southerner

I'm a kiwi travelling from London to NZ in September with wife and 2 young kids. We would like to stopover in Vancouver on the way, and would welcome any ideas on where to stay, kid friendly activities, transport, etc, etc.

We will probably stop for about 5 days.

Would like to see some of the traditional BC stuff such as the mountains, sea and wildlife, as well as a bit of time in Vancouver itself. Was surprised to see that Banff and Jasper are so far away. Are there alternative National Parks of a similar nature closer to Vancouver?

Can anybody recommend a good general website?

Any help would be much appreciated.

gar

what is your budget?

Hotels tend to be a bit pricey & now they have an excuse to hike up the prices - but seeing you are a family you might get a good deal.

The sylvia is a nice hotel - reasonable prices and close to stanley park.

travelling_kiwi

personally i can't stand van & you may be surprised at the number & state of 'street people' in the city.
however the place has its good side though, kids might like a swim in one of beaches, stanley park nice, granvile island cool place to poke around market(s). north shore plenty mt biking.
http://www.bcpassport.com/outdoor/beaches.html
has good options dining out (esp dimsum), lotsa nightlife etc
transit(bus) & light rail system may help you get around, search bc transit.
vancouver island is nice, but ferry (to victoria or nanaimo)will cost appx $10 p.p each way plus$50 for car each way. (see bc ferries)goes every hour. pcl buses go downtown to downtown.
whiterock is another nice seaside town on usa border 40 mins drive south of vancouver.
theres no nearby substitute for the rockies. they're beaudy

Purley

Like most big cities Vancouver has both the good and the bad!

If you stay away from the bad side you will find a really lovely city.

You could take the kids up Grouse Mountain on the cable car - only worth doing on a sunny day otherwise you can't see anything.

http://www.tourismvancouver.com/docs/visit/

Here is a tourism Vancouver site - click on Things to Do - there are probably a million fun things you can find for both adults and kids.

gar

To Travelling Kiwi,

Can you giveme some reasons why you dont like Van?

I need some reaffirmation.



on paper it seems like heaven on earth to certain people - easy access to the wilderness, multiple leisure activities etc...

now the thing is- I think apart from that hasnt really got a lot going on - and that doesnt even go into the problems of geting a
job!!!

I would like to share some of your opinions regarding vancouver

I am in the middle of a quandray - I really dont dont know whether to give up on Vancouver or not?


My heart says no but my gut says yes - maybe you could enlighten re vancouver

southerner

Thanks for that advice received so far. I'm thinking we might spend a couple nights in city to get over flights, and then a few more out and about.

Any more suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Southerner

TimEh?

Some areas I have enjoyed are the Gulf Islands (in between the city of Vancouver and Vancouver Island), Victoria (Canada's most English city - on Vancouver Island) and the general area around Osoyoos in the BC interior.

The latter is an extremely hot area (can get up to 100 deg and above) and contains Canada's only genuine desert. There are lots of desert-like conditions in some areas of the BC interior which would probably surprise most visitors (or readers for that matter).

Purley

Many of the wineries in the Okanagan have tours and wine tastings. Check this out:

http://www.kelownachamber.org/kelown...r_vacation.htm

The Okanagan is beautiful too and not too crowded and not as hot as Osoyoos.

TimEh?

There's wineries around the Osoyoos area an' all.