ditto97

Hey everyone!
My family of 4 will be visiting Vancouver after 2 days in Seattle. The whole trip is from July 31st - August 7th, but we will not be arriving in Vancouver until August 3rd.

We are driving from Seattle to Vancouver, and it will be later at night when we get to the hotel.
Any hotel recommendations? Our price range is $200-$250. We will look at apartments and condos.

What is there to do? This will be the first time to Vancouver for any of us, so any help is greatly appreciated. I really want to make this trip unforgettable. Any restaurants that are a MUST? Thanks for the help!

Seattle thread: http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...rly-august.cfm

sunbum1944

I recently stayed at the Rosedale on Robson- great location, room was a suite with full kitchen and there is also restaurant downstairs.

Had dinner at the Flying Pig which was walking distance from the hotel and located in Yaletown,
I did not have time to explore Yaletown but it looks like a very "happening" place to be and enjoyed my dinner there very much!!

A new tourist attraction in Vancouver is Flyover Canada

http://www.flyovercanada.com

You can purchase a "hop on/off" ticket for the trolleys so you can travel around the city to most of the tourist attractions. We purchased ours at the hotel

ditto97

Thank you very much for your reply! I'll be sure to look into everything you mentioned.

BC_Robyn

Gosh, restaurants that are a must? It completely depends what you like to eat. Vancouver's a restaurant city, and there are dozens of restaurants to recommend, but I don't know what your style is, what your scene is, etc.

Likewise, for Vancouver, Stanley Park is the number one attraction. Spend half a day there, at the minimum, making sure you don't just stay on the seawall but get into the heart of the park where the rainforest is. The west side of the park is home to some beautiful beaches, too.

Granville Island is fun for a few hours, as long as you visit well before 7pm (which is when all the shops close).

Do you like museums? Shopping? Unique neighbourhoods? Wildlife and nature? Scenery? What are you looking to experience while you're here?

BC_Robyn

Here's a recent article on Vancouver in the Wall Street Journal - an insider's guide to the city:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...999782402.html

ditto97

Thank you, I will read the article!

For restaurants it must be family oriented. We aren't into the nightlife due to two 15 year old boys. Any unique restaurants really. Pizza places are fine, as well as foreign restaurants.

Stanley Park will be put on the list, thank you! We do like interesting museums. We aren't really interested in Art, History...Interactive museums seem exciting, so do museums based on geography or something. We love shopping and looking at the neighborhoods would be nice. Is there a neighborhood where we can get some frozen yogurt and maybe take a walk around the neighborhood? Something scenic possible. Wildlife and nature aren't really important. We may go to the zoo.

I just want to experience what Vancouver is really about.

garyt22

the website for the trolley is www.vancouvertrolley.com we bought the tickets online and got two days... there are thirty stops and no need for a car as the trolleys come every 20 minutes... a fantastic option to eliminate costly and difficult city parking...

Daniel_Williams

You write that "wildlife and nature aren't really important" but I think you may want to re-assess your thought on the latter as "nature" is in my opinion a large part of what makes Vancouver such an incredible city. I stayed recently at the Sylvia Hotel in the West End and loved the location and the view of English Bay each morning; it fits your price range. The West End is a central neighbourhood; plenty of frozen yogurt and terrific varied walks to be had.

Places that have made my trips to Vancouver unforgettable:

1. Biking in and around Stanley Park and along the English Bay over to Kitsilano Beach.
2. Taking the cable car up Grouse Mountain.
3. Hiking in Lynn Canyon near the suspension bridge.
4. Visiting the Museum of Anthropology, with its terrific collection of Pacific Northwest people artifacts.
5. Queen Elizabeth Park & the Bloedel Conservatory.
6. The sushi; I find it just a level better in Vancouver than in the eastern US/Canadian cities and inexpensive to boot. I've been to Samurai Sushi and Momo Sushi and these I don't even think are considered to be amongst the best but I was still impressed. I think it has to do with the freshness of the fish and large, selective Asian population.

traveller69

A casual reasonable restaurant that would certainly suit your boys is http://www.oldspaghettifactory.ca/lo...own,vancouver/ You can click on the menu to see if that would suite them.

sludick

You might really enjoy Grouse Mountain. You would get an awesome view of the area, of course. There are things like the Lumberjack Show, Birds of Prey demonstration, zipline, etc. And of course you take the SkyRide up to it, on top of the mountain. There is a place for casual dining outdoors along with a nicer restaurant and an inside cafeteria style place. Lots of really huge, amazing sculptures carved from entire trees. I know you don't care about wildlife so much, but the bears are there to see in a natural-type habitat, along with the eagles, hawks, owls, etc. More interesting than a zoo, I think.

That would give you a real taste of what this area is like. And you could catch public transportation to it quite easily. It is amazing, that just 15 minutes away and fully in view of each other, you have a vibrant big city and a mountain/attaction like this.

http://www.grousemountain.com/

BC_Robyn

Vancouver is all about its natural environment. It's perhaps one of the most scenic cities in North America. It's entire downtown peninsula is surrounded by a seawall - a manmade walking path and bike path, and it also circles Stanley Park - a park larger than Central Park. Asking for a neighbourhood with frozen yogurt is ALL of Vancouver - it's all one gigantic picnic/leisurely stroll where there are shops and beaches and scenery and shops.

Mind you, tourists who don't do any research end up walking into Gastown and Chinatown, and I don't think this is the area you're looking for.

Definitely go to Stanley Park.
Go to Granville Island.
Go to Kitsilano Beach and meander along Cornwall Ave, up Yew to W 4th.
Go to the Museum of Anthropology at UBC and have a picnic at Jericho Beach.
Go for a walk in the rainforest in North Vancouver at Lynn Canyon and have ice cream at Ambleside Beach or Deep Cove.

The whole city is surrounded by nature and scenic vistas.

ditto97

Thanks garyt22!

And I like nature I just don't want to spend /all/ day in it. Like Stanley Park seems beautiful and a definite possibility.
Grouse Mountain seems amazing as well!!

And thanks traveller69, that looks amazing. And delicious!!

Also, thank you sludick. I would love to zipline, so Grouse Mountain just gained a few more brownie points!!

ditto97

Thanks BC_Robyn!! I love the picnic idea. I mean, I don't mind any safe neighborhoods. I'm sure I would love to be more centered though. Thanks for posting.