Travel Vancouver and Seattle

buffalogal

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Jul 22, 2006
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Thinking about taking a trip to Vancouver for a couple days then taking Amtrak to Seattle for a few more. I was in Vancouver about 18 years ago and remember Grouse Mluntain and the suspension bridge ... never been to Seattle. What are the must dos? Best area to stay for the least car travel in each town? Great restaurants? (Price not much of an issue and I like all types of food)
 
Thinking about taking a trip to Vancouver for a couple days then taking Amtrak to Seattle for a few more. I was in Vancouver about 18 years ago and remember Grouse Mluntain and the suspension bridge ... never been to Seattle. What are the must dos? Best area to stay for the least car travel in each town? Great restaurants? (Price not much of an issue and I like all types of food)
What time of year are you planning to visit?
 
Relatively hassle-free day trips:
1. take the seabus from downtown over to the North Shore and visit the Quay for lunch
2. trip over to Park Royal in West Vancouver for some shopping
3. if the weather's still warm, toodle over to White Rock and visit the beach
4. classic: Stanley Park and walking the sea wall. Eat fish and chips on Third Beach (best sunsets!)
5. UBC - visit the Museum of Anthropology and walk the grounds at nearby Green College
6. shop - Robson St., Kitsilano, Cambie St.

If you don't want to drive, then most/all of the above can be done by public transit - seabus, bus and skytrain. In Vancouver, it is perfectly normal and easy to use public transit. As for eating, Vancouver is an eater's paradise. You really have to work hard to have a bad meal. Anything from real Belgian waffles to some of the best Asian and Asian-fusion meals you can get. If you want to be authentically west coast, though, you have to try cedar planked salmon. This leads me - somewhat grudgingly - to

7. Granville Island market and the water taxi

As a native, I shudder on this one. It's packed and the parking is seriously horrendous. However, the market does provide an opportunity to try foods you might not ordinarily get. Like salmon butter. Yummy. Salmon butter on fresh bread. I die.
 
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Relatively hassle-free day trips:
1. take the seabus from downtown over to the North Shore and visit the Quay for lunch
2. trip over to Park Royal in West Vancouver for some shopping
3. if the weather's still warm, toodle over to White Rock and visit the beach
4. classic: Stanley Park and walking the sea wall. Eat fish and chips on Third Beach (best sunsets!)
5. UBC - visit the Museum of Anthropology and walk the grounds at nearby Green College
6. shop - Robson St., Kitsilano, Cambie St.

If you don't want to drive, then most/all of the above can be done by public transit - seabus, bus and skytrain. In Vancouver, it is perfectly normal and easy to use public transit. As for eating, Vancouver is an eater's paradise. You really have to work hard to have a bad meal. Anything from real Belgian waffles to some of the best Asian and Asian-fusion meals you can get. If you want to be authentically west coast, though, you have to try cedar planked salmon. This leads me - somewhat grudgingly - to

7. Granville Island market and the water taxi

As a native, I shudder on this one. It's packed and the parking is seriously horrendous. However, the market does provide an opportunity to try foods you might not ordinarily get. Like salmon butter. Yummy. Salmon butter on fresh bread. I die.

Awesome, thanks for the advice!
 
I agree with all of what DrDior said..

Some of my favorite restaurants -
Santouka Ramen on Robson
L'abattoir in Gastown
The Flying Pig in Yaletown, Gastown or Olympic Village
Chambar
Hawksworth

As for Seattle, I've never taken the train before but if you're downtown, you have to check out Pike Place for sure. Bellevue also has great shopping. :smile:
Let me know if you have any questions!
 
I agree with all of what DrDior said..

Some of my favorite restaurants -
Santouka Ramen on Robson
L'abattoir in Gastown
The Flying Pig in Yaletown, Gastown or Olympic Village
Chambar
Hawksworth

As for Seattle, I've never taken the train before but if you're downtown, you have to check out Pike Place for sure. Bellevue also has great shopping. :smile:
Let me know if you have any questions!

Checked out all those menus and I am drooling. Lol - thanks for the recommendations and for making me crave ramen!
 
Inside joke for Vancouverites: I had a good laugh the other day. I have some colleagues coming up to Toronto from the States and I was trying to think of some quintessentially Canadian places to eat in Toronto. So I asked someone for Toronto recommendations. The overwhelming favourite? Cactus Club*.

*Vancouver chain restaurant.
 
We actually did this trip a few years ago, in September as well. We started in Seattle and took a one night cruise to Vancouver and then took the train down to Portland.

