Vancouver in the Fall: A 6 day itinerary

We travelled to Vancouver, Canada, during the school October half term. We packed for autumn weather – lots of layer options, and waterproof jackets. The flight was direct from London Heathrow with British Airways, and we flew out in World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and returned in Club Class (business).

We arrived at Vancouver International Airport in the evening. Having collected our luggage and navigated customs we were met by our driver booked via the Hoppa app. His vehicle was a rather large immaculate SUV and the drive to our hotel was exceptionally comfortable. Our driver gave us good advice on things to see/places to go while in the city and before long we were pulling into the drop off outside our accommodation for the next 6 nights.

Century Plaza Hotel, 1015 Burrard Street

We chose Century Plaza Hotel because of its walkable location to many of the city ‘must see’ attractions. Also because of the price: The one thing you will quickly learn when visiting Canada is that everything is very expensive compared to the UK (and this hotel was ‘more reasonable’ than others)!

After a rapid check-in we found our room, a Premium Studio. The view over downtown Vancouver, especially at night, is absolutely spectacular.

Century Plaza Hotel is close to the oldest hospital in Vancouver, St Pauls, which has been a filming location for many different TV series and films. Adjacent to the hotel is the Butterfly building – the newest and most innovative high rise residential building in the West End of Vancouver.

Premium Studio room

The room was comfortable albeit a little basic, but perfectly functional for the four of us. There were two double beds, a convertible sofa and a trolley/camp bed we had requested. We had air conditioning and a TV, with plenty of outlets for charging phones and gadgets.

The kitchenette area was equipped with a full-size fridge/freezer, an oven with a hob, microwave, filter coffee machine and a sink for washing up. There were cups, glasses, plates, cutlery and all the basic cooking utensils you might need.

The bathroom was roomy, with an excellent over bath shower along with nice complimentary toiletries.

The room also came with a complimentary $25 food and beverage credit, which we used at breakfast on the first morning. As well as a modern Italian steak and wine restaurant called C Prime the hotel also has a ground floor coffee shop, Beyond Coffee, serving some very tempting cakes, ice cream, bagels and sandwiches – and excellent coffee.

Day 1: Sea to Sky Highway

We were lucky to be able to join this full-day tour today, as the Sky Gondola was going into seasonal maintenance the following day for the rest of the week. The Sea to Sky Highway tour picks you up near your hotel and takes you up to Whistler, stopping along the way.

About 45 minutes from downtown Vancouver you reached the Sea to Sky Gondola. This is a 10 minute cable car ride that travels up about 885 metres to the Summit Lodge. The views from here over the stunning Howe Sound was awesome.

Once at the top there are several hiking trails (long and short), viewing platforms, suspension bridges and a via ferrata. There is an award winning restaurant too, and a souvenir shop (of course!)

We were blessed with good weather, allowing excellent views.

Whistler village

Once back on ground level we continued our bus journey up to Whistler village (originally Lake Alta). Whistler is named after the curious sound made by the local Western Hoary Marmots (apparently). Whistler is also home to the Olympic Park, which hosted ski jumping, cross-country skiing and biathlon during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Unfortunately the Olympic Park was closed during our visit.

We decided to leave the bus early so we could walk the lake shore to the village. This lovely walk was just what we needed after sitting for quite a while. It was very pleasant. We didn’t see any bears, but we saw some steaming bear poo – so they were around!

Once in Whistler we grabbed lunch at El Furniture Warehouse on Granville Street. This was a great recommendation from our tour leader. Good prices, good food, quick service. The poutine was especially good here. A walk around some local gift shops followed before we started to make our way back to Vancouver. There was more to stop and see on the way back.

If you like waterfalls this is the tour to go on. There are three falls to see on the way back from Whistler to Vancouver. Brandywine Falls got its name from a drunken bet about how high (70 metres) it was by two railway workers in the 1800s. Shannon Falls was the biggest waterfall we stopped at. Located just south of Squamish Chief (the big mountain) this is the third highest waterfall in British Columbia and at 335 metres above Highway 99 was very impressive. Alexandre Falls was the last waterfall we visited. This is an amazing 43 metre tiered cascade.

