Worth Renting a car in Vancouver Prior to our crusie?

[MikeACY]

Our Alaska Cruise leaves on a Monday. We fly into Vancouver on Friday. We are thinking of renting a car from the airport for a few days. (We are staying at a Hotel close to the Piers and parking at the hotel is free)

We have heard that it is difficult to park around town, and if we do find a parking spot or a spot in a parking garage it may be expensive.

Is this true? Is it worth it? City congested?

Of course we will have to drop the car off back at the airport. If so we will need to take a cab to the piers. Does anyone know the cost per person?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you

Mike

[UPGrandma]

You might have better luck posting this question on the "Canada" forums and/or searching there for similar questions.

[Fog123]

You may want to try the West Coast Departures forum - they have a fair number of people that answer very quickly to questions about Vancouver. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=413

 

From what I read over there earlier, you can rent a car at the airport and drop it off downtown. It didn't sound like there was a cost, or maybe it was nominal.

 

Lots of little one way streets in the downtown area. Congestion can be an issue during rush hours, but that depends on your frame of reference.

 

Good luck.

[AmberCascades]

It depends on what you want to do. We did a hoho trolley when we were there. We hopped off whenever we wanted to look around further and then hopped back on when we were ready to continue. Downtown is very walkable. There is the lovely seawall you can walk along. You can get to most places (i.e. Stanley Park, the aquarium, Gastown district, etc.) by walking or the trolley. Unless you are planning on exploring outside of the city, I would suggest just getting a hotel downtown (which is where the pier is anyway) and walking or doing a hoho tour. It would be a lot less stressful for sure.

[KandCsailing]

Dh and I did two days there with his sister and her DH.

They booked us into a mystery hotel that my DH guessed right. It turned out to be in Richmond near the airport and 2 blocks from the Skytrain stop at the casino.

We took it to the downtown visitors center and picked up info and bought day passes for the buses, Skytrain and ferries.

The first day we all explored downtown, Granville Island and Stanley Park for the aquarium.

The second day they did a tour to Vancouver Island and we ferried over to North Vancouver took a bus and walked the free park at the Lynn Canyon Park Suspension Bridge, came back downtown and bused to English Bay beach and walked the boardwalk. We took a tiny ferry boat over to Granville Island; it was $3 and not included in our day pass.

We rented a car that night to drive into Surrey, BC to have dinner with a former co-worker of DH and then drove that car down to Seattle the next day for a night there before our cruise.

Edited April 7, 2014 by KandCsailing

[KandCsailing]

Of course we will have to drop the car off back at the airport. If so we will need to take a cab to the piers. Does anyone know the cost per person?

The sky train system also goes from the airport to the waterfront.

Looks like it is $9.75 for a day pass now. (Available for purchase at the airport 7 Eleven and Pharmasave in the Domestic Terminal, Arrivals level, 1)

http://www.translink.ca/

 

Airport link with taxi prices.

http://www.yvr.ca/en/getting-to-from-yvr/taxis.aspx

 

Here's the downtown tourism center also.

http://www.tourismvancouver.com/vancouver/travel-tips-tools/our-visitor-centre/

Edited April 7, 2014 by KandCsailing

[yvr49]

For convenience it would probably be easier to use public transportation or a cab. The Skytrain travels from right inside arrival area at YVR, to Waterfront Station which is near the cruise ship terminal.

 

You probably won't need a vehicle to see most of the popular sights and it is true that parking can be expensive and limited. The suggestion to use the HoHo trolley is a good one - you can visit Granville Island, Stanley Park, Robson Street on your first day and use public transportation for the SeaBus across the harbour to Lonsdale Quay and on to Grouse Mountain and Capilano Suspension Bridge on your second day.

[ikirumata]

The only reason why I would want to rent a car in Vancouver is if I wanted to visit areas outside the city, like some provincial parks or taking a ferry to Victoria. Vancouver is a very walk-able city and taxis are abundant (water taxis are cheap and fun too). From what I remember, there wasn't a lot of parking around town. I could see that being frustrating. Oh, and not to mention the traffic. Vancouver traffic can get pretty bad.

[CNDKangaroo]

I'm from Vancouver and would advise not to bother with a car, traffic can be terrible, driving downtown is a nightmare and parking is expensive! The sky train is great as is the sea bus. Stanley Park is not too far to walk or hop on a bus for a short trip. Gastown is right by the Pier. Note, Gastown is located near the Downtown Eastside which is NOT a good place to be, do not be fooled into walking from Gastown to Chinatown...take the sky train even if it seems it is a longer route! Granville Island is a lovely place to visit and is an easy bus ride.