My first introduction to Canada was 3 days in Vancouver, including a day trip to Whistler. In 3 days in Vancouver, there is plenty of time to see the city’s greatest attractions, including the Capilano Bridge, Stanley Park, Granville Island and the beachy Kitsilano neighbourhood. A day trip to Whistler was the icing on the cake, with the summer weather making perfect conditions for hiking, admiring the views from Whistler and Blackcomb, and from the Sea to Sky Gondola.

One of the absolute highlights from one month travelling in the USA & Canada was the staggering natural beauty of Canada. After starting our trip with ten days in New York City followed by three days in Miami, we zipped across to the other side of the continent for a few days in Vancouver. Read on for our itinerary for 3 days in Vancouver, as first time visitors!

First impressions of Vancouver

I loved the the scenery around Vancouver and had lots of fun while I was there, but have to admit that I didn’t feel a spark for the city itself. Everything that nature built: Amazing. Everything that people built? Less inspiring, for the most part. Except for the totem poles, created by the First Nations peoples of the Pacific Northwest, which are dotted around the city and are both beautiful and fascinating.

However, with a few months distance, I’ve appreciated how relaxed and beautiful the city’s setting is – every American city I’ve visited has such strong, distinct regional culture that in comparison, the more laidback and less in-your-face Canadian culture was a little bit more difficult to perceive. In fact, it reminded me a lot of my hometown, Brisbane in a lot of ways, which perhaps is why it didn’t feel as novel as cities that I’ve instantly fallen for, like New York, Miami, Tokyo, Charleston, Paris and Athens.

I love photographing the natural surroundings, but I found that the city itself was harder to get a sense of place from. My favourite subjects are places are the ones where there are clues everywhere that tell you the story of that place. The manmade elements of Vancouver, didn’t give away much for the most part and I felt like I could have been in any North American city, when I wasn’t gawking at the scenery. No doubt it is a wonderful place to live, but for me the best thing about travelling is the mind boggling sensory overload of the new and the different.

Everyone else who I have spoken to who has visited adores Vancouver, so take my opinion on this one with a grain of salt!

Granville Island Market

On the first morning, we took one of the adorable False Creek Ferries from Sunset Beach Park, near our hotel, to Granville Island. The ferry is a cheap, easy and scenic way to get around Vancouver, and we ended up also using the ferries later in the day to get back from Kitsilano.

Granville Island was an industrial manufacturing area that has been transformed into one of the city’s most popular neighbourhoods and tourist attractions. The island is home to Granville Island Market, several performing arts centres, art galleries and shops. Wandering through markets in different cities is one of my favourite things to do when I travel, and I love eating there too. There was lots of beautiful fresh produce, along with several food stands. I ended up getting a cheese & mushroom buckwheat crepe, and we ate our breakfast at a public eating area on the second floor, which had beautiful views of the harbour.

Waterfront Walk to Kitsilano

We walked from Granville Island, along the waterfront around the peninsula to the beachside neighbourhood of Kitsilano. After being in bigger cities like New York, I overestimated the scale of the map in Vancouver – the walk is only 3.6km and only took half an hour at a leisurely pace, but we’d expected it to take up more of the morning.

Kitsilano

Kitsilano is a trendy, young and outdoorsy neighbourhood along the waterfront. The beaches are dotted with logs, which are a legacy of the logging industry. Logs were tied together into rafts to be floated to the mill, but some come free and get washed up on the beach. This rarely happens these days, as companies are fined if they lose logs in the bay, but the existing logs are preserved for use on the beach. Apart from creating somewhere to sit, or nestle under for a tiny bit of shade, they add character to the beach and hint at the city’s story. Exactly the sort of local character I was looking for in Vancouver, but rarely found. It was nice to see something unique to the city.

It seemed too cold to swim, so we sat for a bit and enjoyed the view – and appreciated doing so at midday on a weekday! We found a fresh fruit stand selling cartons of fresh raspberries,blueberries and cherries, so I bought a carton of raspberries, which are my favourite, and so much cheaper than in Australia. It took a lot of self restraint not to fill our backpack with berries.

We headed up to West 4th Avenue, which is sold as a trendy shopping strip. I was hoping for interesting Canadian boutiques and vendors, but to be honest I didn’t find it very charming. We bailed on West 4th and made our way to the Museum of Anthropology. It was too far to walk, so I pulled out my phone to get an uber and found that ubers are banned in Vancouver! Luckily we were near a bus stop, so we caught a bus. Buses are super easy in Vancouver because you can just tap your credit card/travel card rather than buying a ticket.

