Best 9 Ways to Get Around Vancouver

Vancouver is a beautiful city.  Majestic mountains, ocean, rivers, and green space are immediately noticeable but how do you get around to really enjoy the place?

1. Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley Service

Take advantage of the Hop-On, Hop-Off Vancouver Trolley Car service.  This travels all over the city for a very reasonable fee.  You can stop wherever you want and enjoy the sites and then get back on when you are ready to continue.  If you stop in Stanley Park, check on the horse drawn wagon rides.  The rides are seasonal but take you all around the park in less than an hour. 

2. Foot Ferry

To get over to Granville Island from the downtown area take one of the little foot ferries from the various stops along the seawall.  The cost is very reasonable and the ferries run into the evening.  The ferry captains are full of stories and facts about Vancouver as a bonus!

3. Bicycles

Bicycles are becoming a more common means of tourist transportation in Vancouver.  They can be rented at places downtown close to Stanley Park.  There are also sea kayaks for rent at English Bay if you want “to do the driving yourself!”

4. By Foot

Of course, there is always foot power and Vancouver is an extremely walkable city.  The seawall starts at Canada Place in Coal Harbour and runs all the way around Stanley Park, under the Lion’s Gate Bridge, past BC Place Stadium and the Science Centre.  It continues to Granville Island and eventually ends at Kitsilino Park.  The complete distance is 22 KM.  Or you can walk from Canada Place to English Bay around the park for a distance of 12 KM.  Make sure you have comfortable walking shoes!

5. Skytrain

Take the opportunity to ride all the Skytrain lines.  This can be done in half a day for a very reasonable price and gives a good overview of the lower mainland, as the coastal communities are called.  It won’t be as crowded if you leave after 9 AM and return before 3 PM.  The greater Vancouver bus service is also easily accessible anywhere along the Skytrain route.

The Skytrain service leaves constantly from the airport and takes you right downtown to the waterfront.  From there you can access greater Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, and Coquitlam by Skytrain  Huge shopping centres and a couple of casinos are easily accessible from the Skytrain.  There is also no shortage of ethnic restaurants along the way.

6. Seabus

If you just want to spend a little time traveling across the Burrard Inlet, the seabus is the way to go.  The crossing takes approximately 20 minutes and the views are spectacular.  Leave the Waterfront Station and travel over to the Quay in North Vancouver. There is a market and many local vendors have the perfect souvenir gift for you to take home.

7. Westcoast Train

If you wish to venture even farther you can check out the Westcoast train schedule.  It also leaves from the waterfront and travels out to the town of Mission with many stops along the way.

8.Bus Service

The Vancouver bus line service is a great way to site see.  There is excellent service leaving from downtown Vancouver and traveling all over the lower mainland.

Greyhound bus service leaves from near Main Street Skytrain Station at the old CN Train Station.  There you can connect with ferry service over to Vancouver Island and the gulf islands from Tsawwassen.  It’s a nice way to spend a sunny day.  Or you can take a trip up to Horseshoe Bay and catch a ferry to Nanaimo or the Sunshine Coast.

Take a local bus close just outside the Waterfront Station and visit Capilano Canyon or Lynn Canyon or Cypress Bowl.  The Grouse Mountain Chairlift has a fantastic view of the city and harbour.

9.Rent a Car

Vancouver is an easy place to drive around in.  There are so many places to see and a trip up to Whistler is a beautiful way to pass the time.  All major car rental services are available at the Vancouver International Airport as well as downtown.

Enjoy your stay in Vancouver and take advantage of all the things to do see in this beautiful city.  You won’t regret it!

Vancouver - an International Community

I had an interesting taxi ride at 3:30 am yesterday morning as I headed for Vancouver International Airport.  My taxi driver had a very thick accent, as many drivers in Vancouver do.  I asked him if he had been in Vancouver very long and he answered 25 years.  That didn’t surprise me since the focus on immigrating to Canada is not always about learning the language.  It is about creating a better lifestyle for the immigrant.  Getting a job doesn’t necessarily mean having to know how to speak English.

I asked the driver, “Where did you grow up?”

 “Afghanistan.” 

My automatic reply was, “I guess you were glad to get away from there.”

