Any recommendations for what to do please? I’m on my own and there at the “wrong” time of the year. Hearing it’s -6C and a real feel of -21C thanks to the wind chill. Reports of people skating on the streets!

I’ve not experienced any real cold either, so will my Alpkit jacket, a few layers, 5:10 high tops, gloves and hat be ok, or should I panic buy some “real weather” clothes?

Coke and hookers! Tis the stw way. 😆

But you could do that anywhere.

Oooh, maybe I could buy some maple syrup?

I’m in Calgary and I’ll do the traditional Albertan thing of sneering of anyone from Vancouver complaining that it’s cold as we’ve got daytime highs in the -20 range later this week (before windchill).

I wouldn’t panic buy clothes.. plenty of places in Canada to buy proper winter gear if you need it and probably more choice etc.

Do you ski? Head to the local resorts. I don’t know for sure but they might also offer snowshoe tours and the like.

The UBC Museum of Anthropology is very good and indoors.

Head over to the Northshore and walk some of the multi-use trails (Trail Forks would be your friend for this).

Others more local might be able to offer better suggestions as I only really pass though Vancouver to other parts of BC.

Have a stroll round Stanley Park. I believe there’s a big aquarium there. There’s a craft brewery or three that might do tours. Head into Chinatown (Gastown?) and eat where the Chinese eat. If you’re lucky there may be an ice hockey game on. Not sure if the Canadian version of the NFL is still in season

You definitely won’t be doing any biking that’s for sure! Longest time i’ve been off the bike in about 8 years because of this bloody snow. Go skiing/boarding on one of the mountains, do it at night which is quite cool and cheaper. Its not that cold, not like proper canada cold.

No CFL but you could find a bar and support the Seahawks 😀

I’m not sure where you’re getting -6 from though
Environment Canada forecast

Head over to Cypress or Grouse for a play.

Whistler or Cypress Snowboarding, then Coke and Hookers.

Cheers all, especially @sweaman2

I think I was looking at the lows. My hotel is right next to Stanley Park, so it should be excellent! I’ll check out the museum and the park.

Unfortunately I do not ski. I have one expensive sporting habit already. Can’t afford to add another one I’ll most likely only ever do once a week each year to that!

I doubt it will be that cold there as its a coastal city. Granted, they’ve recently had their first snow in downtown in about three years but even so, it’ll be around a couple of degrees either side of zero at a guess. You’ll be fine in standard cold weather issue UK stuff. I’d take a good waterproof though to go over the down jacket as it will almost certainly rain.

In terms of things to do, go up to one of the local ski hills? you can get the sea bus from Canada place to north shore and then a bus up to Grouse Mountain. Nice up there especially at night as views across downtown are amazing. Other things to do; Granville Island is kind of nice, hire a bike and ride round the sea wall at Stanley park, see if you can gate crash Cove, Norco, Rocky Mountain or any number of the north shore company offices there for a chat?!

If you’ve got access to a car, then take the sea to sky highway up towards Whistler. Shannon falls is a nice stop off, the new Sea to Sky gondola looks impressive though wasn’t open yet when I was last there.

I never skied or boarded when I was there, but when the snow was down and I couldn’t bike I enjoyed a lot of snow-shoeing, Dog Mountain on Seymour and your pick of the routes on Grouse (I think Thunderbird Ridge was the best) were all good.

Grouse probably better as it works easiest with the public transport and there’s a pub at the start/finish, good gear hire at the top or bottom I think 😀

Not sure about layers, my Scottish winter stuff seemed to cut it fine, merino base layer, fleece, waterproof shell. At street level I’d swear I’d been colder in Edinburgh

I founds lot to do in the Rough Guide.

Forgot to add, Grouse is still good if you don’t ski or board, can ice skate, eat in the restaurant, get the views etc. Still worth it for that IMO. Don’t bother with Gastown. It’s shit. Go for food in Guu on Thurlow, its great.

Unfortunately I do not ski. I have one expensive sporting habit already. Can’t afford to add another one I’ll most likely only ever do once a week each year to that!

Bah! Try it. You might find you love it. Judging by the annual Ski and Snowboard thread on here, many mountain bikers do. And I can’t think of anywhere better to try it than Canada.

Bah! Try it. You might find you love it. Judging by the annual Ski and Snowboard thread on here, many mountain bikers do. And I can’t think of anywhere better to try it than Canada.

Much though it pains me to agree with Graham, he’s right. In this instance, anyway. 😀

Just back 2 weeks ago, there was a bit of snow downtown which creates a bit of panic for some people.

Few things to do.