Museum of Anthropology

Visiting the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia was one of my favourite things that we did in Vancouver. Growing up in Australia, I hadn’t learned much about the First Nations people in North America, and the museum did a beautiful job of celebrating their culture, history and traditions. Going to a museum is one of the things I want to do more when I travel and I’m so glad I made time for it this time.

Museums make me hungry, and I was starving by the time we left. We headed back to Kitsilano, and on the recommendation of our lovely cab driver, had lunch at Local, a friendly neighbourhood pub with a wide range of craft beers and a delicious menu with lots of fresh produce.

I had the fish tacos which were delicious and for the first time in my life, did not touch a single french fry on my plate. I didn’t realise the tacos came with a mountain of chips, which I was trying to avoid as I’d just finished reading Deep Nutrition, which left me deeply scarred after reading the horrific things that vegetable oil does to your brain and body (ew-eek-ew-eek).

Dinner & drinks in Gastown

Gastown is a trendy neighbourhood for dining & nightlife, between the CBD and the sketchy Downtown East Side neighbourhoods. We did Canadian wine flights with matched cheese at Salt Tasting Room, which I loved. Salt is an award-winning venue, and is known for its custom tasting plates – you build your own tasting plates from a selection of artisan cheese, charcuterie and condiments, and you can choose your own wines to match or the team can do it for you. We chose a few cheeses and Canadian wines, which I’ve never tried before. The domestic market for Canadian wine is very strong, so there’s not much need to export to the other side of the world. If I ever get back to British Columbia, I’d love to do a day trip to the Okanagan wine region!

On the recommendation of a friend who used to live in Vancouver, we had dinner at The Diamond (sadly now closed) which I absolutely loved! The Diamond is a cocktail bar and supper club, tucked away in the second floor of a building with views over Maple Tree Square. We shared a few small plates, which were produce driven, creative and most importantly, delicious. I would definitely eat there again if I ever return to Vancouver.

One thing I found a bit weird about Gastown is that it’s whole schtick is that it’s a historical neighbourhood, but there were no visible signs of historical businesses. It was very pretty, but it felt a bit more like a movie set than a historical neighbourhood because any traces of history have been painted over and prettied up. It probably stood out to me because I live in Melbourne, where faded signs are everywhere and many Victorian era buildings still have the names of their original owners embossed in the stonework.

One other thing I found really jarring about Gastown is that it rubs shoulders with Downtown Eastside, which is one of the most visibly poverty-stricken neighbourhoods I have ever seen in North America. Disadvantage is a complex issue, but it was particularly jarring to see it in contrast to the highly polished streets of Gastown a few blocks over.

Our cab drove us via Downtown Eastside to get to Gastown, and I was shocked by the severity of the disadvantage in this area. I was only passing through, so this is a very surface level first impression, but it tracks with what my friend who used to live in Vancouver has told me, and the research I did online afterwards.  

The streets were crowded with people who looked unwell. Many people were fighting each other, and many were physically injured. As the cab slowed for traffic, groups of people shuffled towards the car, reaching towards it as we drove past and yelling things we couldn’t understand. The buildings were dark and dilapidated and the atmosphere was hostile and forbidding. 

The rapid growth of Vancouver’s homeless population is considered a crisis, with the affordable housing cuts that began in the 1980s considered the primary cause. It’s a situation I can’t claim to understand, as a tourist, but it’s clear that the housing crisis is a pressing issue for the city. In the short time I was there, I saw numerous homeless people rummaging for food in garbage bins at the back of restaurants, along the street in Kitsilano in public bins, and in  the dumpster at the back of our hotel. Many articles in the local community newspaper were dedicated to different angles (housing prices, the upcoming election, support services for drug abuse). Even TimeOut Vancouver, which I tried to use for research pre-trip, dedicates a lot of space to criticising the political, economic and social factors which have contributed to the issue. According to my research, Vancouver attracts many of Canada’s most disadvantaged, as it has the most favourable climate for sleeping rough. From what I’ve read, the city struggles to adequately support a homeless population that is disproportionately sized compared to the size of the city.

Stanley Park

On our second day in Vancouver, we went to Stanley Park which is the second largest city park in North America (trumped only by New York’s Central Park). It’s surrounded by water on three sides, and was teeming with locals and visitors alike when we visited. We hired bikes a and spent a morning riding around the park, stopping occasionally for ice blocks or photo opps – including more beautiful totem poles!

Coal Harbour

From Stanley Park, we walked through Coal Harbour. The waterfront neighbourhood is full of gleaming high rise condos and expensive restaurants, and is fairly charmless on land. The water makes up for it, with brightly coloured seaplanes, a stunning mountainous backdrop and these adorable tiny floating homes!

