31 Tips I Wish I Knew Before Visiting Vancouver, Canada

[@francishughes3017]

As someone who cannot wait to visit, and potentially move to VA, I appreciate your no fluff video enormously! No "before we get into the list, here is a load of padding info you don't need", pointless graphics or history, just fast, helpful facts. Thank you!!

[@camdendavid]

Glad you found it helpful. Thanks for taking the time to watch! Hope you get to visit soon :)

[@WhizBack]

As a Vancouverite, I will say that this is a pretty informative video if you want to hit the most visited areas on a limited time budget. I just have a couple of observations - If you are staying in North Van, there is great public transit to downtown either by frequent bus service or the seabus, so a car might not be necessary. Also, there are countless ways to get a free wilderness experience within 20 minutes of downtown including an urban wilderness park that is *twice* the size of Stanley Park. Pacific Spirit Park includes beaches, deciduous, and old growth evergreen forests. You can include a tour of the campus of the University of British Columbia, the Museum of Anthropology, and the Nitobe Classical Japanese Gardens, and the UBC Botanical Gardens., which are all in this area. This area is also served by frequent bus service. Another interesting note, Spanish Banks Beach, which starts at the north end of Pacific Spirit Park, is about 2km of sandy beach, making it the longest of the 8 or 9 beaches on the west side of Vancouver. When the tide is out at Spanish Banks, you can walk almost 1km out into the harbour on the sandy tidal flats. Your comment that Granville Island is basically a tourist destination is not quite on point. It is always very busy and certainly is teaming with tourists, but it is very much a spot for locals. Whether shopping for groceries in the market, attending a show in one of the theatres on the island, making use of the community centre, or gift shopping at the artisan shops or kids market, you can bet that half the people these on any given day will be locals. There are art classes and events that are primarily local in nature. It is a great destination for lunch after a walk along the south False Creek seawall... something I did a few days ago. Then you can walk or take a ferry back. Yes, there are many tourists and it seems to be on every tourists list, but it is definitely a spot locals frequent regularly. Capilano Suspension Bridge, on the other hand, is almost exclusively a tourist destination. Finally, if you are looking for farmers markets, aside form the one mentioned in the video (and Granville Island Market), many neighbourhoods have their own weekly farmers markets. There are street signs in each neighbourhood with day of week and times. I don't know who is coordinating them but there does seem to be some sort of coordination (hence the standard street signs), but I know there are markets in West Van, North Van, Kitalano, The West End, Downtown, False Creek, Trout Lake and probably others. Most function into October.

[@jadepaulsen8456]

I totally agree. I often shop at Granville Island. It makes me a little sad when I hear tourists complaining it's a tourist trap. Do your research. Thank you for you input. I think it was spot on.

[@LiveInnerCity]

Thanks for the tips! love the foods in Vancouver!

[@camdendavid]

Thanks for taking the time to watch!

[@yourtravelfriendanna]

Commercial Drive is a mini downtown in itself. Mount Pleasant is a stunning neighborhood too

[@camdendavid]

Absolutely!

[@adjmm]

10 out of 10! You’ve hit it out of the ballpark on this one. 👏👏👏

[@camdendavid]

Much appreciated my friend

[@cliffnoonan440]

Great help, thanks Camden!

[@smallstudiodesign]

I recommend the Cypress Mountain Viewpoint for a free lookout. And for a free suspension bridge, I recommend Lynn Canyon Park for that. Especially if you’re on a budget - there are many options tagging are very similar but free. That’s why I live Vancouver, there are always similar versions of an attraction for FREE.

[@christinecamley]

Love my city! People would be lucky to live in this beauty!

[@yourtravelfriendanna]

Jericho or Spanish Banks are best beaches for swimming or even more local hanging out

[@MarkAtkinson1968]

A pretty cheap, scenic and easy thing to do is to take the Sea Bus from Downtown to North Vancouver. For Vancouverites, the Sea Bus is just another extension of the public transportation system and it's used to commute back and forth between North Vancouver and Downtown. But, it's a quick ride to North Vancouver and actually pretty scenic on a nice day.

[@camdendavid]

Thanks for sharing! I'll add it to my list for the next visit

[@kenneth7027]

So you did find Vancouver's variety of eateries! In Stanley Park you missed two less busy beaches. Second Beach and Third Beach. In Kitsilano you missed Locarno Beach and further on, below UBC, is Wreck Beach. For the more daring!

[@elizadozell3680]

thanks man, great video. i moving from Western Australia to Kelowna and needed some tips for Vancouver. Kia Ora from a Kiwi Girl :)

[@camdendavid]

Thanks for taking the time to watch! Hope the move goes well :)

[@yourtravelfriendanna]

Locals go to Granville too for unique items or just for Lee’s Donuts. Tons of small theatres too!

[@camdendavid]

Great to know :)

[@srewutube]

lived my 50 years in Vancouver, and honestly not a bad bunch of suggestions. I would nitpick a lot of it, but for someone visiting for the first time... not bad at all. I would not suggest Granville Island to anyone and would probably have a section on microbrew pubs. but otherwise solid

[@allenleong8220]

These are good recommendations, but a hard pass on the Capilano Suspension bridge which I think is a boring, expensive tourist trap. I would also suggest the Anthropology Museum out at UBC. Chinatown and maybe the Richmond Night Market.

[@camdendavid]

Thanks for this!

[@yourtravelfriendanna]

Can just do the Grouse Grind, “Nature’s stairclimber” 😅 that’s the cheapest way to get to the top

[@camdendavid]

I'm going to challenge myself next time haha

[@rashmis9123]

How do you think vancouver will be in Dec? christmas vibes?

[@tedbreckner]

Cold and wet

[@randallgvideos]

All the construction cranes are decorated with lights!

[@undisgraziato]

Well we are tourists after all 😂

[@ksc743]

I don't want to be a debbie downer but I hope those sea planes and ferries are electric. So many of them! But otherwise I must agree Vancouver really does look stunning. Just love the sea walks and forests.

[@StashaA.]

Agreed. BC Ferries are powered by liquefied natural gas. Harbour Air is the world's first commercial airline flying a prototype electric aircraft. They had the first flight this summer. Their plan is to electrify the entire fleet.

[@ksc743]

@@StashaA. thanks for the info. Great to hear.

[@randallgvideos]

@@StashaA. That is just about the only commercial use case for an electric aircraft. They are small and the routes are no more that 30 minutes.