[Caernavon]

My wife and I are going on an Alaska cruise on 6/17, and we're heading into Vancouver a few days early. Can anyone suggest some good photogenic spots to hit? Caveat: my wife has difficulty walking long distances; we're staying at the Fairmont Hotel, not far from the water I think. All compatible suggestions welcome! :)

[bils]

downtown
a) robson street
b) coal harbour
c) english bay
d) stanley park <by the totem poles>

outside downtown
a) granville island
b) jericho beach/spanish banks

enjoy your stay & have a safe trip!

[Nutterbug]

Grouse Mountain
Queen Elizabeth Park
Skytrain near Trout Lake
Sea-to-Sky Highway
Lighthouse Park
UBC campus

[SpongeG]

the fairmont is at canada place right? you can easily walk to coal harbour and the entrance of stanley park as well as Canada place itself gives some good views

[mr.x]

CANADA PLACE/COAL HARBOUR (downtown)
http://www.shutterfreaks.com/albums/Favorites2004/CRW_2489_CurvesPerspCrop_FBoldSelBCWCurves.jpg



STANLEY PARK/VANCOUVER AQUARIUM (downtown, take the bus)
http://www.penmachine.com/photoessays/2002_06_aerial/Images/10.jpg
http://ta2.uniglobetravel.com/ImagesSite140/Vancouver_Aquarium.jpg
http://www.clip.ubc.ca/archive/seminars_conferences/images/peter_friedl_nov2002/Totem-Poles-Stanley-Park.jpg




ROBSON STREET (downtown, nice shopping)
http://www.gonorthwest.com/BC/vancouver/images/robson.jpg



GRANVILLE ISLAND (right beside downtown, across false creek)
http://www.globalairphotos.com/pelican_bay_marina/photos/home.jpg



ENGLISH BAY (downtown_
http://www.downtownvancouver.com/images/english_bay/listing_images/June212003%20491%20copy.jpghttp://www.raincityplacements.ca/files/011English_Bay_Inukshuk.jpg



LONSDALE QUAY (take the Seabus from downtown)
http://www.ontheroadin.com/miscellasneouspictures/lonsdale%20quay%20view.jpghttp://www.findfamilyfun.com/lonsdalequay2a.jpg



If you have time.........

.....if it's a clear nice day, take a gondola up Grouse Mountain
http://p.vtourist.com/1269375-Travel_Picture-Grouse_Mountain_Vancouver.jpg
http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/Vancouver%20from%20Grouse%20Mountain.jpg

......visit jericho beach
http://www.eos.ubc.ca/research/pcigr/images/Van7.jpg

[204]

False Creek.....

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/25/Burrard_Street_Bridge.jpg/800px-Burrard_Street_Bridge.jpg

Horseshoe Bay.....

http://www3.telus.net/jakking/horseshoe_bay.jpg

Deep Cove....

http://www.conservancy.bc.ca/imagecatalog/thwaytes_sunrise_deep_cove_harbour.jpg

[mr.x]

I'd say spend one day in Vancouver and visit the places i listed (except Grouse Mountain), and on the second day visit VICTORIA:


LEGISLATURE
http://www.alisonvardy.com/images/history/BC-Legislature.jpg


BUCHART GARDENS
http://www.badanalog.com/images/content/butchart_gardens04.jpg


WAX MUSEUM
http://www.insanityideas.com/canada/images/victoria-wax-museum.jpg


ROYAL BC MUSEUM
http://www.greatervancouverparks.com/RoyalMus_0882.jpg



On the second day, wake up at like 6 am. Take the bus to Tsawassen Ferry Terminal, hop on a ferry to Swartz Bay at around 7/8. Arrive at Swartz Bay two hours later. Take a bus to Victoria. Take a free tour of the Legislature. Go to the Wax Museum, walk around the city centre, eat lunch, go to the Royal BC Museum, take the bus the Butchart Gardens, take the bus back the erry terminal and back to Vancouver....you'll be back in the city by 7 pm at the latest. You'll love the ferry ride to the island and back, it's quite scenic....it's about $11/one way.

[baggab]

Ride the Skytrain, even if the scenery isn't always attractive it's nice way to see a large portion of Vancouver at a glance.

