Vancouver Travel Guide

If you follow along on Instagram, you’ll know that my husband and I headed north of the border a week ago for a weekend getaway. It was my first time visiting and I was very impressed. I asked and you all answered that you’d like to see a travel guide for Vancouver Canada. So just keep reading for your Vancouver Weekend Travel Guide

Weekend in Vancouver: Travel Guide

Living in Seattle, Vancouver is our neighbor to the north in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. And when they say beautiful, they mean it! While Seattle is considered a beautiful city with city, mountains, and water all combined, Vancouver takes that up several notches. The mountains are closer to the city, resulting in dramatic views every time you turn around. Plus it’s overall a flat city with modern amenities so it’s incredibly walkable. You can walk from one end of downtown to another in 20-30 minutes and we walked around 14 miles per day.

GETTING THERE

Driving from Seattle, leaving first thing Friday morning set us up to arrive at the border around 9 am to no line (the wait time at the border can be over an hour) and almost no traffic from the border into downtown Vancouver. As this was my first trip to the city, I can’t speak to other routes but there are two fairly direct driving routes from Seattle to Vancouver. 

THINGS TO DO

Since we arrived mid-morning, we started our trip at Stanley Park. This is a lovely park on the north end of downtown. You can rent bikes to ride around the park or, if you bring a practical pair of shoes, walk the park without any trouble. Each section of the park gives you different vistas to enjoy from high rise cityscapes to snow-capped mountains, to the bay and seaplanes or the seawall with container ships.

Within Stanley Park, is the Vancouver Aquarium. We ended up spending several hours going through the different exhibits and this is one of the nicest aquariums I’ve ever been too. It catered to all ages and had extensive exhibits on seemingly all aspects of marine life. Each time, I thought we were at the end, we’d turn a corner and there would be another exhibit.

After we had time to check into our hotel, we headed over to Granville Island looking for food. There is a walk-on ferry that will shuttle you over from downtown Vancouver to the little island for $3 a person.

If you’re familiar with Seattle’s Pike Place Market, Granville Island was quite similar. There was a section with produce and groceries where locals were picking up groceries as well as a section for arts and crafts but there is also a section with food vendors for people looking to pick up lunch. I don’t know if I was simply extremely hungry but all the different options looked amazing! We ended up getting a Thai noodle bowl and spring rolls but we (mainly I) couldn’t walk past the large bakery section without stopping for a Nutella croissant and biscotti.

The whole point of our trip was to see part of the Vancouver Comedy Festival where Trevor Noah was headlining the week’s events. In the evening when the shows were starting, we walked over to the Queen Elizabeth Theater where food trucks were set up, bands were playing, and there were a couple different activities going on. It was a great reminder that when Seattle shows sell out instantly, heading to the Vancouver leg of a tour may be a decent option.

BEST FOOD OPTIONS

Walking around the Gastown neighborhood of downtown had the best looking food selection. While we didn’t have time to stop into any of the restaurants or bars, we made the time to look at several posted menus and found them all mouth watering. This is the historical section of downtown where the older buildings have been preserved so you get a good look at Vancouver of a different era. Plus don’t forget to stop at the steam clock. My engineer husband found it was very interesting and even I got a kick out of it 😉

BEST VIEWS

While Stanley Park has the most variety of views, Coal Harbour and the Convention Center have the most impressive views all in one place. You’ll recognize Coal Harbor from just about any movie filmed in Vancouver with a large marina where you can pick out your own luxury yacht (or at least appreciate them) that is backed by a highrise cityscape directly behind it. Turn around 180 and you’ve got a view of Stanley Park, North Vancouver right at the foot of the mountains.

After breakfast, we wandered over to Coal Harbor and spent a couple hours walking around, watching the seaplanes take off and land, and enjoying the view. The waterfront is paved and organized so pedestrians and cyclists have their own paths.

THINGS WE DIDN’T GET TO

While we were there for the weekend, we didn’t have time to hit a couple spots that are farther outside of downtown.

The first thing that we wanted to check out was the Suspension Bridge Park in North Vancouver. This is a long suspension footbridge that isn’t for those with fear of heights but can take you into the treetops of the forest.

We didn’t have time to see the Botanical Garden, which is farther south of downtown. It is highly rated but you also need to plan this for a spring or summertime visit to see the garden in bloom.

We also didn’t have the chance to head west to the Pacific Spirit Regional Park where University of British Columbia is located. That area looks like it would have more beautiful views from their peninsula along with plenty of trails.

Finally, we didn’t have the chance to wander around South Granville. While driving into downtown Vancouver, this neighborhood had so many impressive looking historical houses, this architecture lover was dying to just park the car and wander on foot.

Have you ever visited Vancouver BC? What is missing from my list as go-to or favorite spots around the city? Let me know as I’m certain to go back sometime soon!

Until next time,
Ana Luiza