Holiday Inn Vancouver Downtown?

[msmayor]

Traveling to Vancouver in October to catch the Eurodam for 11 nights...never been to the city and unfortunately will not have much time at all to sightsee this time.

 

We fly in from the east coast and arrive to YVR around 6pm.  I booked a room at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Downtown on Howe Street (on my IHG points) based on proximity to Canada Place.  I noticed that have an on-site restaurant so husband and I can get a bite after we arrive, as I imagine we'll be dog-tired from the day of travel to go out and do much more.  The one thing I'd like to find, though, is a place to purchase two bottles of wine to carry on-board the next day when we board.

 

Any locals or folks familiar with that area know where we can go?  Walking distance, or short cab/uber ride?

[martincath]

No Uber ( though it's just about possible that Kater, the officially-sanctioned local ride share, *might* be operating - but it still uses only licensed taxis and savings will only be during offpeak hours). Closest spot to the pier to grab booze is the BC Liquor store inside the Harbour Centre, <500 yards away. There are even closer options to the hotel but they are private stores which means the same booze costs more - so unless you are picky and need a particular wine that's not stocked by BC Liquor it's pretty pointless!

 

Just in case you decide to walk all the way to the pier (under a mile in a straight line up Howe, even including the detour for booze) here's a route going via BC Liquor on the way: map.

 

Edit - I'd also strongly suggest that you force yourself out for a walk after getting to the hotel. We do a lot of trips back to Toronto so we're very used to recovering from the 3 hour time difference, and Westbound the single most useful thing to do is STAY UP! If you resist hitting the sack until at least 9pm, no matter how puggled you feel, you'll be in synch with local time within 2 days tops (we get back to your normal pattern next day as we're used to it).

 

If you're late diners at home get to the hotel, dump your suitcases, then go out for a walk and grab dinner while you're out (sunset will unfortunately have gone, it's between 6 and 7pm in October). If you're early diners you could actually eat at the airport so that you get your tums in-synch as efficiently as possible. There are several dozen restos that you could walk to in 10 minutes from the hotel though.

Edited March 17, 2019 by martincath

[msmayor]

Thank you so much - this is wonderful information!

 

Good to know there are restaurants near the hotel we would easily be able to walk to.  It really will be quite a long day of travel as, including the 3 hour layover in Toronto, we'll be on the road about 10-11 hours.  It will be nice to move around a bit.

[martincath]

No worries. If it were me I'd walk along Davie St - hang a left out of the hotel door, take the first right and then continue as far as you feel up for wandering (you'll pass many, many restos as you go) until you reach Denman St (almost exactly a mile). Inside the little triangular park where Davie, Beach, & Denman meet is one of the happiest pieces of outdoor art you'll ever see, never fails to bring a smile to my face.

 

You could actually pick up some wine on your walk too - BC Liquor has a store on Bute, just off Davie. If you feel like a couple of miles is all you have in you, just come back along one of the other parallel streets a bit north of Davie so you're not repeating the same view - any of them between Davie and Robson are similarly quiet and residential, with some of the oldest residential homes left in downtown core, many modest low- & mid-rise apartment buildings and lots of trees (they're all well-lit streets). Or head south of Davie along Beach/Pacific or the Seawall (this part should be all lit - but if you head up toward Stanley Park the lights stop before too long).

 

Embarkation morning you're the only ship, so longshoremen should be taking bags by 9:30am but if you do wake up early you could do a lot worse than a sunrise walk along the Seawall first.

[msmayor]

Martincath, such a wealth of wonderful information.  I truly appreciate your knowledge!

 

How safe and 'populated' is that area around the hotel at night?  Will there be other people wandering about?  

[martincath]

2 minutes ago, msmayor said:

Martincath, such a wealth of wonderful information.  I truly appreciate your knowledge!

 

How safe and 'populated' is that area around the hotel at night?  Will there be other people wandering about?  

The block immediately around your hotel will probably be the least busy sidewalk on the entire route - there's no reason to be there except to get to and from your hotel. But to reassure you on the overall risks - basically you could wander the worst parts of Vancouver stinking drunk and you're more likely to have someone pour you into a cab than roll you for your cash. What very little violent crime we have is virtually all 'local on local' and all parties concerned are usually also 'already known to Police' as we put it up here.

 

OTOH, leave your rental car sitting with shiny things visible and you can expect to return to find a broken window and your stuff gone, as casual property theft type crime is comparable to US cities (there's a reason that all bike rentals come with not just the legally-required helmet but also a bike lock!) - but even then thieves can be pretty nice about it (an acquaintance who moved here from Seattle found his stash of coins in the ash tray missing, but a post-it note left saying 'your car was unlocked and I was hungry so I took your $3.65 - and I'm locking your car door which you should always do in the future.'

[msmayor]

Thought I'd update a bit in case anyone was considering this hotel...

 

Thanks to a cancelled flight and re-route by Air Canada, we ended up arriving in Vancouver three hours earlier than we expected...a very pleasant surprise.  Easy trip by cab from the airport to the hotel.

 

The Holiday Inn Downtown was a find property - not the fanciest but certainly adequate for our one-night stay.  We were upgraded from the reserved king room to their biggest suite (there was a living room area and a large boardroom table/chairs in the space, which provided very useful for our room-service breakfast the next morning!).  Wonderfully friendly staff - room was clean and comfortable.  

 

Beautiful evening for walking so we headed out after checking in to find a place to eat.  Ended up at the Lennox Pub on Granville Street where we thoroughly enjoyed their happy hour menu.  Stopped by Robson's Wine nearby to pick up the two bottles we'd carry on board the Eurodam the next day and headed back to the hotel for the evening.

 

Hotel called a taxi for us the next day and it was a quick trip to the port.  Absolutely loved sailing out of Vancouver...the port is in the heart of the city so very different than sailing out of FLL or Miami.  My only regret is the weather was a bit gray and dreary.  I'm sure it would have been more beautiful in the sunshine.