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Hi all, hopefully will be flying to Seattle with Virgin end of May/early June and was hoping to hear any recommendations whether hotels, restaurants or things to do.
My only rough plan at the moment was to start in Seattle and stay for a few days, then get the ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island. A couple or so days on Vancouver Island before getting the ferry to Vancouver and spending some time in the city and surrounding area before getting the Amtrak train back to Seattle before our flight.
It’s 2 weeks in total and we probably won’t have a car the whole time but might rent one for a few days.
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Can’t help on Seattle but for Vancouver:
Taking a flight in a seaplane is great. Even if you can’t go on one, it’s still cool watching them arrive and depart while walking along the paved walkways, and a good bit of trivia is that the ATC tower there is the highest tower in the world!
My number one recommendation is Granville Island: fantastic little food places, shops, etc – all independent and a great place to have a few hours of wandering with snacks along the way. The doughnuts at Lee’s are definitely worth the calories.
A good few hours can be spent wandering around Stanley Park – nice scenery, totem poles, etc. You can cycle around it (they have the equivalent of Boris bikes there) in a single direction or walk in either direction. Essentially, if you are going to cycle you need to prepare to do the whole lot!
Two good areas for good food and drink (especially craft beer) is Main Street and the surrounding side streets and Commercial Drive. Aside from those areas, we ate at Brewhall one night which had a lively atmosphere, sports on TV, good food and drinks.
Public transport is excellent and easy to use – we use the Citymapper app most of the time we travel and it worked well for us in Vancouver.
Visit the Olympic National Park if you can. You will need to hire a car but it’s totally doable from Seattle even if you don’t get as far west as Forks. The rainforest is totally trippy. If you like American history, the Olympia State Capitol is a good one and is sort of on the way back.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 8 months ago by .
I have stayed at far too many Seattle hotels due to work. Personal favorite is the Thompson. The Kimpton Palladian would be second best (care: there are three Kimpton’s- the Monaco isn’t bad either but rooms more tired). That’s on the basis that the Four Seasons is crazy money when you are in town. The Fairmont is also popular but I am not a fan.
Seattle in the summer months is lovely. In winter its just like the UK.
It is a lot smaller than you expect. Pike Market good for a wander, the waterfront and Olympic Park are nice. I quite like Capitol Hill area of a bit of a change to get our of the downtown area. I think you can Kayak in the bays around. Boeing factory tour or the museum at Boeing Field are very good.
I’d also spend time on Bainbridge Island (ferry from Seattle) and try to visit the San Juan Islands- they are meant to be stunning.I have colleagues who go to San Juan regularly and love it. In fact, I’d seriously consider staying there after Seattle.
If I am brutally honest with you, I wouldn’t spend that long in Seattle- 2 nights. It is super important to realize that whilst the UK and other parts of the US are fully re-opened, Seattle (and San Francisco) really are still locked down at the moment. All the tech co’s are still WFH (not been back since Mar 20) and that has had an impact on downtown. It is a ghost town apart from a lot of homeless people.
Majority of restaurants, shops and hotels are closed. It comes to something when brands like Tiffany have closed their store. I was in Seattle in December for work and it was almost spooky. If restaurants are open, they are only doing dinner service and typically not on Mon/Tues- so do research and make reservations. Those that are open are super popular.
In short, don’t spend too long in Seattle. Head out to explore the absolute stunning islands, state and national parks in WA.
+1 on the San Juan Islands visit. You may even get to see whales from the shore.
Dale Chihuli exhibit is also a must
Don’t suppose anyone has an email address for the Renaissance Seattle please?
Very elusive on Google and guesswork hasn’t been successful either.
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.
Had a lovely stay recently in the Fairmonth Waterfront. The views from the harbour view rooms are amazing.
For Vancouver Island make sure you book the ferry in advance as it sells out. Also, have a look at Fisherman’s Wharf for food, it’s in the opposite direction to downtown but has some great little eateries.
