I’ve been to Vancouver a few times however never had the luxury of a full day to spend in or near the city. So….. I’m looking for ideas please. I’ve already checked out Stanley Patk, the bouncy bridge (forgotten its name) and have walked downtown and gastown, what else is worth doing, I won’t have a car so public transport is the order of the day.

On a sidenote, I spotted there is an arcteryx shop, so wondering if I should find time to go there (but only if prices are “proper cheap” compared to the UK.

I went to the arcteryx outlet, it’s pretty good TBF. Pretty cheap in comparison to the Uk, only has paclite stuff when I was there so I don’t buy anything but the mrs did. lots of production grade stuff in non production colours.
There is a greek restaurant near the gay bit which was good.
Done grouse mountain?
Granville brewery? Actually there seems to be 51 craft breweries in van, I’d be tempted to crawl as many as poss on the bus……
If you’re vanned out, jump on the ferry and go see nanaimo, and/or get a bus to victoria, the island is lovely.

Go to the olympic village area and set your arse down in Craft or the Tap and Barrel. Spend all afternoon and evening working your way through their beer menus.

Second Granville Island – cool market and a brewery.

Arcteryx is my latest addiction 🙁

Arcteryx is my latest addiction

Me too. Sold all my previous (large) coat collection and now only have Arc’teryx stuff. Bought 6 Arc’teryx jackets in last 3 months

😯

Have now had to promise wife that that’s it!!

I took a sea plane followed by zodiac boat orca watching trip then sea plane back again day trip. It was ace. Rory Bremner’s cousin was the boat driver. Saw loads of orca. Was a few hundred quid, but very cool.

Agree on float plane out to Victoria/Vancouver Island and RIB safari down the sound. Obviously very weather dependent – we didn’t see any whales/orcas but plenty of other wildlife – my wife who normally isn’t into this kind of stuff loved it too.

ME Co-op is also good for gear if you can’t stretch to Arc’teryx prices

Weird, would’ve thought this would’ve been a more Spyder sort of forum…..

Another vote for Granville here – eat Candied Salmon

Hire some bikes and get round Vancouver that way. Such a good cycle network, along with riding along the sea wall.

Did a free walking tour of Granville Island, which was good. Can recommend Steamworks brewing in Gastown, Yaletown brewery was good too.

I really liked the museums there, and the planetarium was pretty cool. Although still jet lagged I fell asleep in the planetarium.

Commercial Street is worth a wander for the coffee shops, the CD shops and the bike store at the far end (I forget the name but it was full of some pretty niche stuff).

Broadway is good for an MEC, Valhalla Pure further along (I got my Arcteryx jacket there, 10% off when I went + exchange rate meant a pretty good deal) and another bike shop, I want to say Might Riders, with more niche stuff (although it’s not exactly laid out for browsing, but the owner seems to REALLY know his stuff).

The Van Deusen Botanic Gardens were nice enough, lots of hummingbirds when we visited. There’s also a centre for abandoned parrots and exotic birds, nice wee walk inside a big glasshouse full of parrots etc. What’s not to like 😀

Finally, just to drag this on topic again, even if for whatever reason you’re not riding, there is excellent public transport to North Van, you could easily wile away a few hours just hiking the North Shore trails, do a bit of research and you could easily spend a day hiking up Jerry Rig and onto Flying Circus, proper ‘heritage’ shore trails from the days of ‘build it high, build it sick, build it skinny’ 😯

I ended up with a post Whistler free day in Vancouver this year, on my own, and not my first time in Van.

I gave Fly Over Canada a go (I was pretty bored) and it was actually pretty good fun, and a decent way to burn 45mins. Aside from that Granville Island is really great, and the grouse Mountain cable car is also worth a shout.

If it’s a nice day you can always take a walk round Stanley Park or a hike on the North Shore as previously noted. Just don’t hug the big, furry, brown squirrels…

lots of production grade stuff in non production colours.

A bit like the SportsPursuit sales then, all standard models but lots of custom colours…

Went GTX jacket shopping with the wife for her BD, best fitting jacket was Arcteryx, so bought that at £450. Got home, did a quick check on line and found same jacket in slightly different shade of blue on SP for £225, so ordered that one and when it arrived, returned the full price one to Ellis-Brigham.

The EzRide App is great for working out bus routes, subway etc.

Visited Granville brewery, which was fun – Gastown is always nice for a wander, just avoid the East Hastings Street area.

We stayed in Yaletown which is nice for bars & food – if you like Vietnamese/Cambodian there is a place in Chinatown that was great – we took a punt based on reviews & it was awesome.

seaplane and whale watching (hopefully) it is!!

We tried to go Orca watching, but the sea was too rough on the day we booked and we were going home the next day… so they said we could rent a speed boat instead and spend the day gliding around the bay, taking in the scenery, having a relaxing time – or as soon as we were out of sight of the harbour master pinning the throttle, dodging misplaced logs, oil tankers and tying not to crash into floating petrol stations and landing sea planes.

Had to quit when one of us started weeping, he’d bruised up his ribs in Whistler and wasn’t enjoying the jumps much.

Fond memories.

Y’r talking about the Capilano wing Brideg though they now have a cliff walk and treetop walks

– Commercial Drive – culture/food /bars
– Granville Island and Granville Island market
– You can walk/cycle really along all the way from English Bay Beach to Spanish Banks passing False Creek/Yaletown and then Garanville Island/Kitsilano
If you fancy a hippyesque- nudist beach you can make your way over to Wreck Beach
– If you can get yourself to Deep Cove then kayak around there or you might even bump into Brett Tippie
– I dare say the Aquarium – I quite enjoy the Beluga’s
– Whale Watching – you could kill two birds with one stone – Steveston village

Go to Deep Cove for some Kayaking and then to Honey’s Doughnuts. Genuinely the best doughnut I have ever eaten.

Hire a bike/roller blades and scoot around the seawall?

I really love Victoria, but it’s a long way for the day.

Museum of Anthropology is good

Granville Island is fun, you can get a wee water-taxi thing over for a dollar or so.

Eat some sushi, it’s amazing.

Find a Canadian to marry so you can move there?

I’d avoid Steamworks in Gastown, everything tastes the same. Hit up some of the smaller breweries, they’re everywhere! Both 33 Acres and Faculty breweries (and probably a few others) are just round the corner from MEC Downtown.

Museum of Anthropology + 1
Hike up Grouse Mountain, gondola down and reward yourself with a selection of brews.