Travel Canada, Vancouver, Whistler

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azreal

azreal

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I am spending a couple of weeks in Canada later in the year, around Vancouver but mainly Whistler. Never been before, know very little about the place, I didn't even choose the location. Any suggestions for places to go things to do and things to avoid. hints? tips? suggestions?
 
azreal said:
I am spending a couple of weeks in Canada later in the year, around Vancouver but mainly Whistler. Never been before, know very little about the place, I didn't even choose the location. Any suggestions for places to go things to do and things to avoid. hints? tips? suggestions?
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Vancouver is awesome mate. A lot like Sydney with the harbour. Make sure you go to the Gastown area (lots of bars, restaurants). Grouse Mountain is on the other side of the harbour. Take the gondola up to the top of the mountain - awesome views. Make sure you also do Capilano suspension bridge which is down near the bottom of the mountain. The bridge is about 200 metres long.

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Whistler is great, I take it you are going for the snow season? Lots of good slopes and nightlife is pretty cool. We saw grizzly bears in the wild while we driving around Whistler.

If I was you, I would definitely see if you can go to Banff , Jasper, Lake Louise and Athabasca Glacier while you are so close to them (well not too close as it would be a 7hr drive from Vancouver). It was the most awesome road trip driving through the rockies from Calgary to Vancouver. You virtually had to stop every 10 minutes as the views were amazing from the road.

All in all, Canada is fantastic and I would go back there again. I would love to spend some more time in the Rockies. The Canadians love Aussies.
 
Nelso said:
Vancouver is awesome mate. A lot like Sydney with the harbour. Make sure you go to the Gastown area (lots of bars, restaurants). Grouse Mountain is on the other side of the harbour. Take the gondola up to the top of the mountain - awesome views. Make sure you also do Capilano suspension bridge which is down near the bottom of the mountain. The bridge is about 200 metres long.

images


Whistler is great, I take it you are going for the snow season? Lots of good slopes and nightlife is pretty cool. We saw grizzly bears in the wild while we driving around Whistler.

If I was you, I would definitely see if you can go to Banff , Jasper, Lake Louise and Athabasca Glacier while you are so close to them (well not too close as it would be a 7hr drive from Vancouver). It was the most awesome road trip driving through the rockies from Calgary to Vancouver. You virtually had to stop every 10 minutes as the views were amazing from the road.

All in all, Canada is fantastic and I would go back there again. I would love to spend some more time in the Rockies. The Canadians love Aussies.
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The bridge looks pretty cool and has made it onto my list, the person I am travelling with is very keen on Banff too, so that is on the list as well. I am planning on doing some skiing as well. Good to hear the nightlife is good as it seems to be a reasonably small place. I wish I had more time there...

Was there any touristy things that you did that were underwhelming or ones that wouldn't be worth bothering with?
 

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azreal said:
The bridge looks pretty cool and has made it onto my list, the person I am travelling with is very keen on Banff too, so that is on the list as well. I am planning on doing some skiing as well. Good to hear the nightlife is good as it seems to be a reasonably small place. I wish I had more time there...

Was there any touristy things that you did that were underwhelming or ones that wouldn't be worth bothering with?
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All of things we did were top notch. I would not have changed a thing. I just wish we had more time there. When I get home from work tonight, I will post some pics.
 
Capilano Suspension Bridge is greatly overpriced. Go around the corner to Lynn Canyon Park. It's a Provincial Park and you can see pretty much the exact same scenery for free. They even have their own suspension bridge.

Stop around Squamish on the way to Whistler. It's adventure capital of Canada. Hike The Chief or go white-water rafting.
 
Victoria Island is good for whale watching. Killer whales.

Banff is ok, Bit over priced. I liked Jasper. More natural, although the hot spring pools in Banff are cool...as ia waking up with Elf outside your window.
Pretty sure I stayed here in Whistler:

http://www.booking.com/hotel/ca/ubc...id=01f14821ca13842281d573cc06811baaa2434777X1 Was great.

Liked Vancouver a lot, I stayed downtown when i first got there but this place just out of town was great:
http://www.hihostels.ca/WesternCanada/168/HI-Vancouver_Jericho_Beach.hostel

nice beach, Kitsilano is pretty cool, lots of UBC students around etc

Canada is amazing. Have a look at lake Maligne if you can
 
A couple from montreal are staying with me atm, they're incredibly awesome and hilariously funny. They RAVE about Montreal and say it's very cheap too.
 
nicky said:
A couple from montreal are staying with me atm, they're incredibly awesome and hilariously funny. They RAVE about Montreal and say it's very cheap too.
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Yeah, living in British Columbia, I'm a little jealous of people in Quebec because of how much cheaper things are - especially property. That said, they do get taxed a lot.
 