@Stu_N some recommendations/general thoughts as promised for your upcoming trip. We spent two days in Vancouver on our previous trip to Canada (January 2024) so it was bitterly cold and we therefore did a combo of indoor and outdoor activities as there was only so long one could stay outside. Day one we enjoyed the Vancouver Canucks stadium tour which we booked online on the day, it’s a novelty even if, like me, you don’t have a special interest in ice hockey! We also enjoyed a lovely lunch at Hawksworth courtesy of the Amex Plat dining credit. The next day we had a casual lunch at Steamworks Brewpub (a microbrewery) just by the Gas town Steam Clock (typical bar food, good selection of beers and they do beer flights) and then took one of the water taxis over to Granville Island to visit the (indoor) market, which is interesting, lots of independent shops as already mentioned in one of the above posts. Stanley Park is worth a walk around, the totem poles are a must see and really spectacular. I imagine the path by the water will be much more enjoyable stroll next week than when it was -15!
We spent five nights in Whistler on the same trip but in all honesty I can’t really offer recommendations as we were skiing and stayed in an Airbnb where we self-catered most nights and ate at very casual places the others. Skiing in Whistler is a much more serious affair than in Europe i.e., we were in the lift queues by 8am every day, there isn’t a decent food scene on the mountain or the European apres culture and were so knackered by the end of the day we were in bed before 9pm! As you’d expect, drinks and food in Whistler Village are expensive. That said, the landscape and views are incredible – I still can’t get over the height of the trees. When we were there, public parking was limited and expensive so it may be worth pre-booking if you’re driving.
Victoria is fresh in my mind as we departed from there this afternoon in glorious sunshine, really enjoying seeing BC in the summertime. We stayed one night at the Fairmont on a very good Amex FHR rate so were in a central waterfront location and after check in we headed straight out for a spot of lunch at Finn’s (thank you @strickers) where we enjoyed delicious seared tuna and fish and chips on the terrace. The inside area is smart too. We then pottered down to Fisherman’s Wharf for an ice cream and to admire the multicoloured “floating homes”. It’s very touristy but has a nice, relaxed vibe. Walking back up to Downtown on the harbourside is Swift Brewing, a delightful 1970s themed bar where we had a pre dinner drink. It is attached to the much bigger CRAFT Beer Market, which has an outside space and also does food, and is clearly very popular as it was full yesterday and there was a waitlist.
Last night we had one of the best meals we have ever had at the award-winning Marilena Raw Bar & Cafe, the sushi was absolutely sublime and the service was really excellent. We were also able to use our Amex Plat dining credit to boot, although it’s somewhere we would go again without any kind of incentive and is very well priced for the quality of food and service. Dinner for two including two beers, a g&t and multiple plates of sushi and a couple of other small plates cost £122 including a 20% tip. Incredible value compared to a similar offering in London. I would recommend booking in advance as it was busy on a Sunday night.
If you’re driving north of Nanaimo, stop at Old Country Market (they have goats on the roof!) It’s an indoor food market with several other shops and restaurants on the same site. We visited today as a pit stop and enjoyed a late lunch on the patio at Cuckoo, the Italian restaurant there, which was very civilised and nestled next to beautiful woodland with a huge tree canopy. The BC salmon fettuccine was the tastiest salmon I have ever eaten, absolutely divine. Good service and clearly a popular spot, but plenty of seating indoor and out.
Okanagan Lake looks wonderful, we haven’t made it to Kelowna yet but it’s good to have places to explore on a return visit!
Thanks for all the tips @ExExpat.
Already got Marilena booked for my partner’s birthday, had no idea it was on Plat dining so that’s a bonus right there!
If you’re going back to Seattle the Dale Chihully glass exhibition at the space needle is spectacular – way better than space needle itself IMO, and for Olympic peninsula the Hoh rainforest and beaches around Kalaloch are mind blowing. We stayed in cabins at Kalaloch a few years ago and just wandered along the beach looking at the ocean and the driftwood for hours.
I’ll write something up on the thread in due course but cannae wait to get out there!
@Stu_N you’re welcome! Re Marilena when I rang to modify our booking (we pushed back the time twice on the day and they were very accommodating) they also asked if it was a special occasion, so if you call/email them and tell them it’s your partner’s birthday they might do a little cake or similar, it’s the kind of place where they go the extra mile!
