Safe Parking Garage - Vancouver

[rsera]

Looking for a safe garage to leave my car in Vancouver. Safety is #1 (not getting windows smashed... or towed).

I don't mind if it's a ways from the port and I have to take a train/bus there.

The Canada Place garage appears to be fully booked for my dates (I booked a last-minute cruise), so that likely isn't an option and I need alternatives.

There are some (very expensive) garages near the harbor that I'm considering but wouldn't mind something cheaper or personally recommended.

Do any of the park and rides allow overnight parking?

 

[discovertheworld]

I wouldn't recommend Park & Ride as break-ins do happen to vehicles left overnight.  A secured parking will be  the airport Park & Fly and you can take their shuttle to the Airport and then take the Canada Line straight to the Canada Place Cruise Terminal from there.  This is doable if you don't have many luggage to handle.

[discovertheworld]

This is one of them which I have used before but there are a couple more at the airport you can check with.

 

https://www.parknfly.ca/location/vancouver-airport-parking/?referralid=14911&coupon=980855&gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0tKiBhC6ARIsAAOXutlHGToAl4gVHBlfUiDQR8j4g-mYd_4uU8YTxolfWYVWI0mKY0adlYIaAqQrEALw_wcB

[rsera]

I guess I should add that I'm not comfortable with Valet either, so it looks like Park n Fly is out. But I did see some other airport parking options, which I was hoping were well populated and safer.

[Glaciers]

We parked at the value long term lot at the airport next to the Templeton station and took the train to Canada Place. $135US for 2 weeks. You’ll need to check their website & reviews for safety issues. We had no problems. https://www.yvr.ca/en/passengers/parking-yvr

[martincath]

If you want to park it yourself, then the Templeton station lot is the bees knees - and a big saving compared to the pier! Get right on SkyTrain (the good line, Canada, with room for luggage!) and head downtown - if the train is already packed there is a sneaky workaround that only wastes a few minutes, just get on a train going TO instead of from YVR. When it stops everyone will pile off, leaving you with literally every seat empty and no people in the way as you maneuver your luggage under the seats. Now you can sit all the way to Waterfront - the other terminus, so again everyone disembarks and you can get your bags out without falling over people. Best part - free to add on the sneaky extra leg, you can SkyTrain between the three stops on Sea Island without paying a penny so that folks are enticed to visit the big mall during layovers!

 

Staying precruise in a hotel at an earlier stop? Pay attention to announcements, when the train leaves the station before the one you need politely ask anyone standing next to your seats to let you and your bags out so you are ready to roll them right off when it stops at your station (automated doors don't listen to requests to hold open while you get yourself organized!) Staying, but in a hotel not convenient for SkyTrain? Still ride it back to YVR (free), then go join the walk-up fixed-rate cab queue - $34 to 90% of downtown hotels, $38 to the fancy ones right near the pier, no worries about traffic, and at half the daily rate you save enough on even one week's cruise to make cab fare both ways a wash compared to downtown with much lower chances of 'city glitter' happening to you.

 

Absolutely none of the downtown lots, including Canada Place, are free from incidents - we found someone sleeping in the back of a friends car who was visiting us, parked in our secure condo underground lot behind two gates, two cameras, and a security guard! So despite patrols and cameras and even VPDs 'bait car' program, the ungated 'walk right in' commercial lots continue to be risky... even at the more-secure airport I would not leave a single visible item anywhere in the passenger compartment, and personally I even pop open the glovebox so a quick glance can see there is nothing to steal from our car - no sensible thief will bother smashing a window until they have cased the joint and figured out which cars they are going to quickly smash & grab from before fleeing with their ill-gotten gains, so if there are any cars at all near you with Something To Take those will be hit in preference to yours.

[rsera]

By Templeton Lot, do you mean the "Value Long Term Parking"? 

https://parking.yvr.ca/vancouverbooking/Booking/SearchParking

 

That's a great idea about the glovebox. I'll empty it and leave it open. I was planning on taking down the tonneau to show there was nothing in my SUV "trunk" and I'll do the glovebox too.

 

I know nothing is 100% guaranteed but the airport lots do look like a good option. One review mentions a broken window but all the other complaints are just about how annoying the ticketing system is.

 

I'd previously stayed in the Westin Bayshore, whose parking lot is a large public garage, and I didn't have any incidents there before. But it's about twice as expensive as the airport. 

 

I'm planning to drive in same-day early in the morning, so no hotels. I'm used to lugging baggage around on buses/trains every time I fly out of SEA-TAC, so no worries there.

[martincath]

3 hours ago, rsera said:

By Templeton Lot, do you mean the "Value Long Term Parking"? 

https://parking.yvr.ca/vancouverbooking/Booking/SearchParking

Yes, sorry, I just assumed that would be clear from Glaciers post right above mine who first mentioned the long-term value lot!

[em-sk]

On 5/5/2023 at 2:05 AM, rsera said:

I guess I should add that I'm not comfortable with Valet either, so it looks like Park n Fly is out. But I did see some other airport parking options, which I was hoping were well populated and safer.

 

As others recommended, the airport value parking lot is a good option.  Has very good lighting. Security is around all the time.  There will be people coming and going all the time.  The airport is open 24 H a day, with flights typically starting at 6 AM and running until around 2 AM the next day.  

 

The lot is also next to a skytrain station that is takes into downtown and cruise ship terminal.