What is “not to be missed” in Vancouver?

[maggiev]

We are doing our first Alaskan cruise, sailing out of Vancouver in late August.  
We have never been to Vancouver & will have from 2pm Friday until boarding (time undetermined)

on Sunday.  We will be staying at The Fairmount (hopefully, have a waitlist for 2 nights with Holland America).

Trying to make a plan so we make good use of our time. 
Suggestions / advise / recommendations are all welcome

 

Thank you

[Urban trekker]

There are three Fairmont's in the downtown core but they are fairly close to each other so it won't make a big difference where you start your tours from.

The #1 attraction is Stanley Park and it's only about a 1KM from Canada Place and you can walk there from the pier along the promenade.

After that it's a crap shoot as to which is next so I will throw out them out and I am sure my fellow poster MartinCath will be along with more details.

Granville Island, Grouse Mountain, Gastown and Chinatown, Capilano Suspension Bridge, Shipyards across harbour from pier, Van Dusen botanical garden, Queen Elizabeth Park, West End of Vancouver and English Bay.

Hope this get you started

[martincath]

Not so much more details Dennis - instead more questions! While you do have at least a full Saturday plus Friday evening/Sunday morning @maggiev that's still nowhere near enough time to see close to everything, so prioritization is a must.

 

Unfortunately one man's Must See is another man's What A Waste of Time That Was... not knowing you or yours Maggie, I'm loathe to suggest anywhere specific. Stanley Park, and the Seawall surrounding it and much of downtown, are probably the most Vancouvery Things - but maybe you don't want to walk or bike for miles to see them, in which case no matter how good they are as parks and seawalls go they're no use to you!

 

I'd suggest hitting up TripAdvisor - separately, have everyone in your group look for themselves. Pick 5 things (start with the Top 10 listings, maybe also check some of the short itineraries posted like '1 weekend in...' or '24/48 hours in...) that sound good to YOU - then compare with your companions. Anything on all the lists = Must See For Your Group!

 

Split opinion? Split the group - just like when cruising, it;s easy to go do your own thing then meet up again for lunch, dinner etc. Transit is clean, safe, cheap and goes lots of places, unbeatable value for solos and even small groups - but distances are so short between many attractions, as downtown core is extremely compact, that walking is often best or a cab is cheaper than transit tickets with 2 or 3 people in the vehicle.

 

Where us locals become really useful is optimising HOW you visit your selected Want To Do Sites - we might know that traffic is always a problem in place X at time Y, so doing certain combos works best in a certain order, or know some great food spots that are a bit off the radar but convenient to visit while you're doing site Z at lunchtime.

 

And if you are happy to share more about your group, your interests, your budget, I'd be happy to make some specific suggestions once I have an idea of how your tastes might overlap or differ from my own.

 

 

[maggiev]

On 3/17/2024 at 10:34 PM, martincath said:

Not so much more details Dennis - instead more questions! While you do have at least a full Saturday plus Friday evening/Sunday morning @maggiev that's still nowhere near enough time to see close to everything, so prioritization is a must.

 

Unfortunately one man's Must See is another man's What A Waste of Time That Was... not knowing you or yours Maggie, I'm loathe to suggest anywhere specific. Stanley Park, and the Seawall surrounding it and much of downtown, are probably the most Vancouvery Things - but maybe you don't want to walk or bike for miles to see them, in which case no matter how good they are as parks and seawalls go they're no use to you!

 

I'd suggest hitting up TripAdvisor - separately, have everyone in your group look for themselves. Pick 5 things (start with the Top 10 listings, maybe also check some of the short itineraries posted like '1 weekend in...' or '24/48 hours in...) that sound good to YOU - then compare with your companions. Anything on all the lists = Must See For Your Group!

 

Split opinion? Split the group - just like when cruising, it;s easy to go do your own thing then meet up again for lunch, dinner etc. Transit is clean, safe, cheap and goes lots of places, unbeatable value for solos and even small groups - but distances are so short between many attractions, as downtown core is extremely compact, that walking is often best or a cab is cheaper than transit tickets with 2 or 3 people in the vehicle.

 

Where us locals become really useful is optimising HOW you visit your selected Want To Do Sites - we might know that traffic is always a problem in place X at time Y, so doing certain combos works best in a certain order, or know some great food spots that are a bit off the radar but convenient to visit while you're doing site Z at lunchtime.

 

And if you are happy to share more about your group, your interests, your budget, I'd be happy to make some specific suggestions once I have an idea of how your tastes might overlap or differ from my own.

 

 

THANK YOU gentlemen - I will take your advice & look at a few options first.
Party of 4, 60 - 67.  Walking around town is an option but biking & hiking are out.  We would not be opposed to renting a car to see the “outskirts”. 
I’ll be back with questions I’m sure

 

[Northern Aurora]

An option on a rainy day is the Vancouver Art Gallery.  Check their website as they have periodically hosted some very special exhibits.  Over a decade ago, when the Rijksmusuem in Amsterdam was being remodeled, the Vancouver Art Gallery hosted an incredibly impressive exhibit from the Rijksmuseum for several months -- they were the only art museum in North America to host that exhibit.

