Hotels in Vancouver near airport but close to transportation to downtown.

[Pacificlander]

We will be docking in Vancouver at the end of our Alaska cruise in September 2020. We'd like to spend a day in Vancouver but the best flight for us leaves at 6am the next morning. Being near the airport is then very important. Does anyone have advice on a hotel where we can get into downtown Vancouver via public transportation easily?

[d9704011]

Just so I understand it, your plan is to disembark and make your way to the airport hotel (Fairmont Vancouver Airport is at YVR and close to public transit.... Canada Line),  leave your luggage there, go back into town to look around for the day then return to the airport hotel in the evening?

Edited November 4, 2019 by d9704011
Punctuation

[Pacificlander]

That is what I was thinking as a 6 am flight will require us to be at the airport at 4am since flying back to Florida is considered international. I'm up for any suggestions or ideas!

[d9704011]

Yes, that’s pretty early in the morning.  You could check your bag at the cruise terminal for the day, look around Vancouver for a few hours and make your way to the hotel later in the afternoon.  The Fairmont Vancouver Airport is kind of expensive but does offer the very obvious convenience of being AT the airport.  Suggest you check this out...

 

https://www.portvancouver.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/WCS-Bagdrop.pdf

[Pacificlander]

Well you have me thinking now. I think I may have to consider looking at flights again. (Glad I still have time to make a final decision.) We've been to Vancouver a couple of times. 2003 & 2016. We didn't see much in 2016 but in 2003 we spent the whole day site seeing and barely scratched the surface. Now I'm thinking maybe 2 or 3 days post cruise is more realistic. We are semi retired so we should take advantage of this opportunity! 

[d9704011]

That’s the spirit!!!

 

As you say, you’ve got plenty of time on the flight booking front but you may want to start thinking about a hotel scenario as prices tend to escalate pretty quickly in Vancouver.

[martincath]

Honestly, even if you didn't have the free time to book a flight days later you could stay downtown. Flights to the US are Precleared through immigration/customs before boarding but those guys don't open until 4:30am (and then usually spend 10-15mins having  a team meeting before they actually process anyone) so it's utterly pointless arriving before 4:30am. Personally we've done 6am flights to the US and taken the first SkyTrain, which arrives at YVR ~5:10am, and had no problem making our gate - but we do have NEXUS which means we always get into the short queues for security and preclearance (Global Entry also works). 

 

Since hotels near the airport only have one shuttle and traffic at ~4am is nonexistent, the ~30min drive from downtown hotels in a cab isn't usually much less time than using an airport hotel shuttle anyway - the Fairmont is the only hotel you can walk from and it's more expensive than probably 80% of downtown hotels, so you're either dropping serious coin or wasting a chunk of time on transport anyway...

 

[scottbee]

14 hours ago, Pacificlander said:

That is what I was thinking as a 6 am flight will require us to be at the airport at 4am since flying back to Florida is considered international. I'm up for any suggestions or ideas!

 

Of course it's international, Florida is in another country !  HOWEVER....

 

From YVR it's actually a special kind of international called "Transborder".  For (almost all) US bound flights, you actually clear US Immigration/Customs prior to boarding, and this also adds additional time.  For a 6a flight, you'll need to be the US Immigration lineup closer to 5a.  Normally we check in around 4:15a for 6a flights.  I believe (again for US reasons), that checkin CLOSES 1hr prior to departure, so 5a is the latest you can check in

 

[Pacificlander]

Thanks! I actually found another flight leaving at 8:30 am and so I'm thinking we can stay downtown and take a taxi to airport in morning. Being it's a Saturday should traffic be any problem if we get a cab around 6:30 am?

[martincath]

1 hour ago, Pacificlander said:

Thanks! I actually found another flight leaving at 8:30 am and so I'm thinking we can stay downtown and take a taxi to airport in morning. Being it's a Saturday should traffic be any problem if we get a cab around 6:30 am?

Traffic shouldn't be an issue (what little there is will be more inbound than out). That early you also ensure you beat all the cruisers arriving (weekends are usually multiple-ship-days).

[scottbee]

3 hours ago, Pacificlander said:

Thanks! I actually found another flight leaving at 8:30 am and so I'm thinking we can stay downtown and take a taxi to airport in morning. Being it's a Saturday should traffic be any problem if we get a cab around 6:30 am?

There's also the Skytrain (subway) Canada Line straight to the airport from downtown, takes 24 minutes and costs $4.25/ea.  Roll on, Roll off, elevators.  Faster than a taxi almost always.

[Pacificlander]

This is great to know! We are originally from California, the SF Bay area and took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) to the airport often. Much more hassle free than taxis & traffic!