Hotel recommendations in Vancouver

In August we end our cruise in Vancouver and will be staying on there for 3 nights. Our travel agent feels the best location stay is downtown. I’m looking for feedback on this or other recommended areas best to stay in for centrality to all activities. Also specific hotel recommendations would be welcomed. Thanks, Judy

Sylvia Hotel, Eastern Bay Beach is recommended by Canadian friends for value and location. But there are so many choices and Downtown covers a relatively large area.

We stayed at the Sandman Suites on Davie in Vancouver prior to our cruise in May '16. It was less expensive than hotels right near the cruise dock and definitely a nice place - I think we payed about $250 per night. We had a two room suite with kitchenette. For after a cruise a good feature might be the washer & dryer in the unit if you need to wash something to continue your trip. It's about a five minute cab ride from Canada Place and the very center of town. The neighborhood has almost every type of restaurant you could want. There's also a large grocery store and a drug store across the street. It's also a few blocks from Stanley Park. Our room was on a very high floor and had a balcony - we had a view to the west and it was pretty great.

For three nights you most definitely want to be downtown.

There are so many hotels to choose from at a wide range of price points.

Let me recommend that you start your search with Trip Advisor and then come back if you want to see if others have stayed there.

I would also make use of the Canada Alaska Coastal Board at:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=39

Judy I am not sure if this is within or not in your budget but we like to stay at the Pan Pacific Hotel. It is right adjacent to the port.

It is one of the hotels that will take your checked bags over to the pier on the morning of embarkation.

Keith

I have to disagree with one point raised above - Vancouver's tourist-relevant downtown is very compact. While there are a handful of hotels outside the downtown core, the overwhelming majority of them are in the extremely small chunk of the city between Stanley Park and Carrall Street (no hotels in the park, and while there are buildings with the word 'hotel' in their name east of Carrall they are without exception social housing, most of which are literal fleapits, and virtually none of them show up in any kind of hotel search engine as the rooms are occupied long-term, and the couple that do try and sell rooms to tourists online have plenty of accurate reviews about them and their immediate environs to scare off anyone sensible).

There are some neighbourhoods which count as 'downtown' to us locals outside this core area - I live just to the east myself - but it's patently obvious as soon as you pull up a Google map, search for Hotels, and look at the patterns that hotels pretty much disappear when you leave the very small downtown core. The only remotely misleadingly-named hotel I can think of is the Holiday Inn Vancouver Centre on Broadway - which sounds like it should be downtown, but is the wrong side of False Creek. It is near our centre of government (City Hall) and a major hospital so it's not a deliberately weaselly name IMO, but I've definitely come across more than a few posters on these very boards who obviously haven't checked maps before booking.

OP - that's the number one thing you should be doing. While that compact downtown core means booking literally any hotel 'downtown' will ensure that you are easy walking distance to tourist sites, if you are in one corner (weirdly enough both the Sylvia and Sandman mentioned above are both in the same nook in the West End of downtown: English Bay) then walking to the opposite end - say Chinatown - does involve more than a mile on foot each way. So, it;s really about which sites you see yourself wanting to visit in your three day stay as to the optimal location for you - but if you plan to take cab or transit rather than walking, literally any downtown hotel is going to have a solid location for you (restaurants, shops are scattered around all over downtown - there are a few streets that have more than others, like Denman and Robson, but you'll have multiple resto choices within 3 or 4 blocks from any downtown accommodation).

Actually living in Vancouver proper and walking distance to everything downtown I ever want to do, it shouldn't be surprising that my personal hotel stay experiences are virtually zero - but I still recommend one, from our visit years ago before moving, as the best value deal in the region: the YWCA Hotel. If you're not 'too fancy to stay at the Y' it's cheap, clean, safe, well-located, and offers useful facilities like huge shared kitchens and laundry rooms - and every hotel review site backs up the fact it continues to be very popular. Since rooms are fixed seasonal rates, there's never a gouge factor applied because next day is a three-ship cruise day and the PP, Fairmonts etc. can double or triple their off-season rates and still sell out - the only problem is getting a room at all (like I said, it's popular) as ~US$120 for a double en suite 'normal' hotel room is a ridiculously good deal for Vancouver in cruise season!

" Eastern Bay Beach" - that should be English Bay Beach as it is right by the Sylvia Hotel.

Cheers!

Dennis

YWCA and Blue Horizon are fav value hotels downtown.

@avegreta: You didn't specify a budget.... I like unlimited budgets.

If you share your tentative Vancouver hotel dates, we can make some suggestions with availability and seasonal opportunities.

Pan Pacific is at the pier but if cost is too high, have a look at the Metropolitan just up the street (across from the Four Seasons... another great choice).

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Pan Pacific is at the pier but if cost is too high, have a look at the Metropolitan just up the street (across from the Four Seasons... another great choice).

 

 

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I travel to Vancouver for work fairly often. I see clients downtown so prefer the downtown core. The last few times I’ve been I’ve stayed at Le Soleil. It’s also walking distance to many sights and attractions downtown, and not far from Canada Place.

If you’re looking for a kitchenettes, it doesn’t have that but it does give a separate living room area apart from the bedroom. Personally, I really like that you can relax and unwind after a busy day in a separate living space. I’ve found the price to be very reasonable, usually less than the chain hotels. And the staff are fabulous and extremely helpful!! It’s my go-to hotel now whenever I’m in Vancouver!