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azreal said:
I am spending a couple of weeks in Canada later in the year, around Vancouver but mainly Whistler. Never been before, know very little about the place, I didn't even choose the location. Any suggestions for places to go things to do and things to avoid. hints? tips? suggestions?
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What time of the year are you planning on going? The activities which might be great are quite different between winter and summer. In fact, I'd say there isn't much to do in winter unless you enjoy skiing or indoor activities. Daylight hours during the winter months are only around 0830 to 1530hrs. Winter in Vancouver is very wet.

Places like the Suspension Bridge, or Stanley Park, or whale watching etc are best done when it's not winter over there. In winter, head up to Whistler for some skiing.

I've been to Vancouver three times and Whistler twice. I love it there, it's my favourite city in the world at the moment.

As for Banff, it's quite a hike from Vancouver. Probably a whole day's drive at least, so it isn't going to be simply a day trip. I haven't been, but I'd love to go. It looks magnificent.
 
Yep! We're technically in a rainforest so it is wet for a lot of the year. It's pouring outside now. We're almost in March and daylight hours are between about 7am and 5:30pm.

Banff is definitely a full day drive from here. One of the best places to go in summer is around the Okanagan (Kelowna, Penticton, Peachland etc.). It's only about 4 hours away.
 
BomberFletch31 said:
What time of the year are you planning on going? The activities which might be great are quite different between winter and summer. In fact, I'd say there isn't much to do in winter unless you enjoy skiing or indoor activities. Daylight hours during the winter months are only around 0830 to 1530hrs. Winter in Vancouver is very wet.

Places like the Suspension Bridge, or Stanley Park, or whale watching etc are best done when it's not winter over there. In winter, head up to Whistler for some skiing.

I've been to Vancouver three times and Whistler twice. I love it there, it's my favourite city in the world at the moment.

As for Banff, it's quite a hike from Vancouver. Probably a whole day's drive at least, so it isn't going to be simply a day trip. I haven't been, but I'd love to go. It looks magnificent.
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I'm heading over at the end of September/ start of October.
 
azreal said:
I'm heading over at the end of September/ start of October.
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Not really the best time to be here as it's starting to cool down but there won't be any snow. I'm sure you'll have a great time though. There is still lots to see and do. I think that's a good time for whale watching so a trip across to the island would be ok.
 
Catfish Alley said:
Yep! We're technically in a rainforest so it is wet for a lot of the year. It's pouring outside now. We're almost in March and daylight hours are between about 7am and 5:30pm.

Banff is definitely a full day drive from here. One of the best places to go in summer is around the Okanagan (Kelowna, Penticton, Peachland etc.). It's only about 4 hours away.
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Loved it.

Spent a day boozing and swimming on houseboat there...
 
Catfish Alley said:
One of the best places to go in summer is around the Okanagan (Kelowna, Penticton, Peachland etc.). It's only about 4 hours away.
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My brother in law lives in Vernon which is 30 min drive from Kelowna, we spent 3 weeks there last June and loved it.

Have also had a few mates spend a season at Big White in Kelowna

Lovely part of the world
 
nicky said:
A couple from montreal are staying with me atm, they're incredibly awesome and hilariously funny. They RAVE about Montreal and say it's very cheap too.
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Montreal is awesome. Spent a great summer there "back in the day".
 
You're there in the wrong season for me to help you. Summer is absolutely amazing in Southern BC. Deep, crystal clear blue lakes to swim in and loads of stuff happening; hiking volcanos to glacial lakes way up in the mountains, mountain biking, camping, windsurfing, etc. I'm not sure what to do in Winter as I wasn't there for much of it.

Little plug for Black Tusk (or at the very least Garabaldi Lake) for all those who are in BC in summer. Best hike I've ever done and the most beautiful scenery I've seen. Almost killed me doing all 3 major day climbs on the same day as we hiked up. Wouldn't recommend that:

Black-Tusk-Overnight-5.jpg

Black-Tusk-Overnight-7.jpg

A few more links (didn't want to post even more pics for those who didn't want to see them)
http://www.cameronbrown.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Black-Tusk-Overnight-18.jpg
http://www.cameronbrown.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Black-Tusk-Overnight-6.jpg
http://www.cameronbrown.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Black-Tusk-Overnight-14.jpg

nick_black_tusk.jpg
 
Vancouver is really nice, spent some time there ages ago. Whistler has way too many Australians.
 
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