OT: Huge trip planned to Vancouver - Need Advice!

[Jimson Hogarth*]

Fright Nights might be a good call.

Granville Island is terrible, I don't bring anyone there.

Cloud 9 and Horizons were popular 30 years ago and now are more dive than anything else.

 

[VanTampaFan]

1 - Where should I go with her? (Stanley Park, Aquarium is what I got so far)

Grouse Mountain if its a nice day. Lots to do and see up there. Good spot for dinner overlooking the city too that she'll die for.

2 - Which restaurants should I go too?

-Noturrno in gastown i just went to and rave about. 2 man show really small and food is amazing. Bartender/Server's name is "H" (said like the letter) and he is totally legit. Small intimate setting.

-Bricks (go here and sit in the enclosed courtyard, she'll die with how awesome it is)
-Chambar
-Nuba
-East is East
-Vij's
-Blue Water Cafe


3 - Which Restaurants should I stay AWAY from?

-most bad ones go out of business. But any Joeys or Cactus club that isnt is a prime location with a good view. The one at english bay or convention centre are the exceptions

4 - Which Casino is the best around the Surrey - Vancouver Area?

-River Rock hands down. Edgewater sucks don't bother. Starlight has that sick sports lounge but too far out of the way.

5 - Any really romantic locations I should Visit?

-See above for Grouse Mountain idea and Bricks restaurant
-If you get sun the canopy walk either at UBC botanical or Cap Suspension bridge
-Cloud 9 revolving restaurant

6 - Overall, what are some things I should consider with her coming, trying 2 make sure I ain't missing anything.

-One REALLY good idea would be to take her to Raw Canvas for drinks and painting. Its like where you buy a canvas and they provide paint and its a fun activity. She can take her project home with her.
-A Harbour Cruise
-Try and find fun stuff not just romantic stuff (gokarting at TBC richmond, parasailing off grouse mountain, whistler bungee, kayaking in false creek, etc

Hopefully the whether cooperates for you brother. What do you do for work that grinds you so hard? Hopefully it pays you a lot cause tons of what I listed will make you go broke fast

Hey guys!,

Here is a very different post from me that I usually do, because I need some help here.

I work a ton so I don't have a ton of time going downtown to Vancouver, and My girlfriend is flying from Texas to come see me on october 10th to the 13th, so I need some Advice on Locations to visit, Restaurants to visit, etc.

1 - Where should I go with her? (Stanley Park, Aquarium is what I got so far)
2 - Which restaurants should I go too?
3 - Which Restaurants should I stay AWAY from?
4 - Which Casino is the best around the Surrey - Vancouver Area?
5 - Any really romantic locations I should Visit?
6 - Overall, what are some things I should consider with her coming, trying 2 make sure I ain't missing anything.

(We will have about 500$ to spend for 2 days worth of fun)

 

[Wilch]

I'd take a walk down the harbour in DT Vancouver near Shaw Towers. It's pretty nice around that area.

Miku's not the best Japanese restaurant, but it has a nice atmosphere.

There's also Guu, Kintaro, Kingyo, Chambar, West (not in DT). Generally, you want to go with the fine dining or the izakaya style Japanese restaurants. Those are the best places to dine IMO.

 

[btdvox]

Sorry bud, you can't do much with 500 bucks in 2 days.

 

[T Low]

if you rent a car, go over to either Lynn Canyon suspension bridge - free, or Capilano suspension bridge if you want a tourist trap that tells u what to do.

Take the skyride to the top of grouse if you want to spend 5 - 6 hours up their, fantastic view but a tad pricey ($42 per person, where u used to be able to ride for $5) - ********.

Day 1:

1) Picnic at Deep Cove.

2) Lynn Canyon suspension bridge has long been a stop on my Vancouver tour. It's a nice little hike down along the water, too. Too bad they put the concession stand in.

3) Table 100 out on the deck at The Boathouse restaurant in Horse Shoe Bay is one of my all time favorite restaurant experiences. You're sitting right in with the sail boats and otters, island, lights, beautiful. Call ahead to make sure the heaters are out, wear some fleece. I love the cedar plank smoked salmon.



Day 2:

Splurge on a night at Crystal Lodge in Whistler. It's kinda between seasons, but still cool as heck.


I agree the DT harbour walk is cool. Lots of good ideas here.

 

[Stonz]

You get divorced Luc? Or is this just a side piece?

 

[Philx]

For a great seafood dinner I would choose Yew Restaurant at the Four Seasons. It is not cheap but better value than Blue Water in my opinion. http://www.yewseafood.com/ Easy public transit from Richmond. Tuc Craft Kitchen has interesting well prepared food and focuses on local ingredients http://tucrestaurant.com/ Lift on Coal Harbour is good for views http://liftbarandgrill.com/ Might be good for lunch or dinner. If you are going to Stanley Park, the Teahouse https://www.vancouverdine.com/teahouse is a possibility.

