I love visiting Canada!!! It is right next to USA but the change is pretty evident (in a good way!!!). I have a rule to visit one Canadian province every year. So this year it was Vancouver. I visited during summer (September) so weather was perfect.
I really like the feeling of Border crossing, so decided to fly till Seattle and drive to Vancouver. The border check-post was friendly and quick. We decided to stay in downtown area to be close to everything. One thing that was a surprise was, Vancouver hotels are EXPENSIVE. Even parking is not included and many hotels do not have Air Condition (although it doesn’t matter since its cold).
On Day 1, visited Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain. They are right next to each other. So its good to cover them together if on time crunch.
Capilano Suspension Bridge is a beautiful tree top bridge providing amazing scenic views. This park also has footbridges suspended between trees, ecotours and nature trails. There is a entry fee to visit this park. They also have good coffee and grill shop.
After spending a good 2-3 hours there, our next stop was Grouse Mountain. It was literally 5-10 mins drive from the park and finding parking was not super hard. The Skyride tram to go on top was interesting, since it was a standing one (they do have limited seating). It had some gorgeous view of the city.
Once you reach on top, there are many thing to do. We decided to do their newly opened activity called “Mountain Ropes Adventure”. It was an obstacle course which involved rope climbing, zip lining etc. It was truly challenging and gives a good adrenaline rush. We were given training on how to do it before the whole thing started.
We also went to see Grizzly Bear Habitat here. There were two Grizzly Bear, Grinder and Coola up there.
Apart from this, there are many other activities offered on top like paragliding, ziplining, Heli Tours etc.
On Day 2, visited Granville island and Stanley Park .
Granville island is a must see venue for lunch or dinner and the atmosphere is so cool. It has a huge public market with so many local food items. For seafood lovers this is the place. The harbour here is very beautiful.
Later in evening we visited Stanley Park. This park is surrounded by water. It has scenic views of water, mountains, sky, and majestic trees along Stanley Park’s famous Seawall. You can drive, bike or walk all over the park. There are parking lots near every point in the park. The lighthouse, the totem poles, Prospect Point, were all very picturesque. Very nice day with lots to see.
We also visited Coal Harbour. Had a nice stroll on the marina. It is super fun to watch seaplanes take off and land here. This area has lots of upscale eateries. If you love European style drinking chocolate you cannot miss Mink Chocolates here.
At night we checked out the famous GasTown steam clock. There are very few steam clocks left in the world. This is one of them.
While driving back from Vancouver to Seattle, visited Surrey. Surrey is home to the famous “Punjabi Market”. As soon as you enter this town you can smell Indian food in all directions. You can shop all Indian stuff here for quite reasonable price.
The return border checkpoint was not so much fun (for obvious reasons :P). Expect long lines.
All in all a great experience with perfect weather. I wish I could stay there for few more days!!!