Heather

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I enjoyed Hotel Blu last summer. Nice room and good location at Robson and Cambie. I did a good amount of walking downtown and my sightseeing tours picked me up at the hotel.

Enjoy Vancouver!

Patti

I wouldn’t say our budget is unlimited (Wouldn’t that be nice!!!). The hotels our agent recommended seemed very pricey (400-500/nite range), so I am definitely looking below that price, maybe way below. Just not sure what to expect for hotel costs. This will be about the second week of August. 2 activities we most likely will do, are the Hop On Hop Off Bus and Bouchard Gardens. We will have 2.5 days.

I wouldn’t say our budget is unlimited (Wouldn’t that be nice!!!). The hotels our agent recommended seemed very pricey (400-500/nite range), so I am definitely looking below that price, maybe way below. Just not sure what to expect for hotel costs. This will be about the second week of August. 2 activities we most likely will do, are the Hop On Hop Off Bus and Bouchard Gardens. We will have 2.5 days.

Unless your budget does run to $400+ hotels, forget about visiting Butchart Gardens from Vancouver - even doing it on a 'cheap' package with bus and ferry both ways runs over $200pp... it's also at least a 12 hour day of travel (and your time at the gardens is only about 2 hours of that).

2nd week of August probably means no holiday weekend pricing (1st Monday, Aug 6th, is the holiday weekend) unless your definition of 2nd week is quite different from mine, but depending on your exact dates there will be some of the nights which are being marked-up by all downtown hotels due to fellow cruisers - there are multiple 2-ship days and at least one 3-shipper over that period, so lots of folks want a downtown hotel for the night before embarkation.

I've already mentioned your best value option - YWCA - which doesn't alter pricing regardless of what's going on in the city; other than that your best deals downtown will almost certainly be to bid 'sight unseen' using Priceline/Hotwire type sites, or to book non-refundable deals in one of the more modest hotels, or wait until the last minute and see what bargains can be had from the available rooms (but hotel occupancy runs close to full in Vancouver during peak summer cruise season, so it might be challenging finding 3 consecutive nights in more than a handful of hotels last-minute).

These days it does seem vanishingly rare to find an in-advance, refundable rate under $250 in cruise season - but if your agent is only recommending the $400+ hotels then frankly it's either because a) they don't actually know the Vancouver hotel scene well, so are sticking to very well-known 'nice' chain hotels; or b) they're getting a commission booking so obviously the pricier the room the bigger their cut; either way I'd be considering whether this is a good long-term agent relationship to maintain...

Are the prices your TA is quoting in US or Canadian Funds - the US dollar is worth about 1.25 to the Canadian dollar - so a $400 CDN quote is around $300.00 US.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Dennis

We stayed at the Blue Horizon on Robson and it was great. We plan to go back again. Very convenient, and shuttle buses to local attractions stop right at the hotel.

I wouldn’t say our budget is unlimited (Wouldn’t that be nice!!!). The hotels our agent recommended seemed very pricey (400-500/nite range), so I am definitely looking below that price, maybe way below. Just not sure what to expect for hotel costs. This will be about the second week of August.

• $155 YWCA w/ private bathroom (one room left!)
  
• $240 Blue Horizon » a fav for forum value travellers. Great neighborhood amenities. Hop On pickups including Capilano.
  
• $256 Century Plaza
  
• $260 Days Inn » check online feedback for potential issues. 3 blocks from cruise terminal
  
• $264 Rosedale » suites!
  
• $264 Metropolitan
  
• $268 Holiday Inn
  
• $286 Auberge » 3 blocks from cruise terminal
  
• $345 Hampton Inn » a fav for Hilton point collectors
  
• $345 Georgian Court
  
• $356 Sutton Place
  
• $361 Hotel BLU
  
• $368 Pinnacle Harbourfront » 5 blocks from cruise terminal
  
• $373 Grande Residence at Sutton
  
• $382 L'Hermitage
  
• $401 Westin Grand
  
• $480 Delta
  
• $484 Pan Pacific » you sleep above the cruise terminal
  
• $562 Fairmont Waterfront » cruise terminal across the street
  

I would try to lock in the YWCA's last room. Otherwise Blue Horizon gets my vote for 2.5 days.

We like being downtown so I agree with your agent.

We have enjoyed staying at the Pan Pacific Hotel which is located right adjacent to the cruise ship terminal and in walking distance of many sites.

Keith

Check out Viator's 5375P9 tour - Victoria & Butchart Gardens Day Trip. I did this last July. It shows about $160 for the price with 10% off your first order. I was picked up at my hotel about 8:30 a.m. and driven to the ferry. Ferry ride is about 90 minutes one way. I ate lunch and dinner on the ferry so my time in Victoria could be spent sightseeing.

We had about 2 hours at Butchart Gardens and it is wonderful!!! I could have spent an entire day there. I took about 300 pictures in 2 hours. We were then given a tour of Victoria and had time to walk around downtown at the waterfront. Then it was bus, ferry and bus back to Vancouver. I got back to my hotel about 10 p.m.

I purchased my Vancouver sightseeing through Viator and got 3 great tours.

Enjoy Vancouver and especially Butchart Gardens. It is two hours of amazing color and beauty!

Patti

I'm in Vancouver regularly for business and am actually at the Fairmont Waterfront now. If you want a little more affordable than the Fairmont/Hyatt/Westin offerings, check out the Listel, Metropolitan, Holiday Inn on Howe, Coast and Sutton Place.

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