[Nutterbug]

I'd say spend one day in Vancouver and visit the places i listed (except Grouse Mountain), and on the second day visit VICTORIA:

< photos omitted >

On the second day, wake up at like 6 am. Take the bus to Tsawassen Ferry Terminal, hop on a ferry to Swartz Bay at around 7/8. Arrive at Swartz Bay two hours later. Take a bus to Victoria. Take a free tour of the Legislature. Go to the Wax Museum, walk around the city centre, eat lunch, go to the Royal BC Museum, take the bus the Butchart Gardens, take the bus back the erry terminal and back to Vancouver....you'll be back in the city by 7 pm at the latest. You'll love the ferry ride to the island and back, it's quite scenic....it's about $11/one way.
That's quite a rush job. You need to learn to budget your time better.

[mr.x]

That's quite a rush job. You need to learn to budget your time better.

I've done it before.

[smasher000]

Take the SkyTrain to Metrotown mall. Its the 2nd largest in canada.

everyone goes there: its the top hang out spot in burnaby!!

[bils]

Take the SkyTrain to Metrotown mall. Its the 2nd largest in canada.

everyone goes there: its the top hang out spot in burnaby!!

surely there's better places in vancouver for him to spend his time than metrotown mall :notacrook:

[deasine]

^Adding to Mr. X's point, the Royal BC Museum will still have the Titanic Exhibition I think.

[mr.x]

^Adding to Mr. X's point, the Royal BC Museum will still have the Titanic Exhibition I think.

the Titanic exhibit won't be going anywhere until mid-fall.

it's only a matter of time before that exhibit comes to Science World, can't wait......which is quite sad when we consider Science World as our best museum, a place where people actually go to. How many actually go to the Vancouver Museum/Space Centre at Vanier Park or the downtown art gallery?

[SFUVancouver]

The great thing about downtown is that it is quite compact and lends itself very well to walking and is fairly well served by transit. Taxis are a bit of a rare commodity but they are around and are safe and fair.

I would put my two cents in for a 2-3 hour excursion to Granville Island with some time along the seawall and a trip on the Aquabus. I would suggest this as a late afternoon activity, maybe beginning around 3 or 4pm, that way you can take pictures of downtown with nice warm light and maybe even catch the sunset if you have dinner along English Bay.

A good navigational rule of thumb for Vancouver is that if you can see mountains you are looking in a Northerly direction. From downtown False Creek is South, English Bay is West, and Gastown/Chinatown is East. These are major directional cues and if you get turned around ask someone which direction one of them is and you should be able to find your bearings. Plus you really can't get lost, only disoriented.

Leaving your hotel walk East (Gastown/Chinatown) to Howe Street to take catch the #50 bus ($2.25 each unless you're a senior, then it's $1.50) at Robson St. and Howe St. (one block South East from your hotel) or take a taxi (probably about $10-15 if there is traffic, a little less if there isn't). Ask the driver of either vehicle for Granville Island.

Tip! If you take a taxi ask them to let you off at the Starbucks just outside Granville Island. The grid-locked traffic on and off the island is a goldmine for taxis. Explore Granville Island on your way to the Public Market. There you can have a snack and maybe pick up some food, wine or other goodies for later. While there you will also easily fill up a memory card or use up a roll of film taking pictures of the people, boats, and the skyline. Granville Island is a bustling place that is fascinating and also a little disconcerting if you aren't prepared for it. By this I mean the place looks run down. It is nothing but old industrial buildings that look lost in time. Yet nearly all of these buildings have been restored and house interesting shops, galleries, theatres, a major art school, a children’s art school, a community centre, a shipyard, glass blowers, cobblers, and about 250 other businesses. It's one part outdoor industrial museum, one part bazaar and the Public Market is the crown jewel. It is one of the best public spaces in the world and there is no better quintessential Vancouver experience. Give yourself time to wander and expect the impulse buys to flow like water.

When you are done with Granville Island and your wife feels up for a half-hour (or so) walk, take the Aquabus (small passenger ferries that ply False Creek *see picture below) over to downtown to the Hornby street dock. Take a left as you leave the dock and you will pass under the Art Deco-style Burrard Street Bridge and presto! you are walking along a sun-drenched beach. I would suggest walking along the seawall to Davie and Denman streets, taking breaks or cutting it short if need-be. There are a whole lot of great restaurants in that part of the West End and you can catch the #5 Robson Street bus when you're done, it will take you within half a block of your hotel (get off at the intersection of Robson St. and Burrard street, your hotel is North).

The seawall is great for a walk of any length because it is entirely level, there are innumerable benches and some cafes for breaks and photography, and the whole thing is one long beautiful post-card. Plus because it encircles downtown and your hotel, The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver I believe, is pretty much in the centre you can make your way back from the seawall without any backtracking. Walk as much or as little as you like.