Back we then went to Vancouver after a full day’s sightseeing. We met lovely people and had a great time.

Day 2: Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, VanDusen Botanical Garden and Bloedel Conservatory

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is a must-do attraction in Vancouver. To get to the park you can catch a courtesy bus from one of several stops around the city. Our nearest stop was outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The bus runs all year round.

After a slow start we walked down Burrard Street and breakfasted at Tim Hortons (it wasn’t great to be honest) – the hotel was right next door. The bus stop was not obvious; this is a hub for lots of organised trips so gets a bit chaotic. Having found our bus, we arrived at Capilano Suspension Bridge approximately 15 minutes later. The weather was gorgeous (again).

Our visit was during Halloween week and the entire park was decorated with pumpkins, gruesome skeletons, giant spiders and horror paraphernalia.

The attractions included the suspension bridge, the cliff walk, treetops adventure, and the living forest trail. The suspension bridge is truly the star of the show. At 450 feet long it can take up to 15 minutes to cross, especially if people are posing for selfies!

The whole Park takes an average of 2 – 2.5 hours to explore, especially if you stop off for a hot chocolate as we did. The wildlife is fascinating and there are rangers to help you identify different birds etc. We saw bald eagles and a male Northern Flicker but there would have been many more.

VanDusen Botanical Garden

The 55-acre VanDusen Botanical Garden, displaying all the Fall colours, was fantastic. It’s the perfect place to unwind away from a bustling city. This huge area is filled with lakes, ponds, secluded gardens, restful seating areas, wooden animals, a Halloween maze and the most fabulous coffee shop. Here’s a selection of photos we took while enjoying the gardens.

We travelled to VanDusen Botanical Garden by Metro from our hotel, but what looks straightforward on the map can quickly turn into a problem. We opted to take an Uber from the closest station (still a good walk away) and got to the gardens within 10 minutes.

You can easily spend all day at the botanical gardens. There are over 7,500 species of plants to look at. For us, the highlights were the trees, the water lilies, the riot of colour from the plants and the maze.

Bloedel Conservatory

An Uber driver took us from the botanical gardens straight to Queen Elizabeth Park and the Bloedel Conservatory. This is a nice little attraction within a massive park, which looks right over the City of Vancouver area. The conservatory is a triodetic type domed greenhouse structure containing more than 100 tropica birds (but sadly not free flying), koi carp and over 500 flowering plants.

The structure comprises three separate climatic zones under the single domed roof: Tropical, Subtropical and Desert in over 1600 square feet of garden. The colourful macaws, parrots and cockatoos in the conservatory included Green-winged, Hahn’s Dwarf and Blue and Gold Macaws; African, Amazon, and Eclectus parrots and a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo.

Day 3: Granville Island

Granville Island is one of the main attractions in Vancouver. It’s an assembly of shops, restaurants and craft brewers and of course the famous market. We walked most of the way from our hotel and caught the small water taxi to get across to the market. These taxis are really good for exploring this area around the island as you can buy a day ticket for unlimited travel.

Having arrived at the market we sought out breakfast at the food court, where we feasted on breakfast bagels, pastries and really good coffee. The market is a great venue for fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, bakery items, and artisan goods.

The grapes were a mite expensive; Millie took a bag of grapes to the till to purchase, but they were $20 so Toby had to jump in to pay for them. They were nice, but not worth that amount of money (they were too polite to walk away)! We made sure she enjoyed every one of them!

There are some great independent shops in and around Granville Market. Something for everyone, day and into the night.

Prince of Whales half day whale watching cruise

The Prince of Whales tour left from Granville Island. Our tour took place on a wet day, which dampened everyone’s spirit but we all remained optimistic! Luckily the boat was comfortable with everyone seated and hot drinks available throughout the half-day trip.

Having sailed out into open water, we saw at least four humpback whales, one with a calf. They are notoriously difficult to photograph. These were our best efforts:

Half way between mainland and the whales we saw a bald eagle perched on a rock, along with some sea lions.

Joining a whale watching tour in Vancouver was rather damp and cold, but it was well worth it for what we saw.

