Canada trip planning - advice please!

*pinkchick*

We've just booked flights to Vancouver at the end of May for 2 weeks, and now have the fun task of planning our itinerary, hotels, car hire and activities!

People on here have been so helpful in the past, so I'm wondering if anyone has any tips and advice for the following...


Sights/activities not to miss in BC


Considering a trip to Seattle for a couple of days? Worth it? Easy to cross the border?


Tips on where to get good deals on hotels. Better to pay in CAD or GBP?


Should we plan in shopping? Are things cheap like they are in USA at the moment?


Any other tips/advice from people's experiences would be great, as I'm keen to know as much as possible!


Thank you

AnnaS

You're so lucky, we had a wonderful time there last year. It really depends on how much travelling you want to do as to what you can see, some of the distances between places can take a while to drive.


I'd recommend visiting Granville island, Stanley Park, Grouse Mountain, Capilano suspension bridge (get there early as it gets busy), lynn canyon park with suspension bridge (similar to capilano but free and not busy) . These are all around or in Vancouver.
We got caught out with the buses in Vancouver as they only take exact coins. The Lookout in Vancouver has good views.


It took a while to get used to the pedestrians have priority when they cross the roads even if the traffic lights are green for cars.


If you've got time, spend some of it on Vancouver island. Takes about 2 hours by ferry. We visited Ucluelet and went whale watching. I'd recommend Jamie's whale watching as they give a raincheck if you don't see any so you can go back and have another trip for free. Long Beach was lovely. Saw loads of other wildlife too including bears.


We also stayed on Quadra island which is between Vancouver island and the mainland. We went kayaking there with the seals which was amazing.


The sea to sky highway to Whistler has amazing views. Whistler is mainly skiing/mountain resort.


Food / eating out was about the same price as here but the portion sizes more like in America.


We hired a car and it was easy to drive around. We found the best way to hire a car was going with the airline we booked the flights with, going direct to Avis or Hertz was around 3 times the price.


Hope this helps.

John259

On Vancouver Island I liked Qualicum Beach (just north of Parksville, on the east side of the island), a very pleasant small resort town but not all that touristy. I didn't like Nanaimo, big industrial port town.

On the mainland, just about anywhere is good, places such as Hope, Princeton, Merritt and Golden. Kelowna and Kamloops are bigger and less to my taste (I prefer small towns to bigger ones, just my preference). If you can make it as far as the Canadian Rockies then the Icefields Parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper is magnificent. It can be done in one day but really needs two days so as to have time for stops, short hikes, etc. For the midway overnight stop you can head east from Saskatchewan River Crossing on the David Thompson Highway and there's some lodging in the towns along there but you might have to go quite a way. Banff and Jasper are very expensive tourist towns, best avoided unless you like that sort of thing. Golden is good at the southern end, and Hinton at the northern end.

It might be worth considering Glacier National Park in Montana if the Going-to-the-Sun Road over Logan Pass has been re-opened after the winter when you're there. That's one of the most spectacularly beautiful mountain roads in the USA or Canada. Photo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Mary_Lake#mediaviewer/File:St_Mary_Lake.jpg

torbrex

Definitely get out on the water if you can, I'm not sure if that might be the right time of year for whales but if it is, get out and see them.

*pinkchick*

Thanks everyone, that's all so much help! Even more excited for my trip now

stormbreaker

I am going to Canada at the same time and have concerns over the weather and how cold it might be and what type of clothes to take. Can anyone please advise? Thanks

John259

stormbreaker wrote: »

I am going to Canada at the same time and have concerns over the weather

This web site has monthly climate data for numerous places in Canada, listed by province:
http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/state.php3?c=CA&name=Canada

Canada is the second largest country on Earth and weather conditions can vary enormously from one place to another on the same day, so be sure to check the information for the places that you'll be visiting.

eDicky

stormbreaker wrote: »

I am going to Canada at the same time and have concerns over the weather and how cold it might be and what type of clothes to take. Can anyone please advise? Thanks

The general and seasonal climate of British Columbia is very similar to Britain - and equally unpredictable. Late May could well be glorious, but days or even weeks of rain are not uncommon. But if that happens, at least you can drive from Vancouver up on Grouse Mountain into the sunshine and look down on city high-rise buildings poking through the sea of cloud.

The Canadian dollar is still quite low, so should be good value shopping etc. Always spend in CAD of course.

Crossing the US border these days will probably involve the same checks and requirements as airport arrival, and often queues. Not like the old days when they just waved through BC plate cars going south for cheaper groceries or to drink beer on a Sunday.

stormbreaker

Thanks for the replies and the link.

withabix

I live near Vancouver now (emigrated in October 2013), having been a UK MSE addict before that!

The weather in May should be a little warmer than the UK, so you should bring the sort of clothes you would wear in the UK in June.

Vancouver and the west coast of BC are classified as TEMPERATE RAINFOREST. That should be self explanatory...

You should only need a warmish coat if you're going to Whistler and then only if you're venturing up the mountain on an overcast or windy day.

We were in Whistler last week and were walking round in tee shirts during the day, but it was chilly in the evening.

Similarly, we've had temperatures up to 20C last week, but they had a foot of snow on the Coquihalla (the Highway Thru Hell road) this weekend. Winter tyres/snow chains stopped being mandatory up there at the end of March...

Weather conditions vary over short distances and short periods of time here much more than they do in the UK.

*pinkchick*

Thanks to everyone who's provided such useful information.


eDicky mentioned shopping in Canada should be quite good at the moment. Does anyone know if they have Outlet malls like in the US? And does anyone know if things like makeup, clothes and beauty products will be cheap enough (compared to GBP) to make it worth leaving plenty of space in my luggage?!