In Seattle, we stayed at the Sheraton downtown which is pretty centrally located. From there you can walk to the fish market and basically anywhere else. We walked over to the Chihuly Garden, which is definitely worth seeing. We also enjoyed dining at Purple Cafe and Wine Bar.

In Vancouver, we did take the bus to the swing bridge...I can't remember which one it was but it was the free one. We also rented bikes and drove through Stanley Park, which was amazing. We did ride the bikes to Granville Island, however I would definitely not do that again as I found the island kind of boring. We did rent a car one day and drove the Sea to Sky Highway and hiked The Chiefs. One of our favorite dining experiences was Hawksworth, where we fell in love with a cocktail called the Hotel Georgia.

If you take the train, buy the business class seats. We brought food on board, which I recommend as the food they have for purchase is kind of yucky.
 
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In Seattle --
The Westin is a nice hotel as is the Grand Hyatt. There is also Hotel Sorrento. I haven't stayed there but they are highly rated and supposed to be haunted. Once watched Ellie Kemper on Ellen tell her ghostly experience there. They also have afternoon tea.

--There is a restaurant called the pink door that is very popular, it's temp closed now but it'll reopen in April.
--The Georgian is this really beautiful restaurant/hotel...reservations can be hard to get so you'd want to book early. They have afternoon tea here too.
--I don't know if this is your cup of tea but Teatro Zinzanni is a fun experience, it's dinner theatre. I wouldn't say the food is great but the show is.
--5th Avenue Theatre is not talked about much but I love their productions, they have a new show every month.


Casual dining --
Raincity burger in seattle is great.
Our Food trucks are pretty awesome too, El Camion is amazing, serves real gorditas, not the taco bell kind.
In the Seattle Center there is food not served anywhere else. I really like this place called premier meat pies (traditional english pies). There is also the confection something...they make amazing little cheesecakes.
If you like Indian food the only really good place is in Snoqualmie called "Aahar"....There is one other one called Cedars that people seem to love.
There is a bar called the Unicorn bar in Capitol Hill. They have the most ridiculous desserts like deep fried snickers and fried peanut butter cookie dough. It's a real experience. Some people have had a bad time as it can get really crowded and sticky but if you go on a weekday, it's better but possibly boring...

Purple cafe is really good. If anyone is a vegan there is a place called Plum. It is amazing. They have something called Mac and Yease, which is vegan mac and cheese. My steak loving brother went crazy for it.

Hope this helps :heart:
 
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In Seattle --
The Westin is a nice hotel as is the Grand Hyatt. There is also Hotel Sorrento. I haven't stayed there but they are highly rated and supposed to be haunted. Once watched Ellie Kemper on Ellen tell her ghostly experience there. They also have afternoon tea.

--There is a restaurant called the pink door that is very popular, it's temp closed now but it'll reopen in April.
--The Georgian is this really beautiful restaurant/hotel...reservations can be hard to get so you'd want to book early. They have afternoon tea here too.
--I don't know if this is your cup of tea but Teatro Zinzanni is a fun experience, it's dinner theatre. I wouldn't say the food is great but the show is.
--5th Avenue Theatre is not talked about much but I love their productions, they have a new show every month.


Casual dining --
Raincity burger in seattle is great.
Our Food trucks are pretty awesome too, El Camion is amazing, serves real gorditas, not the taco bell kind.
In the Seattle Center there is food not served anywhere else. I really like this place called premier meat pies (traditional english pies). There is also the confection something...they make amazing little cheesecakes.
If you like Indian food the only really good place is in Snoqualmie called "Aahar"....There is one other one called Cedars that people seem to love.
There is a bar called the Unicorn bar in Capitol Hill. They have the most ridiculous desserts like deep fried snickers and fried peanut butter cookie dough. It's a real experience. Some people have had a bad time as it can get really crowded and sticky but if you go on a weekday, it's better but possibly boring...

Purple cafe is really good. If anyone is a vegan there is a place called Plum. It is amazing. They have something called Mac and Yease, which is vegan mac and cheese. My steak loving brother went crazy for it.

Hope this helps :heart:

I just have to figure out how to eat at 20 places in each city in a few days! I am up for the challenge! Lol
 
My mom and I are also planning on a trip to Vancouver in the spring. It'll be my first time in Canada! Best area to stay to be walking distance to many things? Also, I am very interested in Victoria. Do we need a night or two there? Any suggestions on where to stay there?