Getting Around Vancouver

[saabdued]

Hello. My wife and I will be arriving in Vancouver by cruise ship from Alaska at about 9:30 AM on a Saturday this summer, and we will be staying at the Blue Horizon Hotel. Unfortunately Saturday is our only day to quickly see a few Vancouver sights such as Stanley Park, Chinatown, Gas Town, and the Granville Island Market and shopping areas, and we hope to dump our luggage at the hotel and get in as full a day as possible.

 

On Sunday, our last day before flying home, we a taking a full day bus tour to Butchart Gardens and Victoria on Vancouver Island.

 

From what I read, in Vancouver there is a Gray Line West company that has a 2 hour circle double-deck bus tour of the main tourist attractions, that you can get on and off of.

 

I also came across the Vancouver Trolley Company that makes 23 stops in a 2 hour circle, and I believe I saw somewhere that the daily ticket can be used with the Gray Line West buses. An advantage of the Vancouver Trolley is that I believe one of the stops is the Blue Horizon Hotel.

 

And lastly, I understand that the is a company called Big Bus, that makes 20 stops and runs every 15 minutes.

 

Considering all the pros and cons (the frequency of buses, the availability of seats (I understand the Trolleys are small) and our ability to see those few limited sights, can anyone recommend one service over the other?

 

Thanks very much in advance for your time and assistance.

[rjscott]

We used the Big Bus last August for our sightseeing. We were staying at the Pan Pacific, and all of the tour buses, Gray Line, Vancouver Trolley and Big Bus, stop right out front. I chose Big Bus as we were having a beautiful day and Big Bus offers vehicles which are half-enclosed and half-open. It was so nice to sit outside and enjoy the weather while seeing the sights. Here's their website: http://bigbus.ca/index.php