We did both the Space Needle and Chihuly on Saturday on a combined ticket from Viator, enjoyed both but agree Chihuly is a much better experience and without the queuing! The glass blowing demonstration in the courtyard was brilliant. We were lucky to have beautiful weather though so the view from the Space Needle was spectacular, though obviously it was very busy. I will put Kalaloch on the list for future visits, thanks for that, so many beautiful places in the PNW still to see. Look forward to hearing more about your trip!
So, trip so far…. We have been super lucky with the weather, 18-23°C and sunny or high cloud so amazing views which may be colouring my judgement slightly as to just how awesome Bc is!
Wednesday – arrived in Vancouver and one night in Fairmont Waterfront on Amex FHR rate. Had a wander around Canada Place, swim in their outdoor pool and early dinner in hotel restaurant (decent, but unremarkable) before crashing out.
Thursday – up early, gym for an hour, breakfast at opening, borrowed the hotel’s town bikes for a couple of hours and did a loop along sea wall and round Stanley Park before everyone else was up and about. Wandered through financial district and got water taxi across to Granville Island for an hour or two including really good Mexican lunch and a donut at Lee’s (I had the custard one 5 stars). Got water taxi to Olympic village then Chinatown and back to hotel. Fairmont was great location for a one night arrival stay, staff super friendly and v good value on FHR rate which pretty much covered dinner. The 4pm check-out was really useful. Picked up car mid afternoon and drove up the Sea to Sky to Whistler.
Whistler – Had a couple of nights booked in the very gorgeous Nita Lodge hotel, checked in, light dinner in their bar then bed.
Friday – planned a hike around Logger’s Lake and Crater Rim which turned out to be a reasonably serious undertaking. Spectacular, but 500m up and down on rough terrain and very glad we had walking boots and poles with us. After quick lunch in Creekside we borrowed open canoe from hotel for a paddle on the eponymous lake for an hour then dinner in hotel. Loved Nita Lake Lodge, really great setting and nice vibe – was quietly efficient but very relaxing.
Saturday – popped into Whistler in the morning then drove to Horseshoe Bay via Brandy Wine Falls (spectacular, 10 mins from trailhead then another 10 mins to a second viewpoint looking down the valley), got ferry to Nanaimo then drove south to Victoria where we are now.
To be continued…..
@Stu_N glad you’re having such a great time in BC and the weather is being kind to you! We are in Alberta now, drove to Jasper today and had the first rain of our trip, just a couple of light showers on the Icefields Parkway, so absolutely can’t complain. We’ll certainly be returning to Vancouver Island on a future trip, we couldn’t fault the quality of food and service, friendliness of the locals and general value for money (at least in comparison to London prices), and that’s on top of all the stunning scenery of course! Enjoy Victoria and especially your dinner at Marilena.
Installment 2.
TLDR summary – Victoria is awesome, go with BC Whale Tours and have dinner at Marilena.
Saturday evening
So, arrived in Victoria on Saturday evening. Stayed at the Marriott Inner Harbour – checked in, hotel was unexceptional. Nothing noteworthy either way and reasonable value for an Independence Day weekend – remember how easy it is to get to Victoria from the USA by air and sea…….
Wandered up to Craft Beer Market for dinner. Some fine local beers and a light dinner, then back to hotel.
Sunday – woke up to blue skies and sunshine, quick breakfast at hotel (unexceptional) then headed across to the harbour side for whale tour, we had booked with BC Whale Tours. My partner had done diligent research and decided to go with a small fast boat operator. Brad, captain of the BC Orca got us briefed and suited up for the trip. It was 20°C on shore but the sea was 10°C and the boat did 40 knots so was very glad of the survival suit once out of the harbour. We’d seen sea otters before we even left the dock then harbour seals, a porpoise and within 45 mins were cruising alongside a pod of 4 Orcas. We did this for about 20 mins until it got a little busy with other boats then went in search of humpbacks. Brad found a solitary adolescent within 20 mins, then got news of a larger school of whales on the US side of the strait so we went to check them out. Had about half an hour with engines off in the middle of a group of 8-10 feeding humpbacks. Close enough you could hear and smell them breathing. Finally it was time to go so off we went, back in 20 mins from Port Angeles. That boat didn’t half shift! Hugely recommend BC Whale Tours.
