Vancouver
 

Can anyone give me some practical suggestions for our stay in Vancouver.
I have allowed 5 nights in Vancouver at the Rosedale on Robson Suite Hotel. We have decided not to have a car there and thought that we might do the organised daily tours etc from the hotel, this 5 night stay will have to include the visit to Victoria.
I need to know if anyone has stayed at this hotel and get their comments please. Also suggestions on what tours to take etc. Thanks for that, it is just my husband and I, we would have allready done the Rockies before arriving in Vancouver.

Hello Sheba1,

A good way to get your bearings in Vancouver is to use the hop-on / hop-off service of the Vancouver Trolley Company:

http://www.vancouvertrolley.com/citytours/tour.html

When one rides a hop-on / hop-off bus in a new city, I think it's helpful to stay on for one full circuit before deciding where to get off and explore in more depth.

The trolley bus certainly will expose you to all of the significant sights / sites in central Vancouver -- Stanley Park and all the rest of them. Just look at the trolley bus's itinerary. It hits all the "usual suspects."

I notice Vancouver Trolley Company offers a Grouse Mountain Sunset Tour, but I have not used them for that. Anyway, however you get there, Grouse Mountain is something I would recommend you include.

Another place I like a lot is the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (UBC). It depicts the traditional lifestyle of the First Nations people of the west coast. There is public transportation between downtown Vancouver and UBC.

As for getting to Victoria, there are several ways of doing it. A car / ferry combination is one way, but you've pretty much indicated you'd rather not do it by car. In that case your options are (1) bus / ferry combination or (2) small float plane from Vancouver Harbour to Victoria Harbour and back again or (3) bus / ferry one way and float plane the other way. The bus / ferry combination is the most economical one, and the Gulf Islands through which one sails are pretty.

If you choose to do the bus / ferry thing, you can catch the bus from Pacific Central Station at 1150 Station Street. Here is Pacific Coach Lines' website:

http://www.pacificcoach.com/

If all other things are equal (weather, etc.), I would not go to Victoria on my last day. If you want to get the most out of Victoria, you'll want to make quite a long day of it. It doesn't make sense to me to do that on your last day, when you need to pack and get ready for your departure from Vancouver.

Just my 2 cents' worth.

Sorry, I'm not familiar with Rosedale on Robson Suite Hotel. I hope someone else will be able to pass an opinion on it.

I second all Judy's comments.

I haven't stayed at the Rosedale, but I live a short walk from there. The location is central. If you are a light sleeper, traffic noise could be a problem (or maybe the windows are sound-proofed).

But it's ideal for "doing" much of Vancouver on foot. You certainly won't need a car.

It strikes me as a rather modern, characterless building, but should be comfortable. (My husband is indifferent to where we stay; I go more for the "character" hotels.)

I work next door to the Rosedale and have eaten in its restaurant (Rosie's on Robson) a few times - it offers lots of deli-type sandwiches (smoked meat, etc). I agree with Vorkuta that the hotel seems perfectly pleasant, nothing special.
The area has seen quite a bit of development recently - condos, hotels and lots of small conveniences. I don't think it'd be that noisy - the street it's on isn't too busy with traffic at night.

Unless they've changed policies in the last 3 weeks, the Vancouver Trolley only allows one full circuit for the $28 fare. You can hop on and off in that circuit but they do not allow you to do a full circuit to become familiar and then hop on and off on another circuit without paying a second fare.

I had a friend who stayed at Rosedale on Robson's a few years ago and he liked it. The area is mostly fine, but there are some vagrants and drug dealers close by. I walk around there quite frequently, though, including late at night. Yaletown is a couple blocks away with interesting food options, and of course you are right on Robson Street. My tip - Robson Street really improves once you walk the few blocks west to cross Granville.

I've stayed at the Rosedale twice in the past 3 years and have had no complaints at all. It is comfortable, very clean and the staff are very friendly and helpful.

Having the separate living room/kitchen is a bonus. Request a high floor and there is no street noise and I've never had any problems with "unsavoury" characters when walking back from Yaletown at night either.

I agree Yaletown has some great places to eat - we especially like "Simply Thai" and some interesting shops. Also the Rosedale is only 10 mins walk from the dock at Yaletown to catch the Aquabus to Granville Island

We did a trip to Victoria with Pacific Coach lines and if you phone them beforehand (the day before) they will pick you up from the Rosedale and on the return they drop you off one street over. We couldn't fault them. Also saw orcas on the ferry over to Victoria. Bonus!

I second the Grouse Mtn at sunset and UBC recommendations. There is no need to take a tour to either - both are easliy accessible with public transportation. The link below will take you to the transportation site

http://www.translink.bc.ca/

Have a great time!