Visit Vancouver - The DON'Ts of Vancouver, BC Canada

hey the fellow-travellers marquee with Walters rule and today we're in Vancouver British Columbia on the west coast of Canada and today we have you are the don'ts of visiting Vancouver but before I get into the don'ts I just want you to know this place is just a dreamland for outdoors people whether you want to go kayak and you want to go skiing snowshoeing snowboarding you want to go out and whale watching you want to hiking biking there's so much outdoor stuff to do here that that's really the heart of what you really should do when you do come here okay and I say that because that leads into our first don't of actually coming to Vancouver is don't think it's just outdoor stuff now the vast majority is outdoors kind of thing but there are really cool museums here this is the Museum of Anthropology behind me inside they have an amazing collection of totem poles and relics from actually all over the world and from the First Nations and the people that are from around here in Vancouver it's just a really amazing museum actually probably my favorite one here in Vancouver but there's another of other museums around here the Vancouver Art Gallery you have the Vancouver museum that there's a Maritime Museum is here there's things you can do you know aside from the outdoor stuff going to Canada Place and seeing the Olympic torch where that was or going to gas town and yes seeing this steam clock I know it's super touristy but you know what your tourists I'm a tourist I like seeing it so go see that at the top of the hour okay and gas sounds so you can check that out all right another great thing about that hold there's stuff besides doing outdoor stuff is the food here and what I want to tell you is don't skip out on Asian food when you are here whether you're gonna go get sushi okay you get sushi with me with black rice in these places I mean it's just really really good the Chinese food the Thai food the Indian food there's amazing restaurants and it's small mom-and-pop places so you can eat super well and you can eat super tasty and actually when you go to those places they're actually pretty affordable as well so there is that out there and that kind of leads into another don't I have for you is don't skip happy hour when you have the chance as a tourist we're not working a nine-to-five job we can go see things and so you can take advantage of some of the deals and one of the best deals I've seen in bars and restaurants throughout Vancouver is happy hour get the tasty local beer and some of the tasty local treats for a discount price so definitely use that to your advantage to kind of save some of the money when you are here now my next don't for you is don't freak out about the prices I know when you watch HGTV and they're talking about oh I'm gonna be buying a one-bedroom house here in Vancouver and it's 2.9 million dollars I'm like oh my god how could people afford to live here honestly I have no idea how people afford their housing here but the thing is you're not buying a house you're a tourist okay so don't freak out about the housing prices how that kind of influences people's perception of how expensive Vancouver is because honestly I mean Vancouver's not a cheap place I'm not gonna say that but I comparing to going to big cities in the US and other big cities in Western Europe or orange arrow in Canada I haven't seen that big of a difference between Vancouver and Chicago or New York or Toronto yeah you know is yeah in housing yes but but not necessarily in terms of going out so it's not that bad so don't freak out about the prices now there is one thing that with that accommodation you know it's really expensive for people one of the things I would say for you is don't freak out about not being able to find an affordable hotel here in Vancouver look Hotel options can be a bit limited sometimes especially there's a big event going on like a marathon or something like that but what's cool is there's still a ton of Airbnb s and VR BOS and vacation rentals and stuff like that which is significantly cheaper than the hotels and honestly I find to be a better value they're usually in better places to go check out you mean rather be in a neighborhood than downtown anyway so you do have that so don't be afraid to rent a place when you are here and the thing is if you do rent an apartment or you rent a house or you do come to Vancouver don't wear your shoes inside the house that's totally not cool okay you don't do that you take your shoes off when you go into the house that that's how it works here in Vancouver that's how it works pretty much everywhere in Canada take your shoes off going back to the pricing thing look there's one thing I will tell you don't skimp when you have a choice if you're gonna be doing whale watching or maybe you're gonna take one of those harbor cruises or you're gonna take one of those like airplanes that have the little float the floating airplane things that go fly around for a cool tour spend the money for it it actually is worth it the whale watching tours they're guaranteed I mean make sure they say it's guaranteed either you don't have they'll give you a free return to do it again--that's check it out we saw whales all over the place last time we were here so the thing is though you got to spend the money to do these things okay so like our whale watching thing was a hundred and seventy Canadian dollars and so yeah it wasn't cheap but actually for what we did it was a five hour tour we saw one two three four five six seven eight nine we saw about ten whales we were out there man I was so happy with it and you get to go and see the island this stuff was really cool but it was worth spending the money so when you see some of these things you know going up to Whistler if you want to go up there you're gonna be taking one of the sea planes flying around for a tour you know spend extra money because yes you can spend money and just do a 10-minute flight around on one of those one of those those planes or you can spend a bit more and go for an hour or so and see so much more okay so don't skimp when it comes to these kind of things all right now if you are gonna be going whale watching and it is a sunny day like this which does happened it's not always raining here okay but if you're gonna go out there remember bring sunblock and also it price feels about ten degrees colder when you get out on the water so bring some layers when you're gonna go