Hotels in Vancouver

[PittsburghNative]

Martincath...you always give this forum the best information! It’s much appreciated!

 

This will be my 4th AirBnb, and the owner has 30 5-star reviews, so I’m ok taking a risk 🙂

[martincath]

No worries. You're going in eyes open which is the important thing - if it does disappear on you, I reserve the right to say 'neener-neener' and stick my tongue out😜... but then I'll suggest some alternatives!

[lynne2fl]

Vancover will be the end of our trip.  We are going to do a city tour that ends at the airport.  We plan to have the hotel pick us up to go to hotel. July 1st is Cananda day and want to enjoy their celebration. We booked the airport LaQuinta….285 , near to the skytrain and it includes a hot breakfast before going to the airport,

[martincath]

^be aware Lynne that your city tour will be compromised slightly by the celebrations - the street right in front of Canada Place is blocked off (so you can get in and out of the pier, but only from one direction) and if there is a parade there could be some quite extensive road closures for several hours, probably mid-late morning through early afternoon (in years past the parade began at noon, with staging several hours earlier and roads only reopening in phases after about 2pm, but we lost the main sponsor last year so this year's parade is also a bit of an unknown - could be smaller, bigger, or nonexistent!)

 

Worst case you can expect to miss a couple of the normal stops, e.g. Harbour Centre might be missed as that would mean your bus hanging around right in the core where all the hassle is, and perhaps drive up some different streets than normal to get to Stanley Park, Chinatown etc. If it's a 'live' tour with a guide you won't really notice unless they say something - they'll amend commentary as required - and I think all the 'toru and airport drop' are live, it's just some of the HOHO vehicles which used to run canned commentary triggered by GPS proximity (so again you won't hear a spiel about a thing you don't visit, but you might have periods of silence if the bus is off-route with no waypoints to trigger commentary).

 

Fireworks happen after dark (usually about 10pm) and music goes on all day right at the pier, so you will have time to be dropped off at YVR, check-in, then come back downtown again - but do note that SkyTrain is ferociously busy as many attendees are 'bridge & tunnel' suburban types and few of them will drive downtown between the expensive parking and huge crowds. It's not as big as the late July/Aug Celebration of Light (which can exceed half a million people nightly) or the big 150th birthday extra huge fireworks, but I believe the typical numbers of around 150,000 are focused on a smaller space - the pier - so it's just as packed as the bigger events which have a wider viewing zone. If you want a good spot you'll have to come downtown early and stake one out - the best compromise would probably be to book a 'fireworks dinner' at one of the restos with a view or one of the dinner-cruise vessels to minimise time sitting somewhere just to hold a space.

[bUU]

On 1/28/2019 at 12:47 PM, PittsburghNative said:

Many people frown on AirBnB, but I secured an entire condo in downtown Vancouver and walking distance to Stanley Park for $90/night. This price is for May, so the summer will be much more expensive.

AirBnB is only problematic when something goes wrong. 

 

😉

[PittsburghNative]

11 hours ago, bUU said:

AirBnB is only problematic when something goes wrong. 

 

😉

 

Oh I’ve had a bad experience with AirBnB and had to leave and stay in a hotel. I have a good feeling the place I’m staying at will be great 😊 If not, I’ll have to let martincath know so he can tell me “I told you so!” Lol