Hello, my husband and I are planning on taking a vacation with our 18-month old son to Vancouver.<BR><BR>Can you help me with:<BR>A) Best time to go? We were thinking about going the last week of June, is that a good time? Will we avoid summer crowds? (We visited Chicago 2 summers ago and it was impossible to enjoy with lines and crowds everywhere!)<BR><BR>B) Hotel suggestions? We have heard wonderful things about the Waterfront Fairmont, and it does sound like a place we would love, but it is a bit expensive for our budget. Any other suggestions that are downtown, offer comfortable rooms, and that are good for a couple with a child?<BR><BR>C) Restaurant suggestions that are kid-friendly and not expensive? <BR><BR>D) In your opinion, what would be the top 3 things for us to do in Vancouver? There are so many great options, I'd like to know what everybody's favorites are.<BR><BR>Thanks!<BR>

Travelmama:<BR><BR>- for me the best time to go is from May to early October. If you go in April you can also catch all the beautiful dogwood trees, magnolia, apple trees blooming. In the fall you catch the brilliant foliage show. In my mind Vancouver is never that busy - far from places like Tokyo, Hong Kong, N.Y. etc. The busiest place I find is Robson Street, but it's not wall-to-wall people like those cities I mentioned.<BR><BR>- there are many nice hotels in Vancouver. If you have a price range maybe I can give you some suggestions. It also depends on what you want from a hotel.<BR><BR>- for me the big 3 things to do, especially if you seldom or haven't been to Vancouver: (1) the Granville Market, a &quot;farmer's market&quot; just south of downtown (2) Stanley Park, and (3) shopping at Granville Street south of downtown.<BR><BR>If you need more info you can email me at [email protected]

When you say 'best time to go' I assume you're also talking about the weather in which case be aware that Vancouver is pretty unreliable in that category especially spring and early summer. The best chances for good weather comes from the middle of July to the middle or end of September. The period from July 20 to August 15 has a 20-1 odds against rain while in May and June there's around a 20-25% chance. Johnmango is correct when he says that Vancouver is big enough to accomodate the tourists without seeming crowded. You will encounter crowds if you go to summer events of course and the beaches tend to get pretty crowded on weekends especially.<BR><BR>The Westin Fairmont is right off the Canada Place cruise terminal and is a great location for views but there are many hotels in the area like the Renaisance Harbourside or the Delta Pinnacle which are probably about 20-30% less expensive and almost as well located. Most of these hotels would be quite child friendly.<BR><BR>Child friendly restaurants are usually the chain types like Milestones, TGIF, Red Robin, White Spot, etc. which have lots of locations. Asian Restaurants, of which Vancouver is justly famous, are also very child friendly because Asians - especially Chinese - take family dinners out very seriously. I've rarely eaten in a Chinese Restaurant where there wern't a lot of children. Ask your concierge for a reccomendation. <BR><BR>Granville Island, (not market), is a great destination and is much more than a 'farmers market'. It's also full of galleries and good to very good restaurants. Half the fun is taking the little shuttle ferries accross False Creek. Don't shop on Granville Street itself - it's pretty scummy. Robson Street is our 'Rodeo Drive' and has wonderful stores - though at night it can get very crowded - especially when it's warm. Gastown is very touristy but still interesting and fun to visitors. If you're staying at the Hotels I mentioned you won't be far from there.<BR><BR>Stanley Park is a family paradise with all sorts of outdoorsy things. On rainy days the Pacific Centre mall is good for shopping and browsing.<BR><BR>One evening go to Grouse Mountain and take the Gondola up during daylight and down after it gets dark. As long as it's a clear day it's something you will never forget. There's a child friendly restaurant and cafeteria up top.

We have been advised by Johnmango to shop on Granville south of downtown and by GaryA to not shop on Granville because it is scummy. To try to unconfuse Travelmama, they are talking about two very different parts of Granville street. Gary is referring to the part in the West End, aka downtown, John is referring to the part south of False Creek towards the airport. They are both right about the parts of the street that they are talking about.

Thank you all for your responses, and thank you Ron for making the Granville thing clearer.<BR><BR>I guess we should re-schedule our plans for september. We would love to se the foliage (we live in tropical weather, so that is something new and exciting for us), and we would have better chances of non-rainy weather.<BR><BR>Now, is it very cold during sept? What would be the average temps? Can we do ok with jackets for strolls in Stanley Park, or would we need coats?<BR><BR>As for the hotel budget, we're thinking no more than 150USD per night, preferably with buffet breakfast included. Squeaky-clean and not tiny rooms. Downtown location a must, and would love to have a view to the harbour. I'll check out GaryA's suggestions.<BR><BR>Thanks again for your help!

Yes Ron, you're right. But that part of Granville is known locally as 'South Granville' and is where my office is located so I'm quite familiar with it. It's not as high end as Robson but has many nice upper end shops catering to the generally senior population of the area. If Travelmama want's to try some really different shopping I reccomend a trip out to Richmond for the Asian Malls. It's almost like being in Hong Kong. Then again I don't recall her saying shopping was a priority.

Travelmama, I'm sorry to dissappoint you but Fall colours don't really start till mid to late October and are nowhere near the quality of Eastern Canada. September is still very green and only the flowers provide colour.<BR><BR>The weather in September, as you can guess, get's cooler as the month progresses. What typically happens is that the mornings start to have a decided fall chill and by the end of the month it's rarely really warm till around noon if at all. The evenings also start to get chilly but not as much as the mornings. The temperatures we're talking about are daytime between 15-25C and mornings around 8-12C. Warmer sunnier days ironically have the cooler mornings while the grey days have little spread in temperature. For the best weather possibilities combined with the better hotel rates make your trip just after Labour Day. Coming later in September will not give you any price or fall colour advantage.

Travelmamma: Can I jump on your thread? Gary: we are going to Vancouver 4 days prior to an Alaska cruise, I have been scoping out hotels and saw decent rates for the Crown Plaza(Hotel Georgia, I believe). I also looked at the Renaissance, but it has no guest laundry. They both look quite lovely only Crowne Plaza has a guest laundry facility, which is important because I don't want to pack too much. BTW, your city looks glorious, I am quite thrilled about going. We are coming from S. Fla, so it will a cool respite from our HEAT. Judy

Judy, I spent a week at the Georgia back in 2001. I like the place; its an older hotel so isn't high enough for great views. But it is very comfortable and service is friendly. Rooms aren't as large as you will get in more modern hotels like the Sheraton Wall Centre or Delta Pinnacle, which I have also stayed at recently. Location near the Pacific Centre Mall and Vancouver Art Gallery is good. They offer English-style afternoon tea, if that interests you.

Thanks Ron for your input. It(Crowne) looks to be a nice contrast to the SW Fla style. Did you happen to take note if they had guest laundry? I am probably being quite anal about this. yes? &gt;g&lt; Judy ;-)

Judy, are you sure the Crowne Plaza hs a guest laundry? It doesn't mention it in the tour book I have. Still there are loads of laundromats around town and especially in the West End which is a few blocks west of the Hotel.

GaryA: I just called the Crowne Plaza today to verify their Guest laundry, and they said they did not have one.....I just may give up on that idea, and go with your laundramat idea instead. It is too difficult to find hotel that had them......ergo, I was driving myself batty!