UBC anthropology as mentioned is good.

Granville Island – taste beer, wander round, go to market, eat.

Harbour Air do seaplane tours or a quick trip to Vancouver Island

Flyover Canada at Canada Place is quite good 3D ride Imax movie and indoors.

Go to MEC and buy outdoor stuff.

Tubing up at Cypress is supposed to be good.

Queue up here for breakfast if you’re hungry http://jamcafes.com/vancouver/

If downtown bike lanes are reasonably snow/ice free try the mobi bike share and explore the great bike infrastructure. Also do a loop around false creek burrard/olympic village/granville/burrard https://www.mobibikes.ca/ bring some gloves, helmets are supplied and are mandatory but i’ve seen few wearing them, also return the bike and take a new one every 30 mins or it costs more.

I work in downtown Vancouver and it’s mostly clear of snow but there are plenty of patches of ice around to catch you out.
I’ve given up commuting to work by bike as the ice is far too random though it’s due to warm up AND snow later this week. Cold and dry and sunny at the mo…A bit like Calgary 🙂
Anyway, without a car and staying at a hotel near downtown, I’d suggest wandering down to the tourist info at Canada Place via Coal Harbour & the seawall (if you’re staying at the Weston, you’re already on the seawall).
Grouse is accessible via bus (240 from Georgia Street, change to the 236 at Capilano Mall) and Cypress is accessible via resort shuttle which runs from downtown (I think)
For evening entertainment, try Brandi’s… 🙂

You definitely won’t be doing any biking that’s for sure!

Why not? Plenty of people out riding Squamish and North Van 😉

Head to the Whistler Olympic Park. Rent a Fat bike and you can lap the dog loop

Go snowshoeing up one of the local mountains.. but don’t get lost. so go with a guide. Too many SAR call outs in Vancouver recently.

Cypress nordic area and go and learn to cross-country ski.. or skate ski.
Skate skiing for an hour will physically destroy you.. XC is more pedestrian and you don’t have to bust a gut.

Epic ride shuttle from Vancouver to Whistler and go on a snowmobile tour?

Go to MEC and buy outdoor stuff.

This. The Mt Pleasant one is a good size.

Then, just eat all the things.

tacos: la taqueria, gastown and mt pleasant
korean: sura, west end
coffee: revolver and timber train, gastown
veggie: tractor in kits
donuts: 49th parallel coffee roasters in kits
middle eastern deliciousness: saj and co, downtown
sandwiches: meat&bread, gastown (try the porchetta)
lebanese: jam jar on commercial

Moar snow forecast soon so might be fun getting about. Sounds like Vancouver have been useless at salting the roads. The electric buses are laughably bad in pooey conditions and many motorists don’t a clue how to drive.
There’s a few people out on bikes at the moment but from walking my dog around Squamish, pretty well everything is under snow, albiet nice and hardpack in the middle of the trails. I’m not seeing many tracks about though, just a fat bike the other day.
Don’t go to Vancouver Aquarium unless you want to support an outdated organisation who thinks it’s fine to keep whales in small tanks under the guise of ‘conservation’.
I actually ran the bike shop at the mentioned MEC for a couple of years. If you go, try and go early in the day. If you go mid afternoon, you might go insane. Millions of people wandering around aimlessly.

You could laugh at the Albertans for having to put up with -20 degree winters, or sneer at them for **** up the environment with their tar sands exploitation and associated pipelines 😉

Anything I should eat or drink while I’m there?

You’ll be spoiled for choice for beers, Fat Tug became a favourite of mine (actually available in Edinburgh at the moment, £10 a bottle! 😯 )

The ones I miss most though are the Rogue Beers (from Portland), especially their Chipotle Ale, it wasn’t as gimmicky as some chilli beers I’ve tried, just a nice smokiness.

My wife liked some of the more mainstream eateries, The Keg (several branches) always seemed to do a reliably good steak, Banana Leaf (Davie St.) did a great rendang, Elbow Room on Davie also did a great pancake breakfast if you can get a seat. Am sure some of the other recommendations above are a bit more unique but you won’t struggle for tasty food.

There was a great trail snack I would buy out there called Black Tusk Mountain Mix, seasoned jerky with nuts and raisins. Tricky to find but worth bringing back a few packets!

Visit the liquor stores and laugh at the price of single malts, Oban 12yr for $180 😆

I errr, I am currently drinking Japanese whiskey.

Thanks for the tips! Currently the itinerary is to go on Saturday and stay highly caffeinated. Sync to local time. Then ride around Stanley Park on Sunday morning. Eat some more food on Sunday while staying caffeinated and see what the rest of the week brings. I’ll need to do some clothes shopping. Usually I travel with what’s in my bag, with a single change of clothes and buy the rest while I’m there.

