Hotels and things to do in Vancouver and Chicago?

Mekrel

Mekrel

Mekrel

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Can anyone recommend any hotels in Vancouver? I won't be spending much time in the hotel due to sight seeing and the like but don't want to stay in a dive.

I've tried using Hotwire for the first time but I find it a bit strange that they don't specify what the actual hotel is, only "Secret Hot Rate hotel" with a star rating and TripAdvisor ratings.

Any recommendations of things to see and do, would also be appreciated. I have a few travel guides but it's always better to hear multiple experiences :)

Also, any recommendations for the above (hotel and things to do) for Chicago, would also be great.
 
Wrap up cos it'll be cold. Like really really cold !!!

As for things to do.. Sears tower now known as the Willis tower.

Enjoy

Hotwire is great. Expect to get shafted for parking fees if choosing a downtown hotel.

It doesn't show cos it's selling you unsold rooms for the major ones. Choose 4star and expect to pay an extra $20 per night parking
 
It may depend slightly on the time of year but Stanley Park in Vancouver is certainly worth a trip round. If you're there for a few days then I'd also recommend heading up to Whistler for a bit or at least in that general direction, there's lots of spectacular scenery in B.C. and it's a lovely place to visit. Have a wander around Granville Island and the market there, it's a nice way to while away a couple of hours.
 
thedoc46 said:
Wrap up cos it'll be cold. Like really really cold !!!

As for things to do.. Sears tower now known as the Willis tower.

Enjoy

Hotwire is great. Expect to get shafted for parking fees if choosing a downtown hotel.

It doesn't show cos it's selling you unsold rooms for the major ones. Choose 4star and expect to pay an extra $20 per night parking
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Thanks, I'll most likely not have a car in Vancouver but will in Chicago and the parking charge is something I experienced when I toured California in 2011.

In your experience, are there any other price comparison/search sites that are worth while checking out or is Hotwire going to give me the best deals?

semi-pro waster said:
It may depend slightly on the time of year but Stanley Park in Vancouver is certainly worth a trip round. If you're there for a few days then I'd also recommend heading up to Whistler for a bit or at least in that general direction, there's lots of spectacular scenery in B.C. and it's a lovely place to visit. Have a wander around Granville Island and the market there, it's a nice way to while away a couple of hours.
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Thanks! I'll add those to the list and I'll be taking my NX1000 to capture any great sights.
 
Priceline.com
Hotels.com

Hotwire will get you the same, except you won't know what it is until you book.

Typical 4star from known ie hotels.com. Is around $179. From Hotwire normally around $100.

I used them on Sunday for a hotel in the San Fran airport area. Got the Hilton for $99. But had to pay an extra $20 on parking
 
The problem with Hotwire is you don't know what you are going to get. You gamble. You might get a good hotel, you might get a crappy hotel (Remember, the star ratings are not quality, they are facilities).

With somewhere like Hotels.com you know exactly which hotel it is - you can read up on it and find out about the location.

What I tend to do when I visit large cities with a car is pick a hotel just outside the centre very close to a transit line and leave the car in the hotel parking lot. The non downtown hotels don't charge for parking and it's usually 10-15 minutes to the centre by train anyway. Sometimes you can get lucky with timing - did San Francisco in a Marriot 12 miles away for a third of the price of the same brand hotel in the city centre. Sounds far, right? But it was right off the Interstate and took 12 minutes to drive into central San Francisco. Which, as it was a Sunday, had free on-street parking right in the heart of the city. Result!
 
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Chicago i would recommend visiting willis tower for the observaton deck, and navy pier, wrigley building are worth checking out


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semi-pro waster said:
It may depend slightly on the time of year but Stanley Park in Vancouver is certainly worth a trip round. If you're there for a few days then I'd also recommend heading up to Whistler for a bit or at least in that general direction, there's lots of spectacular scenery in B.C. and it's a lovely place to visit. Have a wander around Granville Island and the market there, it's a nice way to while away a couple of hours.
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This is excellent advice. Granville Island is an amazing place.

I very much enjoyed the harbour tower in Vancouver as well, the city looks fantastic at night from the top!
 
How long have you got in Chicago? We had a quick weekend there in July last year and were staying inside the "loop" (smack bang in the centre). Personally I found 2 days ample, there are some good museums and as said it's worth going up Willis Tower for the sky deck/oberservation platform. You can also visit the chicago "bean" which has featured in many films.

I personally found Navy Pier a bit tacky and run down these days compared to the last time we went (approx 8 years before).
 
Hmm hockey season finally starts Saturday, I'd be getting to as many games as I could whilst there :)

Obviously that advice only helps if you are a hockey fan, but going to one game could be fun if you like that sort of thing ;)
 
It was 4 years ago that I went to Vancouver, but I remember a museum linked to the university there with a collection of very interesting exhibits on the indigneous population of Canada. Don't remember it costing a lot to get in, and it was a nice time killer.
 
Been a few years since I went to Vancouver but I loved it!!!

Stanley park was great (we went in autumn and the colours were amazing). The Aquarium there was good too (assuming it's still there)

Check out Capilano Suspension bridge, that was great.

Get up Grouse Mountaina nd enjoy the views.

Somwhere just outside Vancouver you can hire canoes and go for a nice paddle out from a beach, round a little island and back, hard work but breath taking views back onto the land and great fun!

As has been said, the drive up to Whistler from Vancouver is amazing, and if by any chance you can get a car I'd hearitly recommend it!!

We took ages to get from Vancouver to Whistler as we kept stopping to admire truely stunning views!!
 
valve90210 said:
Somwhere just outside Vancouver you can hire canoes and go for a nice paddle out from a beach, round a little island and back, hard work but breath taking views back onto the land and great fun!
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Deep Cove in North Vancouver? I'd almost forgotten about that but it is a rather nice place to hire a kayak from and go for a bit of a paddle.
 
Just looked it up, I think that is indeed the place, was a great experience. There was a little island you could paddle to with a very small beachy bit. We paddled up to the beach and got out for a bit and saw loads of purple starfish in and around the rocks.

Also had a seal pop his head out of the water about 3 feet from us which was cool.

Paddled out and around for about 45 minutes, then thought that we really should get back as we had only paid for an hour, we figured we'd be going with the tide to get back in... My god it was hard work getting back in as the current was sort of going out of the cove and along the shore and we were trying to paddle against it. It took continuous paddling at a normal rate just to stay still. We really had to gather up all our strength and really go for it in a burst to get back to the entrance of the cove where the tide did start to take us back in.

We were knackered when we got back and could barely stand up when we got out of the canoes. It was an amazing experience!!!
 
Would love to go to Vancouver and Seattle but I can't get over the ridiculous price of flights. Every time I look it's £700+ which for a flight thats not even as far as LA seems bonkers. I usually end up getting irritated with it, realising I can fly to Australia for similar money, and going somewhere else instead.

Why is it so expensive to fly there?
 
[TW]Fox;23572511 said:
Would love to go to Vancouver and Seattle but I can't get over the ridiculous price of flights. Every time I look it's £700+ which for a flight thats not even as far as LA seems bonkers. I usually end up getting irritated with it, realising I can fly to Australia for similar money, and going somewhere else instead.

Why is it so expensive to fly there?
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My friend at work and I were discussing how expensive flights are to Seattle just today.

He used to work for Microsoft and needed to go to Seattle often. Each time he looked at fights through their online booking system, the direct flights to Seattle were £1200. So he used to book via New York, paid £800, and got to see his friends in NYC at the same time.

Might be worth doing it that way?
 
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