Hello-
I'm planning a last minute trip to Vancouver the first weekend in October (3 nights)..... How is the weather that time of year? The trip is to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday. Any suggestions as to places to stay (moderately priced ---- considering Sutton Place)? Nice place to eat to celebrate birthday? Open to hearing any suggestions. I usually plan trips months in advance but, kind of winging it on this one! Thanks in advance!

The weather can be anything from pleasant and warm and sunny, to crisp, cool and foggy... to rainy. Though it's normally on the dry side of things - it's later in the month where the chance or rain increases.

For restaurant ideas, I seriously recommend you look at www.dinehere.ca, which is where restaurant customers write reviews of Vancouver restaurants. You can organize them by the most popular, the highest rated, by cuisine type, by neighbourhood, etc. Of course, take them with a grain of salt, but it gives you a good overview of what might be appropriate for your husband's birthday. Is there any particular kind of cuisine he enjoys?

If you do end up at the Sutton Place (which is my favorite hotel there--I go to Vancouver 3-4 times a year and have stayed at all the nice hotels), and if your husband enjoys French cuisine, Le Crocodile is nearby and it would make my day to be taken there if I were celebrating a birthday, that's for sure ;-). It's an amazing restaurant--still as wonderful on a recent visit as it was the first time I went years ago and many times in between.

Two of my favorites are Cioppino's - great service and great food, and Joe Fortes for great seafood.

We've just come back from Vancouver - a word of warning if you want to go to one of the popular restaurants - book at least a day ahead as they're all packed. Impossible to get a table at Joe Fortes for the same evening even though it's huge. Great atmosphere and food (steaks too) though a bit noisy. We also enjoyed Lift (quite expensive) for the atmosphere, view and people watching. The night we ate there a huge yacht pulled up almost inside the restaurant and the people on board ordered bottles of champagne and drank them on the deck. Very glam!

Hi for restaurants I would recommend Sanifir, Chambar, Rare, and Le Crocodile is also very good. Yes, book ahead. There is a web site called opentable where you can book many of the restaurants on-line

Hope this post isn't too late. Just got back last nite from Seattle/Vancouver/Victoria. We loved Kettle of Fish and Il Giardano in Vancouver--both very pretty with great food. We also ate breakfast at the food booths at Granville Island which was fun, and had the buffet lunch at the Pacific Culinary Institute also on Granville Island. I think it's only on Fridays and we couldn't get dinner reservations as they were booked. Great bargain, lovely dining room, friendly service and so much fun to try lots of different things(make sure to save room for the desserts!!)

Vietnam's natural beauty is another of the country's powerful attactrions. From Mékong Delta to the stunning coastline of Central Vietnam, the rugged mountains of the North and Halong Bay, Vietnam's beauty is an inspiration.
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Hallmark of Luxury Travel

Yeah dude, Viet Nam is nice this time of year - sure hope you're there !