 

[IntangiBo]

Day 2:

Splurge on a night at Crystal Lodge in Whistler. It's kinda between seasons, but still cool as heck.

Or Nita Lake Lodge.

 

[CherryToke]

if she likes water, Deep Cove kayaking would be a great idea assuming the weather is decent.. I did it a few weeks ago and it was beautiful. it was on a clear day though.

 

[Canucks LB]

God damn you guys have so many damn ideas.

I need to think long and hard on which to choose. lol

 

[IntangiBo]

Tip that was mentioned: don't try and do too much. If it's raining, Alibi Room and just get ripped. Best beer list and best staff in the city.

 

[carolinacanuck]

my gf at the time used to visit from north carolina.

places i took her:

aquabus on false creek
granville island for fresh food
people watched at the art gallery
walked the west vancouver seawall on the north shore
rode the ferry to victoria
capilano suspension bridge
cates park on the north shore
whistler village
canucks game (where she got hammered and cheered loud while watching her first hockey game...haha. sealed the deal for me)

i used to live in north van so lots of my activities were over there.

2 kids and many years later we're still going strong.

thanks, vancity!

 

[BC Ben]

I'm from Vancouver (during the formative years of 19-25, and then on-again-off-again for a few more years), but now love in northern BC. This is the first year in a long time that I won't be jumping down every few months as I am house rich, money poor... gave up my Nucks season tickets

Anyways, I am down in a couple of weeks for my wife's 30th and have a few things planned, so seeing this thread certainly helps make some choices. One thing I will say howeve is the Granville Island is a fantastic place... while it may not be for everyone (someone in this threa said they avoid if), it has a little bit of everything. The Aquabus ride from DT is a treat and having a lunch from the many food stands in the market is one of my favourite things to do. If she wants little presents for friends/family back home, there is no better place to find the local artisans.

I second someone saying Joe Fortes as a place for seafood... It is conveniently located just off Robson and is (more or less) reasonably priced.

I'd also check out Groupon for some deals on restaurants. It's not always stocked full of good deals, but you may jus get lucky (Stanley Park Fish House is sometimes on there)

 

[JoeCool16]

Tip that was mentioned: don't try and do too much. If it's raining, Alibi Room and just get ripped. Best beer list and best staff in the city.

Yeah, don't do too much is probably the best advice yet. It's Vancouver! We're supposed to be chill and laid back, not trying to cram a bunch of things into every moment

Also, if you go to Gastown (which you should, there are lots of good dining/drinks/cafe options there) remember to give her a heads up about the homeless problem. Won't seem a big deal to you, but when out of towners see it for the first time, a lot are pretty shocked/scared. Might be a good time for you to just pull her close and romantically "protect her", but it'd probably just be nicer if you let her know beforehand.

I see a lot of people mentioning Robson Ramen. Remember that the good places have huge lineups, so plan accordingly. And like someone said before, Nicli's is great. Next Door is a cool place to wait on your reso if they're full, and you can grab a nice drink there first.

For seafood I'll throw in that lots of places have good happy hour specials, like Rodney's in Yaletown. If you both like mussels or oysters, that's a pretty good place!

If you want classy drinks, Reflections is a great place, weather permitting.

 

[Peter10]

Some good advices in here. I will need them too as I am finally nearing my trip to Van. I had started a topic (which had some real good stuff in) a couple of years ago when i first got into my serious planning for a Vacation in Canada. But now that I got Tickets for 5 games in March, i guess there is no chance it doesnt happen this season.

Anyhow, Jimson mentioned a fishing trip, do you need a fishing licence in Canada? Here in Germany you need one but i have seen other countries (like Sweden) where you can fish without any trouble.

Another questions. What about the whale watching? I have seen split opinions on it but for me its would be really interesting to see those big creatures. The biggest animal in the water you can see here is a catfish of about 2 metres. So I would really love to see whats it like to see the kings of the see.

Oh and sorry for hijacking this topic.

 

[Win One Before I Die]

If you like sight seeing I suggest wreck beach. You'll see some ****. Things you cannot un see.

 

[Diamonddog01]

Not exactly seafood, but Tacofino should be high on your lunch list.

Alibi Room for a beer.

Kishimoto on the Drive for sushi. Check the hours.

Mezcaleria on the Drive.

Brassneck on Main.

Don't get stuck downtown other than maybe a food truck. Lots to do there, but not exactly a taste of Vancouver.

Are you bearded and ride a fixed gear bicycle by any chance?