He remarked, “We immigrated for the same reason many people did.  Someone said Canada was a beautiful place to live, without the crowding that many countries experienced.  There was no war as we hear about it now.  In fact, what we do hear is not true, even though I also thought it was true.”

He went on to tell me that he and his brother had decided to take a trip together overseas about 6 years ago.  They would have liked to visit their homeland but, like everyone else, about the war and what was happening on the news and through social media.

“We decided to go to India and Thailand instead.  While we were traveling through Thailand, we ran into a young Swedish woman who was living in Afghanistan and had been there for 7 years.  She loved the country and did not find it dangerous at all!  My brother and I decided to get tickets and for the first time in 20 years visited with our relatives in our homeland.  When we returned to Canada and talked about our peaceful experiences other family members made the trip too.”

With all the media attention about war in Afghanistan, what is the true story?  The taxi driver said there were areas where fighting was going on and has been going on for years.  People knew not to travel where the fighting was happening. 

When I hear a story like this, my concern is whether the involvement of the US Military and the Canadian “peacekeepers” was or is still necessary?  The US sent their soldiers over to fight and many of them returned scarred internally and beaten down physically.  Is there even a reason for them to be there? 

The media hype definitely keeps the war at the forefront.  Is war really just a money-making scheme for the US and other countries though?  There is big money in wars; military equipment including tanks and guns and aircraft and uniforms and the list goes on!  There’s also the employment factor when people are needed to serve.

By the time I got to the airport I had a different perspective about Afghanistan.  It’s never been a country that I had on my list of places to travel but for those who do, maybe look into the possibility of visiting there.

Where to Find Vancouver Hideaways!

It is hard to imagine the West End of Vancouver is still one of the most densely populated areas in North America. It’s surrounded by a rapidly changing skyline but maintains a feeling of  simpler times.  The peace and beauty is evident to all those who live in the the area and may it never change.

I was very happy to settle down for a few years again in my birth city of Vancouver, Canada.  I wanted to stay as “green” as possible and so chose to live and work in the West End of the city, just a few blocks from Davie and Denman.

I loved the quaint area between Denman, Stanley Park, the lagoon, and English Bay.  I’d while away the weekend hours exploring all there was to see.  A brisk 12 KM walk around the sea wall to the new skyline of Coal Harbour, breathing in the ocean air, was all I needed to maintain a healthy balance in my life.

I really didn’t need a vehicle and was glad I didn’t have to find parking on a daily basis.  I don’t think the parking situation has improved either in the last forty years!  People still vie for a two-hour space on the many tree covered side streets so they can show their grandchildren the beaches they played on with their own grandparents many decades before.  The great bus and sky train system is still the best alternative.

The architectural beauty of old brick low rises nestled among higher balcony-adorned buildings is a reminder of days gone by in the West End.  An occasional heritage home is also tucked in between, turned into classic apartments with high ceilings and marbled faced fireplaces. Wonderful names adorn buildings that have stood the test of time like Ocean Bay and the Sylvia.  Many have interesting histories.  The Whitehouse Apartments, for instance, was infamous sixty years ago for housing one of the top madams in Vancouver.  Many people have lived in the area all their working life and have chosen to remain in the West End after they retired. 

To really enjoy the area, just snuggle into one of the tiny corner parks and watch the squirrels chattering in the trees, looking for tid-bits as the seagulls scream high above. If you are lucky, you may even see a resident skunk or raccoon ambling along the sidewalk as evening approaches.  I paused often when I was walking, especially in the autumn. I loved watching children toss the riot of colourful leaves into the air and giggle as the colours gently floated down around them.  The magnificent horse chestnut trees may have muted the sounds of sirens and the busy traffic along English Bay but you had to be prepared to be bumped on the head as chestnuts fell in the fall.

I'm no longer living in the West End but now I get to go down and visit the same old spots with my granddaughter.  She is being raised in my favourite part of the city. 

The new online blog, www.insidevancouver.ca is a great place to find out what can be discovered in the West End.  The blog encourages locals to write about upcoming events and is a great place to view photos of the area.   

There are very few songs written about Vancouver, Canada.  Canadian Tom Cochrane mentions the "Vancouver Lights" quickly in his famous song "Life is a Highway."  There were many times I identified with the words to the song “Life's like a road that you travel on. When there's one day here and the next day gone."  It's such a beautiful city