Places to Visit in Vancouver w Our Grandson

[donaldsc]

We are going to be in Vancouver for 3 or 4 hours in the afternoon with out 12 year old grandson on the day before we board our ship.  Besides the obvious places such as the Science Museum and the Aquarium I am looking for some other ideas of places to take him.  Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

DON

[martincath]

Honestly, the best advice I can give you Don is to ask the kid!

 

Whenever there's been a kid about that age visiting us, or sprung on me in a tour group I thought was all adults, the only thing that has always been of interest is local filming locations - whatever their tastes are there's a darn good chance at least one of the shows they love is filmed here in 'Hollywood North'!

 

Niche things that might work but would be very much dependent on the kid:

• the Police Museum is in the old morgue, has an autopsy room left as it was back in the day and some pretty horrific 'cold case' info as well as the more usual younger kids fare of 'dress up in tactical gear and pretend to crack some skulls'; but be aware that the blocks around it are even skeevier than Gastown - perhaps an opportunity to show him how good he has it, getting to cruise on someone else's dime while folks live in squalor, or a place to avoid like the plague depending on how you both feel about such matters!;
• Space Centre if he's a space geek;
• Maritime Museum if he's a boat geek (ride there on False Creek Ferries for bonus small boat time);
• The Avengers Station if he's an MCU geek;
• Sports Hall of Fame if he's a sports geek;
• Do an art walk around our many public sculptures and murals, or visit VAG if he's an art geek (virtually no 'old masters' here, but a fair whack of modern art as well as Canadian artists);
• Playland if he's into fairgrounds/coasters (although note the famous wooden coaster seems to still be undergoing maintenance) and a similar note to the cop museum, buses along Hastings pass by some pretty gnarly sights on occasion;
• FlyOverCanada is well under an hour but often has 2 different rides and heavily discounted repeat rides so could be padded to 2+ (anyone who enjoys Soarin' at Disney will enjoy);
• While the timing might be too tight for Grouse Mountain's rope course, Capilano is easily doable in 3 hours from downtown for 'be high up on a moving or see-through thing' fun - Lynn Canyon would be tight if transited, but the cash for one ticket to Cap would probably pay for an Uber both ways if a more natural, way less touristy suspension bridge/woodland walk would entice;
• If you can squeeze some extra time, a whalewatching tour from Granville Island or Steveston would both be considerably cheaper than in Alaska, with a much better chance of seeing Orcas;
• heck, maybe he'd love to just shop for some Canadian candy  then go see a movie?

[Milhouse]

We went to a number of these places last month during a local tourism challenge for industry staff (+1) and the best places IMO for a few hours with a tween is likely what you originally mention.  Science World has a lot of hands on stuff and is easy to get to.  The Aquarium has a lot of displays.  Can easily spend a few hours at each of these.  

The Space Centre has a lot of displays with a few hands on and a theatre show.  This city's museum is in the same building but the displays are likely more interesting for locals than tourists.

Granville Island is a good choice too since it has waterpark, kids market, some live entertainment, and open areas for kids to roam.  

FlyOverCanada is a good option too but it's only a 25-30min overall experience (~15min ride/show) unless they have a double bill as mentioned.

 

Many options I feel are probably more interesting for locals because of the type of displays or the timing might be tight.  

[Haljo1935]

We enjoyed taking the ferry to Granville Island then just go explore. There's a lot to see and do there. In the center near the bakery (a must stop to grab fresh bread snacks) is usually a band to enjoy live music. 

[donaldsc]

53 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

We enjoyed taking the ferry to Granville Island then just go explore. There's a lot to see and do there. In the center near the bakery (a must stop to grab fresh bread snacks) is usually a band to enjoy live music. 

 

We ended up in the Science Museum which he enjoyed greatly.

 

DON

[Coral]

Delete

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by Coral