It was still raining when we got back to Granville Island, so we dived into the market again for a well earned coffee and pastry. The honey roasted pecans were very good too. We took an Uber back to the hotel as it was too wet to walk. 

Day 4: Stanley Park

Stanley Park is another ‘must visit’ location when visiting Vancouver. We caught a taxi to take us straight to the horse drawn carriage tour. We had just 10 minutes to wait until we boarded our carriage for a lovely, slow, really enjoyable tour of the highlights in the park. The driver providing banter about the history of the park and the interesting features within it, such as the totem poles, the gardens, the hollow tree, the seawall and the lost lagoon. The horses were lovely too (and so well-behaved!)

Following the tour we took to our heels and headed for Vancouver Aquarium.

Vancouver Aquarium

Vancouver Aquarium (Canada’s largest) is not far from the totem poles, so a fairly easy short walk.

The Aquarium has over 65,000 animals, including sea otters, sea lions, octopuses, sharks and jellyfish. Not just fish (though there are lots of them), but many mammals too. There are more than 30 world-class exhibits, a 4D Theatre experience, interactive displays, and daily educational programs. Here’s a gallery of my favourite inhabitants of the aquarium.

The aquarium is not just a public display; it also engages in conservation, sea literacy and cleanup operations, as well as educating fishermen about conservation.

There is a very good cafe/restaurant here, with plenty of indoor and outside seating. And of course it wouldn’t be a public aquarium without a well-stocked merchandise store!

You can spend a whole day at the aquarium. We were there for four hours. Afterwards, as the weather was being kind to us, we decided to walk back to Downtown Vancouver via Canada Place.

Lost Souls of Gastown Evening Walking Tour

Gastown is a famous historical district in Vancouver. Here there are lots of independent coffee shops, souvenir shops and also the Gastown Steam Clock.

After some late afternoon independent exploring we joined the Lost Souls of Gastown walking tour. Our host dressed in period costume, giving us a flavour of what it was like in the early days of Vancouver’s history. It was very atmospheric and fully entertaining from start to finish. The Lost Souls of Gastown walking tour was a fantastic way to end a busy, but brilliant, day.

Day 5: False Creek Ferry, Maritime Museum and H.R. MacMillan Space Centre

This was the day we kept clear, in case we could get out to Britannia Mine Museum along the Sea to Sky Highway. As this wasn’t possible, we decided to walk towards Granville Island, and the Creek Ferries, and see where we ended up!

Rather than take the ferry across to Granville Island we took a different service route to Kitsilano Beach. The weather was nice so we wanted to walk along the shoreline.

This was definitely a place to chill out and watch the world go by. Having done that for a little while, we were drawn towards an interesting building. It turned out to be the Vancouver Maritime Museum – so we went inside to explore.

Vancouver Maritime Museum

The Vancouver Maritime Museum was quite a find and well worth a visit. There were exhibits about rum running and bootlegging from Canada during the prohibition era of the 1920s. The US had banned alcohol during this period and enterprising Canadians were making vast profits selling their booze to them! The exhibits told of scrapes with the US Coastguard and chases on the high seas in international waters.

There were also exhibits about polar exploration and the search for the Northwest passage, as well as famous vessels such as the St Roch, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner and the first ship to completely circumnavigate North America. It was also the second vessel to journey through the Northwest Passage. The St Roch had a hull constructed from Douglas fir and Eucalyptus iron bark to withstand ice pressure and a specially reinforced hull design.

At certain times of the day you can board the St Roch and explore – Toby loved this!

After leaving the museum we realised that the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre was close by, so we walked towards it.

H.R. MacMillan Space Centre

Having reached it, Huw and Millie-Mae decided to go in. Toby was tired, and I fancied a coffee, so we split up for an hour. The ticket price included the museum visit and the planetarium show. Unfortunately it didn’t cover the neighbouring Museum of Vancouver (the combined cost was too high to visit both). Millie-Mae, who loves everything ‘space’ and astrophysics, came out afterwards and felt the centre was rather underwhelming. The planetarium show literally sent Huw to sleep (he was snoring!). There were some interactive elements, but they were aimed at a much younger audience.