Grabbed a quick snack then had a wander round Victoria before dinner at Marilena. As noted above that was EXCEPTIONAL. Food, wine and service were flawless and we left extremely happy. The Amex credit covered the excellent Riesling we had and for the quality of food it was excellent value. If you could find similar in the UK it would have been double the price. They acknowledged my partner’s birthday when we arrived and piped Happy Birthday on her dessert plate which was a nice touch.
Monday – had brunch at The Courtney Room (decent) then went to Soooke River Pothole trail for a good hike and swim in the river. Back via Sheringham Distillery whose gin we had had at Marilena, quick tasting and left with two fine bottles of gin. We then went for beers at Refuge Taproom then an Al fresco pint at Whistle Bouy. Both v good. Dinner was at Il Terrazo, a classy Italian recommended by a colleague. Had a huge piece of fillet and Canadian red wine – great food and service again.
Tuesday – breakfast at Ruby on Johnson – best of the trip so far, I had Huevos Rancheros and my partner had the house sausage bennies. We both thought we won breakfast. Final wander along the wharf then packed the car and headed north.
Loved Victoria, probably one of the nicest places I’ve ever been. Loads to do around the city – we felt we had barely scratched the surface. The people were super friendly and quality of food, beer and wine is off the scale, and great value by UK standards. Everything noted above I’d recommended in a heartbeat and would love to spend more time there.
Just picking up on this now we are back to reality….
Mid-Island – Courtenay, Cumberland and Campbell River.
Second half of week one, we spent in the middle of Vancouver Island. We visited Blue Grouse and Unsworth wineries in the Cowichan Valley on the way north; Unsworth was a highlight, cool climate Pinot, Chardonnay and a beautiful wild ferment Aligote were delicious. Also stopped off at Goats on the Roof where there were indeed Goats on the roof. Bit of a tourist trap but fun to visit as we were indeed tourists.
We stayed in an AirBNB in Courtenay, a small rural town on the east coast. Enjoyed the local brewpub, Gladstone, and the exceptional Old Farm Market store. They had a concession for Fanny Bay Oysters and they were delicious – first AirBNB we stayed in with an oyster shucking kit and could see why! Day one, we hired mountain bikes from Dodge City Cyles one day with guiding from Martin at Island Mountain Rides, an excellent day out. Day Two we went up to Campbell River, hiked around Elk Falls and had lunch at the wonderfully named Crabby Bob’s Seafood joint. Superb locally caught/ grown seafood in a very unassuming setting. Whole area was quite low-key and focus was on outdoors – so maybe not for everyone but we enjoyed it.
Week Two – Lake Okanagan
Week two, we had booked an AirBnB in Naramata on Lake Okanagan. It was a long drive via the Nanaimo-Horseshoe Bay ferry, north Vancouver with lunch in Hope then Highway 5 but mostly very scenic. Bit of a fuel scare after Hope as car said 200k of fuel and sign said 130k to next gas station, but by the time we were at the top of the 1200m pass between Hope and Merit we had 70k of fuel and 80k to go… fortunately we made it with some economical driving on the long downhill but a bit of a lesson learned to keep a large buffer of fuel in the car. Our AirBNB was at the top of the small town of Naramata just by the 3 Blind Mice (3BM) trail network – we hired eBikes from Freedom in Pendicton. My partner and I are fit and experienced MTBers but having the e-assist meant we could ride more and do back-to-back big days and were less bothered by the mid-30 degree temps. We had an absolute ball in Naramata, ended up not really leaving the small area between Naramata and Pendicton as the biking was brilliant and loads of wineries on the bench land to visit. Roche, D’Angelo, Little Engine, Chain Reaction (shout out to the pizza) and 1 Mill Road were highlights – most easily accessed from the Kettle Valley Railway Trail that runs past the Abandoned Rail Brewing bar (often frequented!) Lunch at Poplar Grove was great as well. Most of the week we ate in using the BBQ and enjoying the locally sourced wine but we also had great coffee and cheese scones from Just Baked and enjoyed dinner at Le Lapin Perdu, newly opened in the Naramata Inn.
end of trip- back to Vancouver – Rosewood Hotel Georgia and Seaplane trip
We did the 5 hour drive back to Vancouver via Highway 3 which was even more scenic than Highway 5, and into central Vancouver. We had booked the Rosewood Hotel Georgia via Amex FHR so dropped our bags and returned our car to Avis a couple of blocks away. Our rooms weren’t quite ready so we retired to the bar for a complimentary drink (to be fair the first thing we would have done was go for a beer so the inconvenience was tiny) then were taken up to our room. We were allocated a junior suite that was a significant upgrade, really nicely finished and a lovely bathroom. Dinner was at their new Reflections terrace that was very pleasant and the US$100 credit took the sting out the bill. Also had a cocktail in Prophecy, their funky basement cocktail bar that was amazing. Good night’s sleep in a very comfortable bed.
