Picky Girl's World Trip
Vancouver: Canadian City for Dummies
Vancouver is often cited as "World's best city to live" or "the best retirement city to live". I understand why Vancouver has such a good reputation in the world after my Vancouver trip. In Vancouver, you can easily access beautiful mountains, ocean, lakes and rivers while you can enjoy the city life. Vancouver is relatively safe based on the city size in North America although you may want to avoid certain areas such as Downtown Eastside. In addition, Vancouver is fairly small and built with blocks separated by a grid of straight streets. It is easy to travel the city, even on foot. Moreover, Vancouver has a good transportation system that covers most of sights and attractions. I stayed there for 4 days. I finished visiting all the sights where I wanted to visit in Vancouver. Vancouver is definitely the best city for beginners to travel in Canada!
Food
I had a high expectation of the cuisine in Vancouver because all the guidebooks that I read praised the Vancouver food. I heard that there are many good Japanese restaurants because of the fresh seafood and many Japanese immigrants. I head that Chinatown is a must-go place to find cheap but very good food. However, I was disappointed. The Sushi restaurant written on the guidebook was just O.K. Chinatown was like a ghost town. There were not many restaurants opened at dinner time. A few restaurants opened there were not so attractive to me. (Later, I learned from a Korean man who sat next to me on the airplane that many Chinese or Asian people moved to a suburb of Vancouver and created a new community down there.) So, how did I survive there? I bought food from a supermarket near my accommodation. In addition, it is easy to find the cheap but good take-out food, such as pizza, kebab and Vietnamese sandwiches.
Despite my so-so experiences at Vancouver's restaurants, I enjoyed one restaurant, which is named "Nu". Nu restaurant faces the waterfront under the Granville Bridge. It was a bit intimidating to enter the restaurant alone because of its high-class atmosphere. However, the waitress was friendly and kind and did not mind explaining the menu items that I questioned. I was a bit surprised that only a few tables were occupied when I visited the restaurant. The food was very good, but the service was a bit slow when I considered small numbers of the customers there. Regardless, it was beautiful to see the waterfront colored by the sunset. (I recommend eating at the patio. You can ask for a heater and a blanket if you feel cold.) It was a very romantic setting, although I had dinner alone.
Sights and Activities
In Vancouver, I hit major sights as follows:
- B.C. Place and G.M. Place
- Chinatown
- Granville Island
- Yaletown
- Robson Street
- Gastown
- Stanley Park
Those places were interesting. However, I just took some photos and did not spent a long time on exploring those sights. I recommend the two other places located in Northern Vancouver:
Some people may say those outdoor attractions are too commercialized or too touristic. Yeah, they have some points. There are many tourists and families packed in the two places. However, in both places, fun (learning) activities are cooperated with the natures really well. At least, I could see their attempts to preserve the natures there! If you have enough time in Vancouver, you should cross the water to reach North Vancouver. Capilano Suspension Bridge is located on the way to Grouse Mountain. They are not far from each other. So, try both!
I especially loved the activity called mountain ziplines in Grouse Mountain! I tell you that this activity is expensive. The ticket cost me 105 Canadian dollars including general admission and ziplining. (In fact, the American tourist in my zipline group also told me the ticket was expensive.) However, it would be probably more expensive to try ziplining in Japan. Anyway, it was my first time to see the zipline circuit in any attractions of the world. At first, I was a bit nervous about the zipline speed, which might reach up to 80 km/hour. However, the zipline instructors taught us how to control the speed by using our bodies. I then enjoyed watching beautiful and unusual views from the top. Ziplining gave me an adrenaline rush and made me feel as though I were flying between mountains. At least, tandem paragliding in Grouse Mountain seemed scarier and was more expensive to try than the mountain zipline. Anyway, Grouse Mountain offers a wide range of outdoor activities, which is likely to satisfy your adventure needs.
Accommodations
I stayed at two places for different reasons: I stayed at YWCA for the easy access to major sightseeing places. I stayed at Travel Lodge Vancouver Airport for the early morning flight. Both have good cost performances.
YWCA:
Pros: Clean, Good Security, Restaurants and a supermarket nearby, A mini fridge in a room, Good price for a downtown hotel, Its location, and Friendly staff
Cons: A very small room, Very popular so difficult to book many nights and/or your desired room type, and Maybe many children (only) at the lobby
Overall, I would like to stay at YWCA again.
Travel Lodge Vancouver Airport:
Pros: Close to Airport, Free shuttle running from early in the morning, Friendly staff, Close restaurant choices (not many), A large room and large bed, Airport kiosk for easy check-in, and Good price for a hotel near the airport
Cons: Far from downtown, no grocery store nearby, and unpredictable shuttle bus schedule (not very precise, I mean)
Overall, I would like to stay at Travel Lodge Vancouver Airport if I have a flight when no public transportation can take me to the airport.
Transportation
Vancouver is a fairly easy city to travel for the following reasons:
- Vancouver is small. Especially downtown is walkable. If you are not a walker, traveling the city by bicycle may be a good option as well.
- There are many bike and rollerblade rental shops near the Stanley Park. However, it is hard to find the shops on Georgia Street after the Denman Street.
- I checked several rental shops, but their rental prices are almost the same.
- Vancouver uses a grid system. In addition, every street has a name.
- The putblic transportation runs fairly frequently and covers most of the city.
Only the inconvenience I felt was the transportation from the Vancouver airport to downtown. I had to use two city buses to reach downtown. I could not use the SkyTrain at that time because the construction was not completed yet. However, it should be easy now to travel from the airport to downtown via the SkyTrain. (See the airport access information by Translink, the company that run the city bus, SkyTrain and SeaBus.)
Travel Tips
Many guidebooks and sites have already stated some tips and cautions of traveling Vancouver. However, I personally emphasize the following:
- Despite the safe image of Vancouver, you must be careful in some areas. For example, none of locals walked alone on a trail in the Stanley Park at night.
- Cyclists in the Stanley Park tend to be super fast. Be aware of your surroundings.
- Need more than 2 hours in the Stanley Park. The park map says that time needed to bike is 1 hour, but I think that 1 hour may be enough if you only ride a bike without having a break and taking photos. In my case, I needed more than 1 hour to finish half of the seawall, the famous path for cyclists. Do not forget that you would need some time to return your bicycle from the park to the rental shop.
- The path inside the Stanley Park is one-way for cyclists. If you want to travel in the other direction, you would have to walk and push the bike.
- Grouse Mountain can be very cold. I felt cold even in the summer time because of the strong winds. Bring a jacket to adjust your body temperature.
- A single fare ticket lasts up to 90 minutes. Within 90 minutes, you do not need a transfer ticket. Just keep using the ticket for a city bus, SkyTrain, or SeaBus, until time runs out.
- Single fares for all zones on weekdays after 6:30 p.m., weekends, and holidays need fares for the first zone only. So, plan to travel far on weekend!