Reply To: Pacific Northwest – Seattle & Vancouver

[conspicuous-capybara]

I lived in Vancouver for a year and agree with everything @JenT said – seconding Main Street and Commercial Drive as many people make the mistake of basically only visiting the downtown bits.

Additional specific recommendations:
– Fritz European Fry House and La Belle Patate for authentic Montreal-style poutine; Belgian Fries for creative toppings and large portions
– There’s fantastic east Asian food downtown, specifically the western stretch of Robson Street will have many fantastic Korean and Japanese options. Ramen Danbo is worth the queues.
– The Museum of Anthropology is a bit of a trek away but absolutely worth it. They’re fortunately extending the Skytrain west towards it, but for now, get the 99 B-line express bus outside of rush hour and you should get there fairly quickly.
– If you enjoy hikes, North Vancouver has many that’s worth it and accessible from downtown with public transport (cheap but slow) or a fairly inexpensive Uber/Lyft. Of note: Lighthouse Park / Lynn Loop / Capilano Trail (easy), Norvan Falls / Baden-Powell / Brothers Creek (medium), BCMC / Grouse Grind (hard). That said, I’m sure you’ll have many more outdoors opportunities on Vancouver Island, which I haven’t gotten to visit yet!

For your Amtrak to Seattle, try to get seats on the starboard side of the train for Pacific Ocean views, and make sure to budget in an extra hour or two for delays. It’s a gorgeous route but prone to frequent delays because freight trains have priority on large stretches of the route.