All together it will probably be a 2-3 hour trek, including the stop at Granville Island. You can cut the walk along the sea-wall short at any point if it seems too much and walk up the Pacific Blvd (the first street up from the seawall) and hail a cab or walk a little further to Davie and catch the #6 Davie (which turns into the #5 Robson at Davie and Denman).

I would also second the suggestion of riding the SkyTrain Millennium Line loop. Get on at any station downtown, Burrard Stn is basically a half-block kitty-corner from the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Read the red LED sign to make sure you get on the Millennium Line "VCC-Clarke" train and sit back and enjoy the view. The train will take you on a big loop of Greater Vancouver and the views from the elevated guideway are unmatched. Get off at the Commercial Drive station and take the escalators up to Broadway Station and catch the train on the left hand side that goes to Waterfront. You can get off at Burrard Station and be back where you started about an hour after you started. Make sure you buy two-zone tickets when you get on the train, or even a day pass if you plan to get around by transit throughout the day.

Another suggestion would be to see a show. The Arts Club Theatre Company is the largest professional live theatre company in town. At the Arts Club's Stanley Theatre, a restored 650 seat Art Deco theatre, the musical Gypsy (http://www.artsclub.com/onstage/20062007/gypsy.htm)will be playing while you are in town. Your hotel concierge can arrange tickets. The 15th and 16th are a Friday and Saturday and either night will be great. The Stanley Theatre is at 12th and Granville, just over the Granville Street Bridge from downtown and easily accessible by transit or taxi. There are some great restuarants around the Stanley, honestly some of the best on the continent (West and Vij's in particular makes foodies go crazy with praise, pricey though). www.artsclub.com

If any of this is too complicated, or not of interest, don't sweat it. Have a great time in Vancouver and enjoy that cruise!

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/6228/vancouvertriphn6.jpg
Downtown Vancouver map with several main points of interest highlighted.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/1938/falsecreekaquabusyq8.jpg
False Creek and the Aquabus.

[Nutterbug]

the Titanic exhibit won't be going anywhere until mid-fall.

it's only a matter of time before that exhibit comes to Science World, can't wait......which is quite sad when we consider Science World as our best museum, a place where people actually go to. How many actually go to the Vancouver Museum/Space Centre at Vanier Park or the downtown art gallery?

The Planetarium should be combined with Science World, and Vancouver Museum should be given the entire building with the crab fountain in front of it.

The Royal BC Museum should be moved to Vancouver (where the population is), and it should be combined with the Museum of Anthropology. That's probably what they should have done with the old Expo BC Pavilion, instead of turning it into a casino.

[mr.x]

The Planetarium should be combined with Science World, and Vancouver Museum should be given the entire building with the crab fountain in front of it.

The Royal BC Museum should be moved to Vancouver (where the population is), and it should be combined with the Museum of Anthropology. That's probably what they should have done with the old Expo BC Pavilion, instead of turning it into a casino.

Yea, I agree with you. If only there were some way they could expand Science World so the planetarium can be merged with it.

[cornholio]

SFUVancouver's plan is great but I would think that would be a one day plan or split between two days(half day each to split it up a bit). I would sugest also making a trip on the Seabus from Waterfront station to North Vancouver on one of the days and catching a bus up to the Grouse mountain gondola and going up if the weather is good. Also I would sugest doing the whole seawall trip around stanley park which isnt to demanding(plenty of scenic places to just sit and rest for as long as you need).
Good luck by the way and enjoy.

[renthefinn]

No the RBCM should stay in Victoria, it's the seat of the crowns power so if it's gonna be royal it should stay in Victoria ;)

[mezzanine]

Not to pry, but to what degree can your wife walk? DT vancouver is a great walking city. As easy stroll is due west of your hotel along the coal harbour seawall to stanley park, with many benches for rest along the way.

Can she ride a bicycle? There are bicycle hiring shops at the entrance to stanley park, and if you have the dough, then the concierge at the fairmont can have hired bikes ready for you at the door. On a bike, you can make it all the way to false creek along the seawall.

[mezzanine]

double post

[Caernavon]

Not to pry, but to what degree can your wife walk? DT vancouver is a great walking city. As easy stroll is due west of your hotel along the coal harbour seawall to stanley park, with many benches for rest along the way.

Can she ride a bicycle? There are bicycle hiring shops at the entrance to stanley park, and if you have the dough, then the concierge at the fairmont can have hired bikes ready for you at the door. On a bike, you can make it all the way to false creek along the seawall.

Hi Mezzanine. She has arthritis and tires easily; no bikes, I'm afraid. A walk along the harbor sounds like a great idea though.

Wow to everyone, especially for the photos and maps! There are tons of great suggestions here. I'm sure though that we'll only get to see a small fraction of them. If I can, I'll post some photos of our brief visit when we get back. It looks like a super beautiful city. I'm already getting requests from coworkers here in Boston to tell them all about it, so they can decide if they want to go or not.

[jonjacob]

[/B]taking breaks or cutting it short if need-be. There are a whole lot of great restaurants in that part of the West End and you can catch the #5 Robson Street bus when you're done, it will take you within half a block of your hotel (get off at the intersection of Robson St. and Burrard street, your hotel is North).

The seawall is great for a walk of any length because it is entirely level, there are innumerable benches and some cafes for breaks and photography, and the whole thing is one long beautiful post-card. Plus because it encircles downtown and your hotel, The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver I believe, is pretty much in the centre you can make your way back from the seawall without any backtracking. Walk as much or as little as you like.


Some good advice all around, but I think he is staying at the Fairmont Waterfront, which is located at Canada Place on the Waterfront.

[SFUVancouver]

Ah, I forgot there were two Fairmonts (soon to be three) in the City. You are absolutely right, the Fairmont Waterfront is further away than the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, while being much closer to the North seawall and Stanley Park. Harbour Green Park is practically next door to the Fairmont Waterfront and it is my favourite new park in the city by far.

An updated version of my map
http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/9991/vancouvertripmapupdatedps2.jpg

[Caernavon]

Some good advice all around, but I think he is staying at the Fairmont Waterfront, which is located at Canada Place on the Waterfront.

No, we are actually staying at the Fairmont on Georgia St. I didn't even know there were two Fairmonts; if I had we'd probably have chosen the one by the waterfront. Eh, c'est la vie. :)

[SFUVancouver]

Lucky you, The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (the one on Georgia Street) is by farthe nicer of the two Fairmonts. It is basically a gothic chateau! It was under construction when the Great Depression hit and everything stalled. When construction resumed huge numbers of skilled woodworkers, stone carvers, and sculptors laboured on it as a make-work project and the result is an incredible amount of workmanship, complete with gargoyles, and it stood as the tallest building in the city for more than forty years.

The hotel was built and owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, the nation-building railway empire that built Canada's the first transcontinental railway. The CPR, as it was known, knew that they wouldn't lure many tourists without some destinations along the way so they built a series of magnificent hotels and resorts, including a castle at Lake Louise, all in the same gothic chateau style as the Hotel Vancouver. Vancouver was the Western Terminus of the transcontinental railway and the point of departure for the CPR's fleet of pacific ocean liners to Japan, Hong Kong, China, and Australia. The gothic chateau style of castle-like hotels was the CPR brand, and they spared no expense. It didn't hurt that they were given an incredible amount of land grants to make it worth their while to build the railway. Virtually all of downtown Vancouver that has seen highrise residential development over the last decade was once CPR land, including Yaletown, Coal Harbour, and most of False Creek. But back to the Hotel Vancouver... they just don't make them like that anymore.

Incidentally, you will still only be three or four blocks from the waterfront and the seawall, and my initial instructions for a trip to Granville Island still apply.

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/1175/hotelvancouveruq1.jpg

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9097/hotelvancouverandfoggywmj2.jpg

Some reviews of the hotel: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g154943-d220237-Reviews-Fairmont_Hotel_Vancouver-Vancouver_British_Columbia.html

The Fairmont Waterfront is nice enough but it has little of the grandure of its older sibling.
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/3111/fairmontwaterfrontdc0.jpg
(by the way, this is a render of what the waterfront will look like when the green-roofed convention centre expansion is complete and the Fairmont family grows to include the Fairmont Pacific Rim, which is the tall building behind the convention centre and on the left)

As a skyscraper fan you are going to love Vancouver. Welcome, in advance, and have a great trip!

[Caernavon]

Wow, what a great mini history lesson; thanks! (Shamed admission: I love trains too, so that was pretty cool.) Picking a hotel somewhere you've never been is a bit like rolling dice, so we basically picked the Fairmont (I mean that Fairmont) because it looked so cool online. Nice to know out superficial decision was a good one.

[SpongeG]

i saw some euro scum tourists - well i call them scum cause the one dude was pissing all over the building one night when we walked by - just whipped it out right there on the sidewalk in front of everyone and started to take a piss on the building - on the georgia street side too - him and his friends looked to be from spain - way to represent