[martincath]

1 hour ago, maggiev said:

THANK YOU gentlemen - I will take your advice & look at a few options first.
Party of 4, 60 - 67.  Walking around town is an option but biking & hiking are out.  We would not be opposed to renting a car to see the “outskirts”. 
I’ll be back with questions I’m sure

If you're considering a car rental, then with four bums on seats the cost of parking becomes far more reasonable - in particular, check Lynn Canyon park (inconvenient on transit for visitors, but with a car the free-except-parking cost compared to almost US$200 for 4 senior tickets is a helluva steal) and consider doing Stanley Park piecemeal by car - parking rates are for the entire park, you can move spots as often as you like within the time you buy, which greatly cuts down on walking distances... totem poles and prospect point have parking right next to them, most other popular spots like the rose garden are a short walk from the nearest lot).

 

I'd also look into the Squamish sites - Britannia Mining Museum, waterfall, gondola ride all work out much more convenient with your own car and you can drive through Stanley on the way out or back - and Steveston village in south Richmond, Burnaby Village Museum, Fort Langley.

 

Heading out of town southward, or coming back, Queen Elizabeth Park is another spot that's easier to do by car (transit is frequent, but you have to walk uphill!) even though it's in the city - likewise, UBC campus museums and gardens are worth paying parking for compared to bus fares, as campus itself is pretty big!

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

Little known, largely overlooked, and extremely interesting The Vancouver Police Museum.  https://www.vancouverpolicemuseum.ca/

[lax19]

We did a free (tip Ok at the end) walking tour and throughly enjoyed it. 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

What is “not to be missed” in Vancouver?

 

Chinese food, especially dim sum.

[bbqoug]

22 hours ago, KeepCalmBearOn said:

What is “not to be missed” in Vancouver?

 

Chinese food, especially dim sum.

Any recommended restaurants? Someplace within walking distance of the Pan Pacific Hotel would be preferable.

Edited March 28 by bbqoug

[KeepCalmBearOn]

The best Chinese tends to be in Richmond, but there are several good/decent places by the Pan Pacific, including Jade Dynasty, Victoria Chinese Restaurant and Jingle Bao.

[bbqoug]

5 hours ago, KeepCalmBearOn said:

The best Chinese tends to be in Richmond, but there are several good/decent places by the Pan Pacific, including Jade Dynasty, Victoria Chinese Restaurant and Jingle Bao.

Thank you. I will do some research on these before our visit in September.

[martincath]

14 hours ago, bbqoug said:

Thank you. I will do some research on these before our visit in September.

From the PP, if it's walkable dim sum you're after I'd go with Kirin - or if money is no object, Mott32. If you don't mind a fairly short transit or cab ride, Dynasty on Broadway has racked up as many or more awards as the top-end Richmond joints - Dynasty was actually the first of the newest wave of fancy Chinese restos, with almost everything since then also opening in Vancouver proper including the only Michelin-starred Chinese place in the country, Quanjude.

 

Once you move into more budget, 'mom & pop' level reliably-good restos it's pretty much all about Richmond - but in Chinatown proper there are still a handful of tasty bargains e.g. Chinatown BBQ and Daisy Garden (same owner, a local gal made good, who 'rescued' these businesses and keeps prices artificially low so the local Seniors can still afford to dine where they live), or for Dim Sum the factory kitchen that makes most of the dim sum dishes reheated by anywhere that isn't supes fancy will actually sell takeout food direct to the public (Kam Wai) - there are some small tables you can even eat at if you get lucky!

 

The already-mentioned Jade Dynasty is probably the best balance of a dim sum focused joint that is decently priced, has plenty of tables that don't involve sharing with strangers, a nice clean space, and service that doesn't feel rude to Westerners... but I don't think many PP guests would enjoy the walk, unless you're familiar with Vancouver it's hard to avoid walking past some pretty dodgy blocks on any remotely-direct route, so I'd be inclined to take a cab even though it's barely a mile.

[bbqoug]

Thank you martincath.

That's a wealth of information for me to go through. I'm up for it though since I love the planning part of a trip.

[Milhouse]

Some great options.  One update though:  Daisy Garden I believe is permanently closed.  Google Maps shows temporarily closed but I think there's a For Sale or For Lease sign up now.  

[martincath]

14 hours ago, Milhouse said:

Some great options.  One update though:  Daisy Garden I believe is permanently closed.  Google Maps shows temporarily closed but I think there's a For Sale or For Lease sign up now.  

Well buggeration - I think I'm conflating a couple of different stories about people who resurrected restos, turns out Carol Lee didn't buy DG she just hired a bunch of the staff after the fire ~8(?) years back. I assumed when DG reopened that was also her, given she'd been trying to reopen Foo's HoHo for years I figured she'd pivoted to DG instead but some press tales indicate a completely different lady owns it... I was in with my mum when she last visited, as Chinatown BBQ was packed with people, not long before they closed due to difficulty staffing... somewhat embarrassing as that was a year ago!

 

Sorry for the mislead, thanks for the catch M, and I'll throw out the Not Chinese But Excellent Phnom Penh as an alternative great value joint because Yelp thought they were closed forever last week thanks to idiot posters claiming so, despite the usual hand-written sign in the window about this time of year that they are closed for family vacation fun... Viet-Cambodian, outstanding beef and the best wings in the city!