 

[BluesyShoes]

if you end up around chinatown, the keefer is an amazing cocktail bar, and oyster express is the best oyster bar in the city, IMO. the latter doesn't have too much to offer other than oysters, but they have a great selection, are super down to earth, and they have $1.50 oysters between 4-6pm or something like that. The Union is also pretty good in terms of mixing asian with modern cocktail hour, their food is south-east asian and actually pretty fantastic.

 

[Uhmkay]

I completely forgot about commercial street.

Commercial Drive is a dump that hipsters think is cool. There are so many better things to do than walk up and down that street.

Since you've only got $500, I'd stick to Downtown, False Creek, Kits and English bay and Yaletown. If you have a car, drive up Cypress instead of paying to go up Grouse. Go to the Lynn Valley suspension bridge for free, instead of paying for the Cap suspension bridge. It's 'free' and you can spend more elsewhere to make the trip better.

Some of the restaurant suggestions are great, but if you guys enjoy good beer, try CRAFT Beer Market and go for a walk around the old Olympic Athletes village. It's not a fancy restaurant, but a good place to sit down with people and have a few drinks.

If its a nice night out and you want to have a sunset dinner, you could try Boathouse, Milestones or Cactus club in English bay. There is also another Boathouse now that is right on Kits Beach with a fantastic sunset view.

If you're looking for something a little more fancy, you could take her to several places in Yaletown or Downtown Vancouver. Seasons in the Park restaurant is also another good option with a fantastic view of downtown. And just for another suggestion for a place I've never eaten at, try The Salmon House in West Vancouver (If you drive). I've been there to fix a few things and the views of Downtown and Stanley park/Ocean are amazing.

Kits has a lot of neat little stores, pubs and restaurants. Go for a walk along West 4th from Burrard up to about Vine, then head down Vine to Kits beach and stop for a drink at the Boathouse before heading back.

 

[Jimson Hogarth*]

Some good advices in here. I will need them too as I am finally nearing my trip to Van. I had started a topic (which had some real good stuff in) a couple of years ago when i first got into my serious planning for a Vacation in Canada. But now that I got Tickets for 5 games in March, i guess there is no chance it doesnt happen this season.

Anyhow, Jimson mentioned a fishing trip, do you need a fishing licence in Canada? Here in Germany you need one but i have seen other countries (like Sweden) where you can fish without any trouble.

Another questions. What about the whale watching? I have seen split opinions on it but for me its would be really interesting to see those big creatures. The biggest animal in the water you can see here is a catfish of about 2 metres. So I would really love to see whats it like to see the kings of the see.

Oh and sorry for hijacking this topic.

Most fishing charters include license purchase in their fee. They set it all up for you.

Whale watching is out of Steveston, which is part of Richmond. Its a full day activity however as you are pretty much travelling to the southern gulf islands

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Not much to add to the good suggestions here...at only $500 and more importantly only two days you're going to be up against it to even find TIME to do a fraction of the things suggested...getting to and from these places takes time, and something like the Aquarium can easily sink 5-6 hours if you've never been before and want to see everything.

One thing I would recommend is to plan an indoors backup for outdoors activities, as the weather in Vancouver is notoriously fickle outside of July/August, and a lot of these places...while beautiful on a sunny day, aren't much on a rainy one.

On the subject of parks...I'd skip Grouse. There's a restaurant up there but it's expensive and the trail is overcrowded. Lynn Canyon is nicer and less populated, and Lighthouse Park is nicer yet and the least populated of the three.

Someone mentioned UBC...they actually have a lovely botanical garden out there, as well as a Japanese memorial garden, along with the Museums...both Anthropology and Biodiversity. That's an absolutely massive undertaking though, and can easily eat and entire day (and a LOT of energy), so only do that if you're young and fit and the weather is good.

If you were doing this in summer I'd have more recommendations. The girlfriend and I do a 2-3 week 'staycation' every year so we spend a lot of time poking around the local sights, but it's always in July-August.

Commercial Drive is a dump that hipsters think is cool. There are so many better things to do than walk up and down that street.

I actually agree with this, and I generally like the atmosphere there. Commercial's fine if you're looking for a place to eat, but just window shopping is pretty boring unless you're absolutely determined to buy something made of hemp.

 

[Jimson Hogarth*]

I actually agree with this, and I generally like the atmosphere there. Commercial's fine if you're looking for a place to eat, but just window shopping is pretty boring unless you're absolutely determined to buy something made of hemp.

If you've got an hour where you want some down time there aren't many better places than a coffee shop on Main or Commercial.

 

[raad_luongo]

Lol there's nothing to do here. That's why we are all obsessed with the canucks sadly.

 

[Canucks LB]

Hey guys, We decided to go to a Thai Restaurant and then a Chinese Restaurant the next day.

Anybody know a good Thai Place?

 

[Uhmkay]

If you've got an hour where you want some down time there aren't many better places than a coffee shop on Main or Commercial.

Actually no... there are. 'The Drive' is extremely overrated.