Hop On Hop Off Bus - worth the money?

[Mommyof3sweetboys]

Hello. My husband and I, our 2 teenage boys and my parents (in their 70's with good mobility) are arriving in Vancouver and staying the night near the airport. We are planning to pay to leave our luggage at the pier while we sight-see and take the Sky Train to the hotel that afternoon. I am interested in seeing some of Stanley Park and possibly Granville Island public market. Since we only have a few hours downtown and my parents are able to walk well, but not for an entire day, I'm wondering if the Hop On, Hop Off bus is our best option. Has anyone done the bus and is it worth over $200? I wouldn't pay $200 just to go to Granville Island so will we see enough other interesting sites to justify it? Or should we just walk to Stanley Park and save the Granville Market for another trip when we have more time? Thanks!

[martincath]

The HOHO (either one), compared to traditional bus tours, is great value - rack rate adult tickets are <CAD$50 with some discounts available (not sure how old your kids are, they may need to pay adult rates). You can ride it all day, ~8-6, without paying extra and there are far more stops than the ~4 hour 'get on and off the coach a few times' tours. Either way, yes, you'll see a ton of interesting stuff - there's a reason that Vancouver is consistently ranked in the top handful of cities in the world to live or visit, we're awesome and we have a metric buttload of stuff to see and do!

 

The downside to HOHOs is whenever you get off, will there be six seats available on the next bus? Both companies in theory offer some kind of 'floater' service, where if there are folks left waiting at a stop the driver radios HQ and another vehicle is supposed to arrive more quickly than the official scheduled gap. Even if you do have to wait around occasionally though, being able to get off when you want to, spend as much time as YOU want inside the relevant attraction instead of having to fit into the scheduled bus tour that may allot too much or too little time for your tastes, makes HOHOs much preferable to traditional tours for me.

 

A private tour is really the only other way to have a guide supply info while you are escorted round the park - and that's going to run a lot more than $200! With 6 people, you can't even just jump in a cab and ask for a tour as you won't all fit - you'd need to find two cabbies and then it's blind luck if they have a clue about anything historical or interesting. Paying for one new edition of Rough Guide or Lonely Planet though will give you more accurate info than most bus tour guides provide, and split between 6 people works out to about a Starbucks Latte apiece so is outstanding value (and provides you with history and current stuff on the entire city, not just what you see on the tour, as well as being a souvenir).

 

Assuming you don't go with any form of guided tour and instead DIY - bike rentals mean that you burn fewer calories and travel faster, but can still reach anywhere in the park that you can on foot so they definitely beat walking. If someone can't ride a bike there are adult-size tricycles available; if energy levels are an issue you can rent an electric bike or a tandem (pair up an adult or teen with a senior). Walking - do ensure that you can all handle the distances involved! Stanley park is a thousand acres; just getting to the nearest entrance from the pier is well over a mile (and if you use the Seawall for nice views rather than the straighter-but-boring streets closer to 2 miles), and then a single loop around the outside without touching any interior trails is another 5 miles. Prospect Point involves a fairly steep uphill walk or ride, Beaver Lake ditto, and then there's the Rose Garden and Pavilion and little train and Aquarium... you could easily cover 20 miles and still not have seen more than a fraction of all the trails!

 

A rental car is decent value for six as parking costs the same for any size of car - and you can move around in Stanley from lot to lot without paying again, just buy the all-day ticket (linked to your license plate). In the city proper parking can be a hassle and pricey - Granville Island is mostly pretty pricey parking, but again you're dividing that by 6 of you so may still be tolerable.

 

Granville Island has lots of shopping, quite a lot of outdoor art, but is also extremely busy in cruise season - mostly in the late mornings through lunchtime, as that's when both pre- and post-cruise tours visit, plus it's a great place to have lunch with a ton of premade options from various food vendors as well as the possibility of buying cheese, meat, veggies etc. and making your own picnic lunch from the market stalls. Head here by mid-afternoon though and it'll be much more easily navigated. if you're biking or walking, you can follow the Seawall all the way around from the park, down and around both sides of False Creek to reach GI - it's not actually an island despite the name - but you can also cut out about 4 miles of riding or walking by taking a ferry across (Aquabus has ferries which you can roll bikes on and off if you're cycling) for about $3pp.

 

Acquiring that guidebook now in the planning stages, or even just boning up on TripAdvisor, may suggest that there are better options for places to visit - just because Stanley and GI are the two most-popular spots for Joe Q Public doesn't mean they're the best for YOU. And while you're a family, that doesn't mean you all like the same stuff - so get the kids and your parents in on the planning too! If you all spend just half an hour reading over the top 10 things on TripAdvisor then writing down your own personal top three you may find that there's quite a difference in what you all want to see... we're civilized, safe, and English-speaking so don't be afraid to consider splitting up for the day and meeting back at the pier to grab bags. The free city-run WiFi network (look for broadcast ID #VanWiFi) means no need for expensive roaming phone and data charges - everyone can keep in touch for free on any WiFi-enabled device (and you can also use map software easily when riding or walking around).

 

[JoRoy218]

We spent an overnight in Vancouver following our AK cruise in 2017. We did the HoHo bus and thoroughly enjoyed the quality of the stops as well as the narrative. In fact, we’re in the midst of plans again for this city following a CA coastal cruise in April. We think Vancouver is a cool city and looking forward to seeing more! 

Edited January 9, 2020 by JoRoy218