Looking back a decade ago – as part of a Canadian road trip, we made a stop in Vancouver, British Columbia. The beauty of the city alone make it an amazing travel destination, but add in delicious food, proximity to nature, fun activities, and clean air, and you really should consider this wonderful city in Canada for a family vacation.

Day 1

Having spent the previous couple nights in Victoria, we caught the 10am ferry to Vancouver. At 90 minutes, the ferry is a delightful way to see vistas of this beautiful region – lots of deep blue water and forests along the ferry route. Having lived in Southeast Alaska during my high school days, it reminded me a lot of school trips and other excursions on the Alaska ferry system and I was delighted to share this experience with my boys.

After getting our car off the ferry, we made a stop by one of our favorite fast food restaurant chains (that we’ve seen a lot more in Canada than the US): A&W. If you visit one of these, don’t skip the root beer!

Stanley Park

Our hotel room wasn’t quite ready, so after thinking about where to go, we drove to Stanley Park and took the kids on a walk of some key parts. What fun!

Make sure you enjoy the views of the city while you are there. We enjoyed walking from Prospect Point to Brockton Point:

We continued to walk until we found the Totem Poles near Brockton Point. These reminded me a lot of the totem poles in my Alaskan hometown and make a fascinating stop while traveling with kids.

Afternoon and Evening Walk

Once our hotel room was ready, we went back to rest a bit, then decided to do a “square around the city.” It was a REALLY long walk, but we still had fun. Things like this can be a bit easier when your kids are in strollers. After they are a little older, the whining can feel a little overwhelming when they decided they are tired.

Around dinner time, we found a decent Japanese noodle house. Yum! Asian food in Vancouver is superb!

We continued to walk until sunset, taking this picture at a little beach spot, then made our way back to the hotel so that the boys could get some sleep.

Day 2

On our second day in Vancouver, we simply wandered, making sure to get lunch in Chinatown, and more Asian food for dinner.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

Being in the Northeast, with heavy Asian influence, the parks and nature parts of the city were fabulous. The one pictured below is the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time exploring.

More Wandering

At this age range, there are some real limits, e.g. harder to do museums and such. But we continued to wander through the city, enjoying the nice late summer day. The boys were intrigued by random animals we found on display.

And Jeremy and I fully appreciated the beautiful views. Too bad the boys weren’t dressed to play at the beach!

In any case, we had a wonderful time and would highly recommend this delightful city!

Keep reading our travel blog for more adventures in Canada!

Here are some more blog posts from this trip: