Just got back from a trip to China but on the way out and back stayed in Vancouver for a couple of days and I'm smitten by the place. Just a great city with great scenery, culture, food, people and nightlife. I particularly enjoyed that you can ski and kayak in the same day. Vancouver almost seems like a combination of several other places that I like with elements of California, Hong Kong, Ireland and Australia. On top of that even though I stayed in the middle of city prices seemed pretty good and it helped a lot that the US Dollar is back to being stronger than the Canadian.
Vancouver is pretty awesome. I felt like it was one of the most peaceful cities I've ever been to. Hope to go back there some day. Arguably the best waterfront city in the world.
I heard a few other people say that Vancouver was expensive except I found it pretty affordable. I got a great deal on hotel and the food and drink was pretty affordable.
An Alaskan cruise I took ended in Vancouver on a Sunday. The historic district and China town were dead. Nothing was open. In China town, I saw a hobo shoot up some heroin with the police across the street near their street flea market. Someone was selling VHS tapes lol. After finding nothing to do, the gf and I went to Stanley Park, which was the only nice thing we thought about Vancouver. Let's just say we did not enjoy Vancouver. Maybe it's because we didn't do any research about the city prior to our trip, but we thought a city as big as Vancouver would have something we could check out on the fly.
I dunno if I just went at a bad time of year, but I was there for two weeks a couple years ago and only saw sunlight for one day.
EDITED...I totally read that wrong the first time. You are correct. Top 10 Most Expensive Cities in North America (spoiler: Vancouver is #1). Although, considering the extra sales taxes they have (12% generally, 15% on alcohol), it's hard to imagine it being cheaper for a tourist. http://www.propertyshark.com/Real-Estate-Reports/2014/05/20/north-america-most-expensive-cities/ Have you seen this site? http://www.crackshackormansion.com/
Been to Vancouver and have to agree, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. HOWEVER, I made a stop in Chinatown Vancouver for dinner at around 5:30pm one evening and it was absolutely dead. After dinner, we went for a walk and ended up in East Downtown. OMG! It was like a scene out of the Walking Dead! Literally hundreds of homeless and drug addicts walking around, yelling, at each other, and shooting up heroin in the alleyways. Other than that experience, all other parts of Vancouver are stunning. EDIT: Found the Wikipedia page on "Downtown Eastside". https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Eastside See the section titled "Problems"
I actually missed Chinatown but heard that part was pretty sketchy but checked out Gastown which was pretty nice. I stayed both on the outbound and return legs of my trips on Granville Street which is the heart of the bar district so had a pretty good time there. I guess if you're going with a family that might not be the place to be but even without partying there was a lot to see and do. I did some preliminary research before I went, which helped since I was quizzed at immigration about what I was doing in Canada. Even largely winging things I had no shortage of stuff to see and missed a lot of stuff that I would like to see next time I'm there.
That's a good point and I had heard that HK people and the resources boom had been driving up real estate prices. Not planning on moving to Vancouver anytime soon so for me that's not an issue. As far as costs as a tourist maybe I just got lucky but I found it fairly affordable even being on the party street of Vancouver with tons of hotels and bars. I found it much cheaper than SF, NYC, Perth, and Dublin.
My favorite city in North America. Trying to set up a situation where I can be in Miami and Houston during the fall and spring and there during the summer
Love Vancouver as I've mentioned quite a few times over the years on CF. So much so nearly bought a 2nd home there (by Commercial Drive). Instead of Chinatown you can opt for Richmond which is almost a Chinese suburb. Multilevel Asian malls and all that. Not convenient to get to as a tourist w/out a car though. And if it's the summer stop by the Summer Night Market while you're there. So many cool spots, neighborhoods, scenery, and things to do, I can't wait to go back every time I think about it. Missed the yearly visit in 2014, hope to make up for it this year.
Food, weed, summer weather, scenery, the women Rainy cold sucks but there's snow just minutes away.. i would put up with it for everything else. Anyone been to Granville island Public market? I'd buy everything there if money was never an issue.. perfect representation of a local sourced fresh food economy
