flying home, or vice versa?

Obviously, there's only so much of the outdoors thing I could fit in during this time period.

Sinfonia

Can you give us an idea of what kind of activities/interests you have in mind?

seachto7

I suppose anything within the environs of Vancouver. I probably wouldn't take a road trip, but anything that's doable in a day trip.
So, I'd be into walking, hill walking, maybe renting a bike, whatever that time of year allows.
I had thought of heading on down to Seattle, just to check out the city as opposed to anything else.

Sinfonia

If you like cycling, then definitely get a bike. It's the best way to see Vancouver.

I'm not much of an outdoorsman, and I didn't cycle at all until I moved to Vancouver, and cycling the seawall is my favourite thing to do there. The good weather has stayed through until the end of September the last couple of years too, so it's a perfect time.

The seawall (you can easily find a map online) runs all the way from the UBC area past Locarno, Jericho, and Kits beaches, past False Creek and Granville Island, then takes you around past the Telus world of Science, around the southern perimeter of the Downtown "island", and then all the way around Stanley Park.
I'd recommend taking a day and doing the whole thing, maybe stopping off at different places (e.g. Granville Island) along the way.
If you don't want to do the whole thing, at least do the Stanley Park part. It really is the best thing to do in the city - preferably in the early evening, stopping off at benches and/or beaches for a can or two (although watch out on the beaches, because they tend to enforce the 'no drinking in public' thing there a bit more)

It's likely that you'll stay somewhere downtown, so having a bike will also give you a lot of great access to the rest of the city outside of downtown. Check out Commercial Drive, South Main, South Cambie and Kitsilano.
Also, I feel that no trip to Vancouver is complete without a trip along East Hastings, particularly around Main Street, to "see how the other half live": if you're a Wire fan, it's basically Hamsterdam. (If you're not a Wire fan, it's basically an area where a lot of drug addicts, prostitutes etc. were pushed and left to their own devices for the most part.
It can be harrowing to see (particularly the open drug use), but generally still very safe. If you're walking along you'd be asked for money etc. but you'd never really be in any danger. Just don't lock your bike anywhere! Also both Hastings and Main are pretty major thoroughfares, so it's not like you're going around dodgy little side streets or anything.

Cycling further afield, you could head across one of the bridges (such as the Lions Gate bridge which connects Stanley Park to North Vancouver, and was built/funded by the Guinness family!), and make your way to somewhere like Deep Cove, which is gorgeous.
Also to the north are more mountainous areas. Grouse Mountain I think is the nearest, but hopefully more people can chime in on that stuff, because as I said, I'm not too much of an outdoorsman.

Other than that, the main thing Vancouver tends to boast for tourists (and residents alike) is food. There's a lot of great stuff all over the place - I wouldn't just stick to Downtown either - if you want to know more or get some suggestions, ask me and I'll set some stuff out in another post. Yelp is also good for finding popular spots. There's also a ton of craft beer and breweries around, if you're into that.

I kind of think you could get a lot done in 10 days and thus get a little bored just hanging around Vancouver, so getting some time in Seattle is a great idea.
Sometimes coming from Ireland etc. the assumption might be that two cities very close to each other will be very similar, but you'll really notice what a difference that border makes! Canada is not America!
I'd also recommend a trip to Vancouver Island. I just moved to Victoria (the provincial capital) after two years in Vancouver, and it's lovely here. Older, quainter, very tourist-friendly etc.
The bonus is that you'll take the ferry to get here, and - especially on a nice, sunny day - it's great. The open water, the little islands along the way... Well worth seeing. It's cheap(ish) if you take transit: you take a train from Vancouver to Richmond, then a bus to the ferry terminal, and one more bus on the other side. The whole round trip will end up costing just under $50. It gets a lot more expensive to ride the ferry if you rent a car, but renting a car when on the island might be a good idea if you want to see some sights outside of Victoria, like the waterfall at Goldstream park etc.
Bear in mind that door-to-door journey time via transit and ferry from Vcancouver to Victoria takes about 4.5 hours, so I'd recommend staying over at least one night if you do it.

Any more questions please do ask!

InTheTrees

Its very easy to get down to Seattle.

You can drive it in three hours. There's trains. Floatplane is very common too.

There's also ferries. The whole area is water and islands and mountains so there's Washington State ferries and British Columbia ferries. Its a really nice way to travel around the area. To get to Seattle you'd have to go to get a ferry from Van to Victoria and then you get a ferry to downtown Seattle. The San Juan Islands are very popular too.

You really should try and get into the mountains if you can. They had the winter Olympics just outside Vancouver in Whistler so there's got to be good transport. The floatplane companies also run sight seeing flights which I would highly highly recommend, you get an amazing feel for the vastness of the area. The floatplane terminal is right in downtown Vancouver too so its very easy.

http://www.wsdot.com/ferries/
http://www.clippervacations.com/
http://www.bcferries.com/
https://www.harbourair.com/
http://www.kenmoreair.com/

Sinfonia

Don't forget the Greyhound/Bolt Bus! Probably the cheapest Vancouver-Seattle option.

BUT now that you mention it, it would be very cool to from Seattle to Vancouver or vice versa via Victoria, taking the ferries!