out there cuz it will get chilly okay and I don't know if all the boats bring give you blankets and stuff like that or if you have the whole jumpers and stuff but just be prepared to be a little chilly but do lather up with the sunblock because as you can see from my face I mean I had hats on and stuff like that I still did get burned when we did do that so do have a heads up now speaking of that rain don't forget to bring a jacket and an umbrella when you come here it rains about a hundred and seventy days a year here in Vancouver I mean it's a rain forest okay you'll see all the forest and it's lots of rain yeah it kind of goes together and the thing is that when you come here I have that we're having great weather day I'm not gonna lie to you though the four days you've been here so far it's been sunny and beautiful and if you come in July in August this is more typical weather than the the dreary rainy stuff you get the other nine months out of the year so what I'd say is if you're going to come always bring a jacket okay even if it says oh it's gonna be nice when you're there bring a jacket and a jumper with you because it can cool off quite a bit at night and with the humidity and everything we really have known a difference when we've gone from oh it's sunny then a cloud goes over like whoa it's a little chilly or sitting outside at a cafe and once the Sun moves where we're under the shade I mean the temperature drops quite a bit so bring layers bring jackets bring an umbrella and realize it's going to rain okay another thing with the weather I'd say is don't expect snow though look Vancouver it doesn't really snow here okay it doesn't get that cold it will get to freezing it may be that a little snow a couple times in the winter but in general it's rainy and and kind of cloudy okay that's the typical winter weather you have now if you go up in the mountains yes there's gonna be four meters of snow in some places that's how it happens but don't expect to see snow here which for a lot of Americans sometimes it's we're thinking well it's Canada snows everywhere they're in the winter no not here in Vancouver now the more serious note I would say there are different parts of town you might want to watch out for probably one that tourists might go accidentally go into that they might not realize it is if you're in downtown the east side okay downtown East Side that is where there's a very you know there's a lot of homeless people that do live there and there are some drug issues that are there now there's a lot of cops and stuff like that and you might be okay but I just recommend don't go there and just explore some of the other really amazing parts of the city instead of that part of the city okay for example go into Granville Island and seeing that or or or going to see gas town and stuff like that and there's there's places you can go and enjoy Stanley Park oh my god Stanley Park is gorgeous it's like a thousand acre park it's just off this little part of land right in downtown which is great oh and if you do go to Stanley Park I will give you a dome for that don't try to ride a bike the opposite direction of the arrows in Stanley Park now you may think well there's nobody here on this day well it doesn't matter you got to go the right way okay you got to follow the signs going around cuz you go the other way you're not gonna make any friends okay so make sure you're going around the right way another one of those make sure you're going the right way kind of things okay there's grouse mountain or grouse mountain I mean I've heard locals say both ways but it's the mountain that's closest to here it's like 20 minutes you can get to and you can go skiing and stuff like that and they have this thing called the grouse grind which is like going up like 850 meters yeah up you know but it's like steps going up look don't do that if you're not physically prepared for it alright another don't with that is don't try to go down it you only go up all right so just have a heads up for that one another don't I have for you that has to do with doing some of these outdoor activities if you go to the Capilano Suspension Bridge okay he's this cool suspension bridge goes through the forest and kind of stuff over and it's just a beautiful view to go to but the thing is it's a suspension bridge that you walk over and people can get it swinging so if you are scared of heights don't go okay just just don't go it's really cool it's great pictures stuff like that but if you get scared of heights I don't recommend you doing that now if we head back into town I want to tell you one of the don'ts I have for you is don't expect to see really nice architecture here in Vancouver I mean the architecture here is pretty bland I'm like wow they spend millions for really bland architecture yeah they do so you know how you go to some cities you're trying to take in all man look at all this great architecture look at all these amazing houses these amazing buildings no you don't really have that here in Vancouver okay so so don't worry about looking up and trying to see all the architecture just go enjoy the food and the outdoors stuff okay because the architecture yeah not so cool all right and probably one of the most touristy things to do when you do come to your to Vancouver is going to Granville Island and I know it's super touristy but it's super totally worth it so don't skip that the locals will say oh don't do that it's so touristy out but it's so nice when you go there going to the public market that's there you can try salmon candy you can try you know all kinds of different foods that are there you can have this a great time eating there shopping there all kinds of stuff it's a really cool market you can go through there's restaurants there for you to enjoy so don't skip out on it I mean honestly I know it's super touristy but it's been probably our favorite place to go is that the public market there it's just a fun thing to do and it's easy to get to next don't I have for you as if you are going downtown okay and you're kind of walking around you're getting your legs tired and stuff like that don't pass up the aqua bus what the aqua bus does if you're on Granville Island or one of the other places it just goes to different stops along the city so you don't have to like go up walk over a bridge and go the other way you can just take the boat over and I mean it's cheap and you know get you where you want to go you can buy a day pass for that and