Travel to Vancouver Canada with kids
What can you do in a day in Vancouver? Quite a lot..as we found out on our recent travel to Vancouver Canada with kids for our cruise to Alaska.
Weather in Vancouver, British Columbia
Summers are short, pleasant and mostly cloudy in Vancouver while the winters are long, cold and rainy. A summer day in the 60s but can turn too warm or cold based on the cloud cover so a light jacket and long pants/jeans seems like a good way to go for the whole day. Dressing in layers allows quick change as needed.
Our day in Vancouver, Canada with the kids
We arrived to Vancouver with a day to spare for our Alaskan cruise to start. While there seemed to be good options for public transport, we figured that a rental car will increase our options for stay and the day so we rented a car from the airport and stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast in a residential area about 10 miles from downtown, Vancouver.
Some of the options for our day we considered were Stanley Park, Capilano Suspension Bridge, Grouse Mountain, Granville Island and the Canada Place. With the time we had, we ended up nixing Granville Island and got to see Canada Place when we arrived for the cruise anyways as that is the cruise terminal for the majority of the cruises.
Capilano Suspension bridge and the Grouse mountain are within 10 minutes of each other so we did those in the morning. We ended up visiting Stanley Park in the late afternoon after lunch and spent a few hours there before heading back.
Capilano Suspension Bridge, Vancouver Canada
Capilano Suspension Bridge is a simple suspension bridge over the Capilano river north of Vancouver, about 40 min drive out. Its a beautiful park with tall lush woods, steep river gorge and the sound of the river flowing underneath. It has a coffee shop, a grill, some great trails and other attractions to keep you happy for a few hours. The shaking of the bridge maybe a little too much for some, but we enjoyed it and kids loved it. It also has some totem poles as you enter the park and lots of interesting information about the rocks and the park in general.
The admission fee was a little steep but not knowing if we would ever go back from Florida, we were happy to pay it. It doesn’t have a lot of parking but there are plenty of paid parking spots nearby within a couple minutes walk from the entrance.
Grouse Mountain, Vancouver Canada
About 10 minutes drive north of Capilano Suspension bridge is the Grouse Mountain. Its an alpine ski area in the winters and has several attractions with lumberjack shows, bird of prey show and tell, scenic ski lift, a windmill, paragliding, trails with large wooden carvings of animals and birds and usually some kind of corporate or other event in summer. Last but the not the least are the spectacular views of Vancouver area and the mountains all around it.
The only way to the Grouse Mountain is the skyride, which is about 3 minutes ride from the base to the top of the mountain. You get wide scenic views if you can grab a spot by the side facing away from the mountain. The top of the mountain is beautiful and has a lot of activities going on. They have a daily schedule available so you can plan to catch the attractions you are interested in.
Here, we are about to head off on a trail with the bird of prey introduction in the background. We got lucky with a beautiful sunny day and a cool breeze in the last week of June. People were dressed in layers with a light jacket in case of a cloudy/rainy day. There is a lumberjack show at multiple times during the day and an enclosure with a couple of bears. Most of these are part of the ticket to the Grouse Mountain, activities like paragliding, helicopter tours, etc are available for extra payment.
Scenic chairlift at the Grouse Mountain, Vancouver Canada
There is a slow chairlift to the top of the mountain another 1000 ft higher. It takes about 30 minutes going up and back down. We had the opportunity to take that and it was a wonderful way to relax and enjoy the views all around us before heading back.
Stanley Park, Vancouver Canada
Stanley Park is over a thousand acre public park, just north of downtown Vancouver. It is almost surrounded by water on all sides and has beautiful views of the harbor and the pacific. The park itself, while mostly covered by trees, has a great walk by the sea wall where people walk, bike and run.
About 30 minutes walk from the first parking is the Totem Pole area where the entire collection of totem poles is placed. It is definitely worth a visit and the walks on the trails and by the sea wall are beautiful and serene and a far cry from the busy town just a couple of miles away.
With a rental car, though we saw quite a few places, the day did not seem too busy. Since we were jet-lagged, visiting from Florida, we called it a day by 6 PM. Vancouver is known for amazing food. If we had a little more time, would have loved to try out some of the restaurants in the area.