Marked off my Bucket list-Part 1 Vancouver

Ever since I started to work in Travel, I come across an amazing train trip- which I know is not everyone’s cup of tea but this is one of the most specular scenic route across many different types of landscapes. When the opportunity came up to enjoy this amazing train journey I could not say no.

We landed in Vancouver on a wet morning after a comfortable plane ride with Air Transat. As we were making the most of our time in Vancouver we went straight to Granville Island which is a bit like Camden Town, a great place to relax have a bite to eat and purchase some great art work from local artisans. They have Food tours of this area as it is the place to eat and I have to say, what we had was excellent and good value to boot.

From here we went on the Aqua bus to take us up the river, pass the Winter Olympic village, Ice Hockey Stadium and Science Museum. The scenery was excellent as you had the mountains in the distance, the city and the river life all in one location. Lots to take in and a great place to take your Camera. It was also great to have someone talking about the area and discussing the history with the Expo and the houses along the river that have an aquarium tank for a basement to see the wildlife of the river.

We then went to the port which was great to see where the cruise customers joined, I was nicely surprised that it was central to the centre of Vancouver, many shuttles can be picked up from this area to the outskirts for the gondola rides. The area is easy to navigate and close to the main shopping area. It also is close to where the Dolphin and whale watching excursions start. On the pier itself, there is a fantastic 4D ride, which I recommend. It gives you a perspective of the vast expanse and diversity of Canada it makes you feel like you are flying over Canada along with the smells and sights.

 The night Life of the area is good as well, there are some great bars and even on a week day I found the atmosphere to be great and the people endearing.

Day two we went to the cable cars on the outskirts of the city. You can pick up free shuttles for this area from the cruise terminal during the high seasons. It was a great trip whereby you start by going up the Gondola and arrive in a lovely lodge with a restaurant, lounge area complete with fire place, gift shops and then you follow through the lodge to the mountain side whereby there are any activates to do, along with seeing the Bears that have been rescued in a large area, you could spend at least half a day here if not more. Once we tried to see the black bears (they were sleeping).

we then carried on to the Capilano suspension bridge, this area was very interesting, it used to be a native Indian site. There is numerous information on the past here and then you have the main bridge to cross and then a series of tree top bridges to cross when you get to the other end, Once you are back along the cliff you can then cross the bridges that are wrapped around the cliff edge. Now as I have a slight issue with heights this was difficult for me to do, however as I was on a trip of a life time I managed it with help from my lovely colleagues. I think some of these pictures would describe how special this place is. Vancouver is a fantastic place. 2 days is really not enough time to see the sites and experience everything. We had a full packed couple of days but did not touch half of the area or cover all of the main sites. I would recommend about 4 days here to have a chance of seeing everything.

 

Watch this space for the Rocky Mountaineer experience.