Vancouver, Victoria and Whistler....

[Nole]

Some of you know I'm in the travel biz. I've yet to visit these 3 destinations. Next week is the week! My wife and I will arrive Whistler this Sunday for 2 nights, drive down to Vancouver Tuesday, fly Harbour Air to Victoria, check out some whales and stay 1 night and then finish with 3 nights Vancouver.

All Fairmont hotels if that helps with letting me know where there are night-spots/restaurants.

Gastown apparently is worth a visit in Vancouver. Some co-workers say there are quite a few pubs at all 3 stops.

Please chime in if you've visited and enjoyed a certain bar/restaurant or activity. The wife has already figured on plenty of shopping.

Oh BTW, if there are a multitude of pubs along a certain stretch, can you take a drink out of a pub and walk around?

I look forward to your input.

Thanks.

nole

 

[GM]

Beautiful part of the world Nole....I lived out there for 3 years. I think you will love it.

In Vancouver make sure you make it to Granville Island. It's not actually an "island"...it's right in the heart of the city. Lots of little pubs / restaurants / shops right on the water.... lots of small boat traffic, a marina, and you can take city tours by water coach. Good place for a late lunch or dinner. I'd also recommend Stanley Park...pretty standard tourist destination. Huge natural (mostly) untouched forest right in the heart of the city.

In Vancouver, get a room that faces north with a mountain view. All the mountains (or at least, the best of them viewed from the city) are on the north shore. It really is a beautiful view. Looking south from a hotel room window though there's not much to see.

Vancouver is basically a series of islands connected together by bridges. Driving can be crazy because no matter which way you go, eventually you are going to end up having to cross one of those bridges. One tip - the fast lane within the city is the RIGHT lane. For some reason they don't believe in left-turn lanes in most parts of the city, so if you're in the left lane, before too long you end up coming to a stop because ~somewhere~ up ahead someone is turning left. Stay in the right lane and you'll get there twice as fast. There are some pretty bad drivers out there!

Kitsilano is nice, White Rock too. And yes, Gastown is definitely a great, lively party spot. Avoid traveling east from there though, and stay away from any lodging on the east side of downtown, in particular on Hastings Street, or anything near Hastings and Main no matter how cheap it is. Nasty nasty neighbourhood.

On Vancouver Island - Victoria is a pretty quiet town. It's sort of a retirement community, not a lot going on there. But it's known for incredible, huge flower gardens. Butchart Gardens is the best of the bunch. If you or your wife is into flowers you'll love it there. If you had an extra day or two I'd recommend getting out to the Pacific coast of BC, around Tofino and Ucluelet (grab a map!).... it's at the end of the only road that crosses Vancouver Island from East to West (Hwy 4 I think?). It's really beautiful out there....definitely not cheap lodging, but beautiful...a great place to go for a romantic night or two. Peaceful and out of the way, very long beach, and the drive across the island is very nice too (about 4 hrs each direction). Good whale watching out there too.

Whistler - I'm not all that familiar with. I've only been there to ski, not in the summertime. But I would imagine it's fairly lively up there even in summer, and there is some good golf up that way from what I hear.

Enjoy!

 

[Nole]

Thanks very, very much GM!! I'm going to print your reply and put it with our travel documents.

This trip has been in the works for a while. We both can't wait!

Thanks again.

nole