One of the most frustrating things about travelling in North America is how hard it is to find fresh, cheap food on the go (fresh berry stands aside!). Australia has a strong cafe culture which makes it easy to find a cheap, quick and healthy lunch or snack, but in the US & Canada we found ourselves begrudgingly sitting down in a restaurant when we couldn’t find anything to eat. I couldn’t even find a grocery store in Vancouver, aside from a few convenience stores which had some sad looking fruit hidden near the back. I’m sure the grocery stores exist, there is just a real dearth of them in downtown. We were hungry (and stranded) in Coal Harbour, so we paid through the nose for a nice enough lunch overlooking the water. Luckily we were sat at a waterfront table, so at least we had a beautiful view!

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park

The Capilano Suspension Bridge was one of the few attractions I’d heard of before researching the trip, so it seemed like a must do activity. It’s a beautiful place and it’s a nice way to spend the afternoon, but if you don’t have time to visit, don’t sweat it. It’s perfect for families, but for me, nothing can stack up to the the wild landscapes of Squamish, Whistler and California which we’d experience later in the week.

This was the first of several times in Vancouver that I had to deal with my fear of heights. The suspension bridge is 140m long and hangs 70m (230ft) above the Capilano River. Suspension bridges sway by design, which I found pretty terrifying. With lots of deep breaths, a few moments where I had to shut my eyes and a deathgrip on the railing, I made it across in one piece!

We walked along the Treetop Walk, which is a series of 7 footbriges which are connected by Douglas Fir Trees. These were a much more chill 30m off the ground, which I appreciated. We also dropped in on part of nature talk, featuring a beautiful owl – the only bird species which doesn’t give me the creeps.

I wasn’t too jazzed when I looked to find an exit and realised we had to go back across the suspension bridge, but as it turned out this was just the beginning of feeling faint in high places that week. And this was the smallest height of them all!

Day Trip to Whistler & Squamish

Without a doubt, this was the absolute highlight of our 3 days in Vancouver. I’m so glad we got out of the city and into the breathtaking nature that makes Canada famous. We did a day trip from Vancouver that took us through British Columbia to Whistler-Blackcomb, with stops at the Sea-to-Sky Gondola and Brandywine Falls.

Sea to Sky Gondola, Squamish

First up was the Sea to Sky Gondola, which zips up 885m to the Summit Lodge which is on a mountain Stawamus Chief Provincial Park. There’s a viewing deck and kiosk at the lodge, but we decided to go on some of the hiking trails with our free time. The views from all along the trails were so stunning and it wasn’t too crowded, except for at lookouts. I love hiking and so I was on cloud nine to be hiking somewhere so overwhelmingly beautiful.

Brandywine Falls

Next, we stopped at the beautiful Brandywine Falls. It was a short walk through a lush forest to reach the falls, which are among the prettiest I’ve seen. They reminded me a lot of Dangar Falls along Waterfall Way in Australia.

Whistler & Blackcomb

Our final destination, Whistler, needs no introduction. While it’s famous as a ski resort, it is absolutely glorious in summer. We headed to the Whistler summit, via gondola, and then boarded the famous Peak to Peak Gondola which goes between the summit of Whistler and neighbouring Blackcomb. Little did I know, it’s the highest and longest gondola ride in the world. I was nearly in tears when I got a glimpse of the Peak to Peak, but I really wanted to go so I did anyway.

I have to admit, I only opened my eyes once for a millisecond on the way over, just quick enough to take some photos. Normally I try and focus on looking out into the distance to appreciate the view instead of looking down. This worked on the Kuranda Skyrail in Australia, but the height of the Peak to Peak was a bridge (or gondola) too far!

The summit at Blackcomb is a lot more pleasant than at Whistler, so we spent more time here. We wandered along some mountain trails, delighted in playing with snow on a hot, sunny day in the middle of summer and got an ice cream. I’d been a little panicked when we arrived at Blackcomb and found out that due to gondola works, we couldn’t descend from Blackcomb and would instead have to go back on the Peak to Peak, but it all worked out.

We had a glass of wine at Christine’s On Blackcomb, which has absolutely stunning mountain views. As an added bonus, the liquid courage gave me the strength to keep my eyes open the whole time on the way back. I loved the views, which were epic, and there WERE definitely tears in my eyes for the whole journey, but at least they were open this time!

Next Up: Back into the USA for my first trip to California, with three days in San Francisco!

Have you been to Vancouver or would you like to go? What did you like the most about the city? 

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