Anywhere good to shop that’s not too “outlet-ey”? Maybe there’s some cool indie t-shirt pop up scene made by left handed basket weavers?

ride the olympic bobsleigh at whistler

Storm Crow, tasty beers and nerd stuff 🙂
As mentioned above, Granville Island is pretty cool.
Go Fish does some tasty food, right next to Granville Island.
Cactus Club is pretty cool, watching the seaplanes while being served by models. Must be some weird hiring policy!

Must be some weird hiring policy!

All those types of places ask job applicants to personnaly drop off their cv/resume.
If you’re a bit of a munter, guess what, the jobs been taken or they suddenly arent hiring!
Bit of a looker? Yes, we’ll pass your resume to the hiring manager! 😉

Having said that, the standard of training and customer service (generally) blows the UK and Europe out of the water…and there’s very good money to be made in tips…

Must be some weird hiring policy!

Ha, I didn’t want to be the first to comment, but see also Joey’s, Cactus Club, The Keg, to name but a few…

But also, yes, the customer service makes a mockery of the UK (dare I say Scotland in particular). I ordered a beer and asked if it was a hoppy IPA or a ‘german styled one’ (I don’t know the proper name but know I don’t like the ‘german styled ones’). The waitress wasn’t sure so I ordered it anyway, when she came back 5 minutes later and noticed I’d barely drank any she immediately asked if I wanted a different one, which she gave me on the house as it ‘was her mistake’.

Small example, but when she looked liked a sort of young, sultry version of Lily Cole it made a big impact 8)

ride the olympic bobsleigh at whistler

Done that. It was okay, but not worth the trip from Vancouver if the OP doesn’t plan on doing the other snow-things on offer at Whistler.

It’s cool. I’ll get round to the other things when I’m a man of leisure!

So, highlights were the Banana Leaf, Medina and the steak. Food was excellent everywhere.

Service, man, you cannot beat North America for service. Wait staff always knew what the beers they were serving would taste like, never had to wait for a refill, or to be asked what more I wanted.

MEC was a bit of a disappointment, but there were loads of shops around to make up for it. Even spent some time in Dunbar Cycles ogling the merch.

I cannot believe people live in a country where you can work for a tech startup, and then be in Whistler under 45 minutes after finishing work. I’ll definitely be going back one day!

I cannot believe people live in a country where you can work for a tech startup, and then be in Whistler under 45 minutes after finishing work

In theory, yes 😉

If you’re on the wrong side of the bridge and work normal office hours, you’ll be sitting in traffic… yay.

Pretty amazing to have North Shore, Squamish, Whistler and Fraser Valley as your weekend ride choices though 🙂

Where would you look if you wanted to buy a house there?

You’d be looking at your lottery ticket and hoping for a big win! It’s crazy expensive just about everywhere….

As markgraylish says, $$. You might not want to live in the places you can afford…

I found that when you’re renting and want to spend a sane amount of money, you’re likely going to end up in a big condo block or someone’s basement apartment.

With a big enough suitcase of dollars I’d be looking at North Van, preferably in riding distance of Mt Seymour 🙂

Even places in White Rock have shot up! Thought we’d move back and I could now afford my dream house in Point Grey or Dunbar… pffft no chance.

With the USD at 30% above cad, Whistler is selling fast and above asking.
Vancouver (north/west/downtown) were being sold for huge amounts over asking with an influx of Chinese buyers which in turn pushed long term house seeing resident/workforce house buyers pushed up to squamish which has seen a 50% price increase in 3 years. Squamish is no longer the hidden quiet town as they have successfully marketed the outdoor lifestyle recreation options and its proximity to city and Whistler.
Realistically, BC’s interior is the next potential boom town area, but prices on the up there already as people are cashing in and getting out of the lower mainland.
Squamish still offers a good work/life/play balance but getting to Whistler in snow season sucks.

May have an opportunity to work there long term. Let’s see how it pans out.

Took a look at some of the houses there. I think we could afford something in North Van if I mortgaged myself to the hilt. But Squamish looks way too far away for work.

@tuskaloosa where are you looking at for houses and stuff?

use RealtyLink it normally has all the listings and you can search by map

Realty

We lived in the west end / then yaletown and then finally bought near Douglas Park close to South Cambie before we relocated here.

If you worked downtown, North Van always felt like a pain with traffic. Real estate market is grossly overpriced it was initially propped up by investors south of the border but nowadays more with the far east nouveau riche money.