Suggestions out of Vancouver

Hi everyone. We (2 adults and 2 teenagers) are heading to Vancouver next month and will be in Vancouver for a week and then 4 days to spare at the end of the trip and want to head out of Vancouver.

What do you suggest we do and where can we go out of Vancouver? We are fine with driving or flying but given it is only 4 days - do not want to wander off too far away. We are from New Zealand and scenery is not on the top of the list but are more interested in cultural, animals and other activities.

Thanks

We are from New Zealand and scenery is not on the top of the list

Nice smug attitude there. "Oh, it's so great in New Zealand, why bother seeing what the scenery looks like in other parts of the world?" Well, regardless, if scenery isn't one of the motivations for your trip then that's fine.

Normally, with that amount of time, I'd suggest going to Tofino on Vancouver Island but the reason would be for the scenery and, perhaps, it's too similar to New Zealand. You could go to Victoria or Seattle. Otherwise, everything outside of Vancouver is mostly "scenery" and outdoors activities.

Sorry if I sounded smug. Sometimes, at least to me, you get an overload of one aspect of a country which is what I am trying to avoid. New Zealand has a lot to offer but most people come here to look at postcard perfect scenery and miss out on other stuff. There I wanted to do the other stuff and happy to miss out on scenery, if you know what I mean.

Thanks though.

I've heard New Zealand scenery has a lot in common with BC, so I understand your perspective; when I travel I want to see things I don't have at home!

Victoria is a good trip for a few days. Take one day for the Royal BC Museum, the legislature, and walking around downtown; don't miss Munroe's Books, a popular independent-owned local bookstore near Government St x Fort St. Virtually everything on Government St between the Empress Hotel and Fort St is a tourist trap, so ignore the shops there. Pagliacci's is a great Italian place with creatively named dishes and lots of atmosphere; I recommend it for lunch or dinner, but you'd have to eat outside of the main lunch and dinner hours because it's extremely popular.

Even if scenery isn't a priority, one of the best things to do is walk from downtown to Fisherman's Wharf, then to Ogden Point, along Dallas Road, and back to downtown through Beacon Hill Park. Fisherman's Wharf, to the west of downtown, has neat houseboats and a good fish & chips place called Barb's; There used to always be seals hanging around Fisherman's Wharf in the water, waiting for people to feed them fish, but I haven't seen any the last few times I've been there. The section of Dallas Rd from Ogden Point to Beacon Hill Park is lovely on a clear day, with a view across the sea to the mountains, and Beacon Hill Park has flower gardens.

On a second day in the Victoria area you could check out Sidney(it has some very good art galleries and bookstores) and go to Butchart Gardens. Butchart's is expensive but the flowers are very good, and if you can catch a fireworks performance in the summer (weekends July and August generally) it's quite worthwhile.

If you're here July 1 (Canada Day) there will also be fireworks downtown that evening.

Similarly depending on whether money is an object, whale-watching (mainly for orcas; if you get lucky you could see humpbacks as well) out of Victoria is a good option; in addition to the whales you generally see sea lions, and seabirds like cormorants.

If you want to see animals, urban deer are to the point of becoming a problem here (they eat people's gardens); if you head up to the University of Victoria grounds in the evening, for example around Finnerty Gardens, you've got a decent chance of seeing some.

If your family enjoy cycling, there are some good trails in Victoria (the Lochside Trail out to Mattick's Farm, which has shops and ice cream, and the Galloping Goose out to Hatley Castle on the Royal Roads University campus are both good rides; each about 10km out, 10km back). But the best thing you can do in the way of cycling is the Vancouver Seawall, either just around Stanley Park if you want a short ride (~10km?), or all the way from Stanely Park to the University of British Columbia Campus if you want a longer one (~25km). The trails are mostly flat.

Dress for hot weather - we don't usually get so warm, but this summer and the last it's been up to 30ºC fairly often, which is a real change.

An additional option is to take a day to go to Saltspring Island (there's a short ferry from Victoria), which has a good farmer's market on Saturdays in the town of Ganges, and a lot of little shops, and nice park called Ruckle Provincial Park.

If it gets too hot for you and you just want a day off, head to Thetis Lake; it's where everyone goes to swim in the summer. It drops right off, so it's not good for little kids, but it's good for teens.

