Vancouver puts the mountains at the end of every street.
Which whale boat has a roof for the rain. What the Capilano bridge costs before the cruise coaches arrive. Whether Whistler or Victoria earns your one spare day. Every one reviewed, from the seawall to the Sea to Sky.
- from $193
01Orcas in the straitVancouver Half-Day Whale Watching Adventure with Free Photos - from $59
02The bridge in the canopyCapilano Suspension Bridge Park Ticket - from $173
03Up the Sea to SkyWhistler & Sea to Sky Gondola with Shannon Falls - from $134
04The harbour from the airVancouver Panorama Scenic Seaplane Tour - from $29
05Gastown after darkVancouver Lost Souls of Gastown Walking Tour
Five places to start, with prices
The seawall, Gastown and Granville Island: by bike, on foot, by trolley or by the plate.
Stanley Park, the cobbles of Gastown, Chinatown and the public market on Granville Island sit within a few kilometres of each other. Four ways to cover them, and what each costs to join.
The most popular way roundThe Grand Bicycle Tour by Cycle City Tours★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · from $96
By bikeThe Stanley Park seawall, flat and car-free most of the way.
from $6
On footGastown ghost stories, Chinatown kitchens, cedars older than the city.
from $8
By trolleyHop off at the park, the market and Canada Place, hop back on.
from $17
By the biteSushi, dumplings and the bakeries in between.
from $81
All 56 city tours of Vancouver →
Burrard Inlet, English Bay, Indian Arm: Vancouver is best seen from a deck.
Zodiacs up the fjord of Indian Arm to Granite Falls, seal colonies near the harbour mouth, orcas and humpbacks out in the Salish Sea, and floatplanes lifting off between the cruise ships at Coal Harbour.
The Vancouver tours that sell out first.
Every tour in Vancouver →More travellers book these than anything else in the city, from the whale boats to the bridge in the rainforest.
1
Vancouver Half-Day Whale Watching Adventure with Free Photos
Leave Granville Island aboard a 95-passenger catamaran with heated indoor seating, open-air decks, and naturalists who explain local wildlife, geology, and ecosystems. Look for orcas, humpbacks, seals, sea lions, and eagles; the crew shares free wildlife photos afterward. The outing lasts about five hours, and sightings are never guaranteed.
From · $193
Read our review →
2
Big Bus Vancouver Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing Tour
from $48
3
Victoria & Butchart Gardens Tour with Ferry from Vancouver
from $228
4
Covered Whale Watching Adventure with Free Photos
from $188
5
Victoria and Butchart Gardens Day Trip from Vancouver
from $232
6
Capilano Suspension Bridge Park Ticket
from $59
7
Gastown Historic Walking Food Tour
from $116
8
The Grand Bicycle Tour by Cycle City Tours
from $96
Whistler, Victoria or the Sea to Sky: the days worth leaving Vancouver for.
Two hours up Howe Sound to the mountains, or a ferry across the Strait of Georgia to the island capital and Butchart Gardens. The three most popular days out, then every other direction.
Fifteen minutes over the Lions Gate Bridge and you are in the rainforest.
Capilano’s bridge hangs seventy metres above the river, the Grouse Mountain Skyride climbs to the peaks you can see from downtown, and Lynn Canyon has a suspension bridge of its own that costs nothing to cross.
- 1Capilano Suspension Bridge Park Ticketfrom $59
- 2Vancouver Tour: Stanley Park, Granville Island & Capilano Bridgefrom $136
- 3Vancouver City Sightseeing Tour: Capilano Suspension Bridge & Vancouver Lookoutfrom $145
Four Vancouver bookings that run on a calendar, not a whim.
Most of this city can be booked the night before from a hotel lobby. These four follow seasons, river levels and fixed departure dates that take no notice of when you land.
- 01Vancouver Half-Day Whale Watching Adventure with Free PhotosThe busy season runs spring to autumn, and summer departures on the smaller boats are the first to fill.
- 02Explore Vancouver City & Capilano Suspension Bridge Canyon LightsThe lights go up for the winter season only, roughly late November into January, and evening slots near Christmas go quickly.
- 03Circle West – Canadian Rockies Round Trip Bus Tour From VancouverMulti-day coach tours to Banff leave on fixed dates, mostly in the warmer months, with the park hotels booked well ahead.
- 04Wet and Wild Elaho Exhilarator RaftingThe Elaho runs big on summer snowmelt, so trips go out from about June to August and the river sets the dates.
What a Vancouver day out costs, tier by tier.
Every tour on the site, sorted by price. Plenty of good Vancouver days come in under the cost of a restaurant dinner.
Gastown walking tours, the Lookout tower, conservatory and garden tickets, the little False Creek ferries.
Capilano and Grouse tickets, bike tours along the seawall, harbour cruises and the short seaplane loops.
Whale boats, Whistler by coach, Victoria with the ferry, and the long run east to Banff.
Three Vancouver originals worth building a day around.
Plenty of cities have harbours and gardens. Fewer have a runway made of seawater, a film industry that dresses the streets as somewhere else, and a garden grown in an old quarry.
Seaplanes off Coal Harbour
The floatplanes take off from the harbour beside the convention centre and the cruise terminal, climb over Stanley Park and the Lions Gate, and land back where they started. Twenty minutes in the air is enough to see how tightly the city is packed between the inlet and the mountains.
- 1Scenic Panorama Seaplane Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,395 reviews
- 2Vancouver to Victoria Seaplane Adventure & Return via Bus & Ferry★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 354 reviews
- 3Vancouver to Victoria Day Trip by Seaplane + Butchart Gardens★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 200 reviews
The City That Plays Everywhere
Vancouver has stood in for New York, Seattle and half of small-town America on screen, and the X-Files and Supernatural were both filmed here. The location walks show the alleys, cafes and park corners you have seen a hundred times dressed as somewhere else.
- 1Hollywood North Film & TV Tour in Vancouver★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 91 reviews
- 2The Hollywood North Experience Film & TV Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 83 reviews
- 3The Supernatural TV Show Locations Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 32 reviews
Butchart Gardens
Jennie Butchart began planting the worked-out limestone quarry behind the family cement works in the early 1900s, and the Sunken Garden is still the centrepiece. From Vancouver it is a ferry across the Strait of Georgia and a long day, or a seaplane and a shorter one.
- 1Victoria & Butchart Gardens Tour with Ferry from Vancouver★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,703 reviews
- 2Victoria and Butchart Gardens Day Trip from Vancouver★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,242 reviews
- 3Victoria, Gulf Islands Cruise, & Butchart Gardens★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,165 reviews
Rain in Vancouver is a when, not an if. Plan the indoor half.
Most of the year’s rain falls between November and March, often for days at a stretch. The fixes are close to hand: a whale boat with a covered cabin, the market halls on Granville Island, a food walk with a roof every few doors, a brewery tour, and the Canyon Lights at Capilano after dark in winter.
Vancouver to Whistler up Howe Sound, and where the tours stop.
Vancouver
Bowen Island
Shannon Falls
Squamish
Elaho RiverBy place: downtown, the North Shore and up the coast
By kind of day: deck, saddle, trail or table
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