Weekend in Vancouver

[Bes]

Hi,

Me and 2 friends have a weekend in Vancouver en route from a US trip...

We're looking for somewhere with decent night life, and we're all early/ mid- thirties.

What would you suggest we do in terms of areas to go out in/ stay in?

A quick look suggest Gastown and Yaletown are good areas to hit up... Would staying in/ near those and focussing our time there be a good tactic? Any other recommendations both for nightlife, and stuff to do during the day would be most welcome

Cheers

 

[Mucky_Pup]

I was there for a few days in July. Didn't really do any nightlife stuff, did mostly touristy stuff.

Stanley park was a good park to go round, the aquarium is in there as well. I went up the Vancouver lookout tower which was OK, did a tourbus around the city which I enjoyed, went to the Capilano suspension bridge in the North where you go over a long pedestrian suspension bridge and can go into walkways in the trees. I enjoyed going round gastown, looked pretty cool, stopped at a few decent pubs, had a few good restaurants round there as well. Did a daytrip up to Whistler as well, which was good, but I wouldn't recommend if you're only there for a weekend.

We stayed further away closer to Yaletown, and would just walk down the main road most days and just stop for places to eat where we liked the look of, was about half an hour walk to gastown from our hotel. Yaletown-Roundhouse is where we got the train from the airport to, was relatively straight forward.

 

[[TW]Fox]

went to the Capilano suspension bridge in the North where you go over a long pedestrian suspension bridge and can go into walkways in the trees.

Top tip - Capilano is great but it's an enormous tourist trap and charges like one, too - they've got free buses funneling people to the place from downtown all day.

Just down the road is Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge - same sort of thing, slightly smaller scale, but completely free of charge and much quieter.

 

[semi-pro waster]

I'd suggest Granville Island during the day for the market, lots of nice foodstalls there.

Stanley Park is good for a bike round, you can walk it but it'll take a long old time. There's also an aquarium there which is worth seeing if you like that sort of thing.

Gastown is probably your best bet for nightlife but Granville Street also has quite a few bars ranging from the somewhat sketchy looking to quite nice.

In terms of places to stay it'll depend somewhat on your budget I suppose. However to walk from Waterfront Station to the edge of Vancouver just before you hit Granville Island is probably only about 30 minutes or so - it's not all that big a place really so I wouldn't worry too much about trying to get a hotel right in the centre of things unless you've got very specific things to see and really don't fancy a bit of a walk/taxi/bus trip. Last time we were in Vancouver we stayed at The Burrard on Burrard Street as they had a decent deal on, it's made up to look like a 70s hotel and supposedly has good parties at the weekend but we weren't around for them to try anyway.

Oh and you should try Tim Hortons if you've never done so before, a bit of a Canadian institution - Timbits are pretty good and you're probably going there at the perfect time for pumpkin spiced latte if that sort of thing floats your boat. You could probably also try poutine if you're feeling adventurous but that's maybe more of an East Coast thing.

 

[Marky]

One thing you absolutely have to do... Is rent a bike and cycle around Stanley Park. It's so great, I did it twice If I lived there, I would legitimately make it a weekly thing It's very nice

Another stand out moment of Vancouver for me was "The Roxy", a bar/club on Granville Street. The street itself could put you off Vancouver for life, but once you get past the homelessness and the drugs, you'll find a bar that has fantastic live music, and locals/visitors who just want to have a good time Also went there twice during my time, and both nights were fantastic (Especially if you like good live rock music).

 

[Mucky_Pup]

Yeah we stayed on the corner of Granville street just before the bridge to granville island, was loads of homeless people up majority of the road, and a few questionable places lining the street. Had a great prime rib Sunday lunch with Yorkshire pudding at one of the pubs there though.