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Horrordee
Soderator
Posts: 8867
Location: England
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 Posted: Wed, 3rd Mar 2010 11:50 Post subject: Anyone from / near Vancouver / BC / Western Canada? |
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I am due to be travelling BC / Rockies for my honeymoon this summer.
Our plans are currently:
Fly into Vancouver
Vancouver 3 nights
Victoria 1 night
Whistler 2 nights
Clearwater 1 night (stop over)
Jasper 3 nights
Banff 4 nights
Fly out of Calgary
I have some questions surrounding our visit. I originally didn't plan to go to Vancouver Island / Victoria at all. I've been told it's only good for flower gardens and whale watching. And apparently the drive north up the Island and then ferry across to mainland (and on to Whistler) is nice. The most important element of the above is whale watching, which we are 100% keen to do. I have been told if you whale watch from Victoria it is better, and won't take as long.
I've had a little look around at Whale Watching from Vancouver. There seem to be "day trips" - about 7 hours long, which boat out and about around "the straights" with a 85% success rate. Does that sound right? We wouldn't mind spending 7 hours on one of our Vancouver days, if there is no real point in visiting Victoria / Vancouver Island?
We could then take our night originally planned in Victoria and spend a 3rd night in Whistler.
What are the thoughts on this? Is there enough to do in Whistler to fill 3 nights / 3 full days?
If we do nearly a full day whale watching in Vancouver, that will leave us only 1.5 full days to do other things - is this long enough to properly do the city? We're both young (24) so won't be interested in museums / gardens really.
Would we be missing out on things if we skipped Victoria / Vancouver Island - including the drive north up the Island and the ferry crossing further north?
We have been told there is shit all in Clearwater, however it's the logical stop along the journey from Whistler to Jasper - if anyone has any other recommendations on better places to stop, then please do share!
Any comments / advice welcomed! Sorry for all the questions!
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nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member
Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Wed, 3rd Mar 2010 19:34 Post subject: |
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1.5 days isn't really enough time for Vancouver imo, especially in the summer when you might want to spend the full day at Kitsilano Beach. Easy to spend a good part of the day renting bikes and riding around Stanley Park as well. Not to mention Grouse Mountain which will eat a good part of a day as well...
http://www.grousemountain.com/Summer/
Oh, and if you're driving you really really should make sure to drive from Vancouver to Whistler so you can take the Sea-to-Sky highway... it's pretty friggin amazing.
And if you're staying in whistler/banff for a couple days you might be better of renting someones house instead of a hotel
http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-area/whistler
http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/canada/alberta/banff
asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"
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| Posted: Fri, 5th Mar 2010 08:16 Post subject: |
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I live in vancouver and have been all over this place. Ther eis a great place for whale watching outta Steveston ( suburb of van/richmond side) you should do. I did it on a Stay-cation vactation. I will get the name for you but basicall there is a huge pod off the tip of the Fraser river. This place garentees you see whales, if you don't they give you a pass to come back. Anyway, they use radios to locate the pods from contacts who are in out in the water for business reasons, like industry. I think I spent about $100 canadian for about 4 hrs. THey go up to 6 hrs if you don't see any. They follow them as well but don't get the way. Mostly Orca's they go for, but depending on the time of year you can see Humpback as well. You get a choice of 2 boats. one is a zodiac, it was a great fast wave. I loved it!!! If you go whale watching in Vic you run the risk of not seeing anything, Vancouver has the resident pod.
Victoria is probably good for a full day and 1 night. It is pretty small, you can walk around the city in a day. They have a wax mus., a really good good history mus, (forgot what it is called but it is excellent). You should go to that. The horse and carriage ride is great too because they detail the small city and history. I would say 2 days if you want to walk the city and vist attractions.
Whsitler is great but it is a 2 hr drive up there, like 4 if you take a bus. Whistler would take you 1-2 days to walk around but if you wanted to do tours maybe longer. There is a zip line beside the olympic loose track, also another one just before function junction (way before viillage and creekside) I think called "the edge" It runs close to callihagn creek where they did the cross country. There is a bungee zone there too. So many great free hikes. Check out Nairn Falls past Whistler. My place is in Creekside.
I would cancel out baniff/Calgary. Been there and not too much to see I thought, Altho the snow is better in Baniff. It has a weird layout, you pretty much need a car to get around and it is very spred out. I would take that time to plan your Van/Vic/Whistler trip.
If you want to see ocra's tho, use the Steveston one. I kayak on the island so I know it and the waters (13 yrs) Your best offer is the resident pod off the fraser
If you have questions let me know. I don't mind making a few local phonecalls for ya.
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