By the way, if you're on the ferry back to Vancouver at dinnertime (5-7pm) the Pacific Buffet is very good and worthwhile. Good main courses, basic salad bar, tons of desserts.

Or, as you said you're okay with flying, a completely different option would be to fly to Calgary for the Calgary Stampede (July 3-12), which is a huge event for Alberta and basically a giant rodeo. It's not my kind of thing so I've never been. If you pick this option, give yourselves a day to head to the Badlands and Royal Tyrell Museum for dinosaurs and the kind of scenery you probably don't get in New Zealand.

In Vancouver, the can't-miss stuff - aside from the aforementioned Seawall - is Stanley Park [Beaver Lake and Lost Lagoon are good walks inside the park, in addition to the seawall along the coast] and Vancouver Aquarium; shops along Water St in Gastown, expecially the Coastal People's Fine Art Gallery and Inuit Gallery of Vancouver; Granville Island, with lots of great stores - the Eagle Spirit Gallery has amazing First Nations art - and an excellent farmer's market; and the UBC Museum of Anthropology. In a lot of the First Nations art galleries you'll notice that they also sell Maori art; I'm curious as to whether shops in New Zealand do the same and sell BC First Nations art.

At this juncture, it's probably too late to find accommodation for the Stampede. You'd need to be thinking 2015.

You can also fly to Calgary and see the Rockies. Yes it's scenery, but it's not what you see in New Zealand, and it's a combination of mountains (many more and taller than New Zealand), glacier, waterfalls and alpine meadows. But hey, I spend a ton of time in the mountains and never get sick of it. And I want to come to New Zealand for the mountains/scenery :o)

There is history and great little mountain townsites. Or you can head south, as suggested to the 'dinosaur areas' or to Writing on Stone Provincial Park/Crowsnest Pass/Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump/Frank Slide where there's lot of history woven into the landscape.

Thank you so much for that info. There are tons of suggestions and the stampede sounds interesting. Never been to a "real" rodeo. We'll be in Vancouver from the 4th so will miss the Canada Day fireworks. The other thought I had was to do a loop to Whistler and then to Kamloops and then back to Vancouver. What is Whistler like in summer and is there much to see/do doing that loop?

Thanks again. I appreciate it.

Just saw this. Will see if accomodation is still available.
I did Google some scenery in the Rockies and it is certainly differen to ours.
We did think of flying up north to the Yukon area but the flying time was too long for a few days trip.
Thanks.

I don't think four days is enough to see the Rockies. If it takes you a day to get there and back from Vancouver (flying via Calgary), then you'll have two days for a look-see of Banff. I guess it could be worth it if it's the only time in your life that you'll have an opportunity to experience the Canadian Rockies.

Whistler isn't much; a resort town. I could imagine the teenagers liking it, though. The drive from Vancouver to Whistler and then to Kamloops is spectacular...but it's just scenery! You could add on the Okanagan Valley; perhaps that's something quite unique (though, perhaps, similar to parts of Australia?) It's a hot and dry desert-like region with a lot of vineyards, fruit orchards, and lakes for swimming.

Another option is to do a loop from Vancouver to the Sunshine Coast (via ferry) to eastern Vancouver Island (via ferry) to a northern Gulf Island like Hornby Island and then back to Vancouver (via ferry). A nice mix of forest, water, fishing village life, artsy, agriculture...

It doesn't take a full day to fly from Vancouver to Calgary, though; it takes a couple hours (plus an hour at the airport, and the hour lost from time difference) - probably a half-day each way. That leaves enough time to see the Stampede, drive up to Banff and Lake Louise, and do some short hikes (e.g., Johnston Canyon and something around Lake Louise).

Whistler isn't at its most impressive in the summer, in my opinion, though there is some hiking, a gondola, a rock-climbing wall that I loved when I was a teenager, and the drive is certainly scenic. And there are zip lines, which would probably be a hit with teenagers.

I think the Okanagan would be too distant, but if you went to Whistler and returned south along Hwy 12 from Lillooet to Hope, you'd go through the Fraser Canyon and past the rapids of Hell's Gate. And on that route, if you booked now, you should still have time to book a river-rafting trip along the canyon, which is tons of fun. I did a day-trip rafting as my high school grad trip, and I absolutely loved it.

We went with Kumsheen, located just ouside of Lytton; here's their website: https://kumsheen.com/white-water-rafting/.

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