things like that that leads into another don't don't forget to get a compass pass when you're coming here okay that's like they're there it's like a credit card kind of thing that you buzz in and buzz out to use the buses the sky train the sky trains the metro here the subway that's here you'll take it from the airport in and the ferries and stuff like that and it's really cool just buzzing out and you're good to go which is really cool and I mention all this public transportation our next done is don't expect to find uber or lyft here in Vancouver now there's been rumors oh it's going to come it's going to come and I've seen postback year saying oh they're talking about maybe letting it in well summer 2018 it's not there okay so just have a heads up you're gonna have to use taxis if you want to you know plan something out now there are tons of taxes around town there's taxi stands you can flag them on the street when you are here but what I've done is actually downloaded an app and I can put in my address like an uber app lyft app or whatever you can you know say where you want to go and those things it gives you a rough price that you're gonna pay and then it calls somebody in I do find though that the times they say when the drivers gonna get there is not even close okay but they do come so that is helpful so have a heads up for that one and the thing is though I would also say is don't think that you have to taxi around everywhere now some places you're gonna come out here to the University of British Columbia and go see the the museum here yeah you're gonna have to taxi out here cuz the bus will take a while to get out here but the thing is the tech is not really that expensive so that is kind of nice but the thing is you don't always have to taxi when you're downtown walking home Granville hop on the aqua bus go over to downtown yeah and walk around there and then go to Stanley Park I mean you really can't walk quite a bit so make sure you do bring the right Footwear for it otherwise you're gonna have some painful to you know Tootsie's here by the end of your day exploring now going back to the public transportation another don't I have for you is one don't line skip don't jump the line okay for the buses and stuff like that people make a nice line they'll wait in their turn stuff like that that's how it works here if you try to jump with the front of line people are not gonna be happy okay so make sure you do stay in line and you may think well that's my bus do there'll be another bus that's coming pretty soon don't worry okay they run relatively frequently but that is one thing is don't skip the line another don't is don't rush into the the sky trainer rush into the bus before the people that are getting off get off okay so don't pump rush it alright this is let's not just here in Vancouver sky like a Canada well I think but but don't do that here because I've seen that a few times with with people on the buses and my last jump for you for here in Vancouver has to deal with the day trips now there's two really cool day trips or it places nearby that you should go notice I'm not saying dangerous places nearby you should go Victoria the capital of British Columbia and Whistler both of them you theoretically could do in a day but you're gonna be it's gonna be a long long day okay Victoria you take a bus and then you take a ferry and then you take another bus or if you're gonna drive you drive and take a ferry then drive it's gonna take you at least three and a half hours to get there three three and a half hours depending where you are in Vancouver if there's no traffic which wait till there's a crash on a bridge or something like that you can be stuck for a while but it's not you could I mean you're gonna need a whole day think about it three three and a half hours to get there three three nine five hours back that's seven hours of transportation to go see that city so you're gonna go to Victoria do an overnight there it's a really pretty city it's worth visiting but just know that it's it's just a little bit too far for a day trip now Whistler the drive there you go along the coast and up in the mountains the drive is gorgeous but again it's a little bit of a longer drive and if you're gonna be going enjoying stuff up there or skiing or these kind of things it might be a bit far for just that one day you know you can't do them but I recommend don't do that go spend a night at those two places so I'll be like had a nice little visit away from Vancouver anyway I hope this helped you know some of things you don't do when you go to Vancouver we have other videos to help people visit Canada the don'ts of Canada ten shocks of Canada five things you love and hate about Canada I think she should eat invite eat here in Vancouver we have all kinds of stuff to help you out on our website at Walters world.com we're also on Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube if you want to see all of our You Canada travel videos go to our YouTube channel look on our playlists and you'll find visit Canada travel videos and there's all kinds of great stuff from Toronto Quebec Prince Edward Island Montreal all kinds of things to help you enjoy this beautiful country even more anyway I want to say bye from Vancouver and have a great time because it is a really cool place but man if you're an outdoorsman this is the place for you bye from Vancouver

Channel: Wolters World

Views: 509,610

Keywords: travel, mark wolters, wolters world, travel advice, tourist attractions, travel vlogger, honest travel, fat travel guy, Canada, Vancouver, vancity, van-city

Id: BRH8kbg3-vM

Length: 15min 11sec (911 seconds)

Published: Wed May 23 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/LordBoeser]

"Oh my god, how can people afford to live here? Honest I have no idea how people afford their housing here.... [but] don't freak out about not being able to find an affordable hotel here in Vancouver.... but what's cool is, there's still a ton of Airbnb and VRBO's and vacation rentals and stuff like that."

[u/crap4you]

I was watching this video yesterday. Interesting to see it from a outsiders perspective.

[u/helixflush]

You know, he pretty much nailed it.

[u/cloudcats]

Nobody calls it "gross mountain".

[u/practicaldad]

This man knows too much. He must be eliminated /s

[u/InfiniteStateMachine]

That knock against our architecture was hilarious.

Just discovered this guys channel. One of the most watchable youtube travel shows I've seen.