Unfortunately breakfast was a bit of a farce, our server was quite inexperienced and the couple next to us were “Difficult Customers” which left her very flustered – took a while though food was good when we eventually got it. Breakfast was a la carte with US$30 per person credit which covered the bill. I didn’t tip for obvious reasons (as I had to go to the desk for the bill) – staff should really be able to handle Those Kind of People as unfortunately goes with the territory in nice hotels.
We did a seaplane trip with Harbour Air on final morning – that was really fantastic. We took off over Stanley Park and Lion’s Gate, did a circuit of Gambier Island in Howe Sound then back over the city before plopping down in the harbour. I’ve never done the Loganair Barra flight that lands on a beach, but landing on water was fun and may have ruined that. Who needs sand when you’ve got floats? We lunched at Coast (final seafood of the trip) then back to hotel, checked out (using the FHR 4pm checkout) and cab to airport.
I won’t review the flight, 3 class 777-200 with club suite – everything went reasonably smoothly and bags and a case of wine made it home with us and in the right number of pieces so all good there.
Reflections
Overall we had a fantastic trip – the weather was great which always helps and people were super-friendly. We took two BC ferries, three water-taxis, one urban cycle, and one seaplane plus a cab to and from the airport. For outdoors-oriented people it is a fantastic area to visit. We drove just over 2,000km which was OK – two full day drives and some half-days with stops. Cost-wise, most things were comparable with Edinburgh prices, maybe a bit less especially in rural areas. Petrol was cheap (approx £100 for the entire trip in mid-size SUV) and don’t recall anything being overly expensive. BC wines really are properly good in the CA$30-60 range (retail); the cheaper wines were less impressive relative to Europe. I didn’t love Vancouver as a city, it was grand as a gateway but quite happy with a day at start and a day at the end – I didn’t feel we needed much more time in the city itself. BC did, however, impress us in spades and would love to go back and explore more Hopefully some good ideas for others in here anyway, thanks to everyone/ anyone who has read this far….!Thanks very much @Stu_n for a great read. How long were you there for and presumably you arrived there in early July. We’ve just returned from Eastern Canada so this gives us some great ideas for when we explore further west.
Yes we were out there Wednesday 2 to Friday 18 July (arriving home Sat 19th). Our nights were
Vancouver 1
Whistler 2
Victoria 3
Courtenay 3
Okanagan 6
Vancouver 1
For us that was about right, was nice to actually unpack when we got to Okanagan!Enjoyed your Eastern Canada report, we can fly direct from Edinburgh to Halifax so that’s an option for next year.
Great, thanks.
My update to this thread: I’ve just returned from Vancouver (Good flight on BA86), having toured around Canada. First time in BC for 20 years – and whilst there is a significant homelessness issue in some parts of Vancouver, the touristy bits remain attractive.
I drove to our hotel – the Westin Bayshore – through Hastings, which had thousands of homeless people living in tents. Clear signs of drug taking, and no police presence. The next morning we got up early and cycled round Stanley Park. Quite magnificent, followed by a coffee in English Bay.
Our trip also included Calgary – and my experience was that one area (around the station / Fairmont) had a few dozen homeless people. Nothing like the scale of Vancouver.
In summary, we would go back to both Vancouver and Calgary – but as ever, you have to do your homework. Many cities in Western USA and Canada have areas with drug taking and homelessness, in excess of those prevalent in Europe.We stayed a few days in Vancouver c. 6 years ago and were taken aback by the amount of cannabis joints littering the pavements and the overt hard drug use and homelessness on the streets. It was worse than anywhere we’ve encountered in the UK or frankly any country we’ve ever travelled to.
On the plus side it didn’t smell of wee as much as it did in San Francisco!
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