2 Day Trip to Vancouver - Lots of questions
 

We will be spending 2 days in Vancouver with 2 kids 5 & 11. We are staying at the Delta Vancouver Airport hotel.

Would you reccomend public transportaion or renting a car? Does public transportation go tot any of the beaches?

What resteraunts would you suggest - we love seafood and local eateries.

What are the must see sites?

What are the hidden delights of Vancouver?

Thanks in advance for all of your help.

>>>>>>We will be spending 2 days in Vancouver with 2 kids 5 & 11. We are staying at the Delta Vancouver Airport hotel.<<<<<<

If it was my trip, I would try to switch hotels to the downtown core or to the West End, which is a high density residential area between the downtown core and Stanley Park. Staying near the airport is a mistake, in my opinion. If you’re committed to the Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel for some reason, e.g., if you’ve pre-paid, well I guess you’ll just have to make the best of the situation.

>>>>>>Would you reccomend public transportaion or renting a car?<<<<<<

Vancouver’s centrally located landmarks can be reached by a combination of walking and public transportation. I’m thinking of places like Stanley Park, the excellent aquarium that is located in Stanley Park, Granville Island Market, Yaletown and Robson Street.

Even places on the "North Shore," e.g., Grouse Mountain, Capilano Suspension Bridge and Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge, all of which are in North Vancouver, can be reached by public transportation. However, the reality is that, once you’ve paid 4 transit fares, and once you’ve waited for buses, etc., you might not be so much further ahead if you caught public transportation. It might make more sense to drive to North Shore attractions.

If you stay at the airport, the same question about the merits of public transportation versus a car comes into play.

If you switched your accommodation to the downtown core or the West End, I might be inclined to do without a car on Day #1, the day on which I visited the centrally located landmarks, and rent a car for Day #2, the day on which I visited the North Shore.

More ..........

>>>>>>Does public transportation go tot any of the beaches?<<<<<<

Yes. If you were staying in the West End, you’d be within walking distance of English Bay and Stanley Park’s beaches. If you wanted to go to the other side of English Bay, it would take about 25 minutes on 2 buses (the #19 and the #22) to get to Kitsilano (Kits) Beach.

There are other beaches that are accessible by public transporation. With the limited time you have in the area, I don’t think it’s worth your while to research that issue any further.

Here is the Trip Planning page of TransLink’s website. You can use it to figure out the logistics of getting from Point A to Point B by public transportation:

http://tripplanning.translink.bc.ca/hiwire?.a=iTripPlanning&.s={$SID}


>>>>>>What resteraunts would you suggest - we love seafood and local eateries.<<<<<<

Here is a recent thread in which good information on that topic was provided:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34820444

>>>>>>What are the must see sites?<<<<<<

I have mentioned them already.

More ............

>>>>>>What are the hidden delights of Vancouver?<<<<<<

I don’t think you have time for too many of the hidden delights. I think it takes a good three days to take in Vancouver’s "must see" landmarks.

However, if you had the time to get beyond the initial "must see" places, I would recommend Bowen Island and Burnaby Mountain Park.

Here’s the Vancouver page of my website:

http://groups.msn.com/CalgaryandCana...vancouver.msnw

My site suggests how to spend time in Vancouver. It also has links to fabulous websites that Vancouverites have created about their city.

I especially recommend the Find Family Fun website ( www.findfamilyfun.com ). A Vancouver family with three children created it. It explains each attraction, lists the age groups to which it appeals, states how much it costs, etc.

A particularly useful feature of the website is that you can sort the attractions by location. It’s very useful to be able to plan your sight seeing with Vancouver’s geography in mind. For example, it makes sense to group centrally located attractions together on one day and North Shore attractions on another day.

Hope that helps.

If you only have two days a car is a must. If you take Judy's suggestions of places to see you will spend the whole time on the bus. Get a car and make the most of it.

I wholeheartedly second Judy's suggestion of changing hotel locations. An airport hotel isn't near anything, IMO, that a visitor with two younger kids would like to visit n just 2 days. You'd save a lot of public transit/driving time by staying downtown.

If you provide a nightly budget and the time of year you'll be visiting, there are many posters who could help out.

Linda

Move downtown or, at the very least, rent a car. But in doing that, you're wasting 30 to 60 minutes in traffic anytime you want to go anywhere. With the exception of Steveston, the Reifel Bird Sanctuary and a lot of good Chinese restuarants, Richmond is a wasteland.

What hasn't been mentioned yet is that your hotel, the Delta Vancouver Airport, is located infront of the Airport Station bus loop. The 98 B-line bus connects your hotel with downtown Vancouver. It's a 20 minute bus ride costing $3.25 on weekdays before 6:30pm, or $2.25 on weekends and after 6:30pm.

While it's nice to have a hotel in downtown Vancouver, I wouldn't worry about switching hotels if you're at the Delta Vancouver Airport. It's a good hotel and transportation to downtown is very convenient and frequent.

It's very confusing getting from the airport into town IMO. Not well marked out like Toronto.

I stayed downtown and had my minivan. I wasn't intimidated at all with the driving like I thought I might be. I planned my route on a map before leaving the hotel. In 2-3 days we saw the Aquarium, Stanley Park, McMillen Bloedel Aquarium, Granville Island (cute train model train & boat museum ther) and Granville Island has some seafood restaurants if I'm not mistaken.