Outside there is the Observatory Centre, but this was closed for the time we were in Vancouver unfortunately. Overall they weren’t impressed, so didn’t rate the visit highly.

Day 6: Our Last Day

FlyOver Canada

On the last day we had an early breakfast and headed uptown to FlyOver Canada. When we visited Iceland we experienced FlyOver Iceland in Reykjavik; we thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and FlyOver Canada was just as good! It’s very exhilarating! It’s like being on a rollercoaster without being on a rollercoaster. You ‘fly’ through amazing scenery – at speed and with serious climbs and drops. You get puffed with cold ‘clouds and fog’, mist sprayed with ‘rain’ … yet your chair barely moves throughout the experience. Suitable for young and old – virtual thrills!

On this day we saw their Halloween show, ‘Howls over Canada’, where we ‘flew’ through unbelievable Canadian scenery accompanied by an animated witch and her friends. Great fun for young kids.

Afterwards you can enjoy a drink and snack at the Flying Whale Cafe, which looks out to where the seaplanes land and depart.

Vancouver Lookout Observation Deck

Close to FlyOver Canada, on West Hastings Street, is Vancouver Lookout. A glass elevator takes you 553 feet high above Vancouver for a 360 degree viewing experience. Information boards and maps around the windows point out key landmarks. It’s one heck of a view! In hindsight we should have visited The Lookout done this on day 1 so we could have worked out where everything was located ahead of visiting them!

Vancouver Police Museum

The Vancouver Police Museum was recommended to us by a friend. It’s not highly publicised but we were determined to visit before heading home.

This museum is compact, but wow does it pack a punch! It tells the story of bootleggers, gangsters, and axe murderers. Case notes of notorious crimes and murders adorn the walls – awful stories that play on in your head long after the visit, because they are true. And they have a morgue and autopsy suite (of course they do); this particular morgue was home to the table that graced the body of Errol Flynn. The morgue hosts cinema evenings – yes, really!

You only need an hour or so to visit. We caught an Uber back to the hotel as we had to make our way to the airport.

Final thoughts

Vancouver is a North American city and like any other there is a good deal of homelessness. These people are not aggressive and for the best part we were not asked for money, but where we could we gave money or food. We were shocked at the amount of homelessness we witnessed, across all ages, especially in Gastown and the area around the Police Museum. It is upsetting so see such large-scale homelessness.

The cost of food and getting into attractions is not cheap. Be careful where you eat and where you stay, because it could blow your budget. Getting around the city is quite easy and most things are reachable on foot from the centre. Buses and Metros are available but we found they only got you part-way to where you wanted to go, leaving you a bit lost at times! We found Ubers to be the best option. To be honest they were not that expensive, especially as there were four of us.

You need to check that attractions are open during your visit. Some may be closed for maintenance during the off season or late in the season. We missed out on visiting Grouse Mountain as the cable car was closed for maintenance the week we were there.

Also be aware that there are attractions out of town that are difficult to get to! In our case we would have loved to visit The Britannia Mine Museum, located half-way up the Sea to Sky Highway (we sped past it on Day 1). We couldn’t find a single public transport option to get us there and back, nor any organised trip that included it. The only option would have been to hire a car or take a taxi – and the costs for both were astronomical. So plan your itinerary ahead, and work out how you are going to get around.

Hoppa to the airport

The final part of our Vancouver experience was the journey to the airport. This was in thick traffic and I was glad not to be driving! Again we called upon the professionals, and our Hoppa driver arrived at the hotel on time in his super clean, super shiny oversized SUV. He ensured we reached the airport in good time for our overnight flight home.

Vancouver was everything we expected it to be. We needed more time though. We’d like to get out on to Vancouver Island and to spend more time exploring places off the Sea to Sky Highway. Next time we will hire a car (maybe a camper), and tour. And we’d visit in high season, as that would ensure all attractions would be fully open. It was, however, lovely to visit during the Fall, with all the lovely tree colours and the Halloween-themed attractions. The weather was mainly kind to us and the cold-weather gear stayed firmly in the suitcase!