October 2022 Vancouver Trip

After a somewhat intense year for work, we took a one-week vacation to Vancouver and Vancouver Island to eat and look at some big trees. We got pretty lucky – certainly weather-wise – on this trip! By the time we arrived on October 21, it had only just started raining after what I heard was a six-month dry spell and an accumulation of wildfire smoke. It was damp, but otherwise dry, for the first half; the remaining days were simply the wettest weather I’ve ever experienced.

All that aside: Definitely go! The food is excellent, it’s easy to get around, and everyone we met was super-friendly.

Vancouver-area trip highlights and area recommendations:

• Aberdeen Centre food court, Richmond, BC generally
  • Mandatory stop – just off the Canada Line – after leaving YVR. Within 1km off of Aberdeen Center there are at least three to four food courts and strip malls, covering the Cartesian product of [Persian, Japanese, Korean, Sichuan, Cantonese, Hunanese, Taiwanese, Malay] and [Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-Free].
• Riley Park / Mount Pleasant. We stayed at an AirBnb in this neighborhood between Ontario and Main Street and it was Pretty Nice. Accessible on transit via TransLink 8 bus and the Canada Line. Some standouts:
  • Liberty Cafe and Bakery
  • 33 Acres Brewing
  • Sushi Hil
  • Hawkers Delight
• Bill Reid Museum and Biking Stanley Park
  • We stopped at the Bill Reid museum to see some Haida First Nation art before heading over to Stanley Park for a rental bike ride.
• North Vancouver: Hiking in Capilano River Regional Park (skip the suspension bridge and hike to the salmon hatchery instead) and Central Lonsdale (fantastic Persian food and markets).

After about six days in Vancouver, we rented a car at the airport and took the BC Ferry from Tsawwassen to Victoria and then drove up to Port Renfrew for a two day stay. Some highlights:

• Ferry ride from Tsawwassen to Victoria (Swartz Bay), winding through the San Juan Islands ($100 for the car, $18/per person).
• Visiting Eden Grove and Big Lonely Doug with Day Trip Drea.

We wanted to, but didn’t get:

• 太二 酸菜鱼 (“Tai Er Chinese Sauerkraut Fish”), or actually more regionalized Chinese food.
  • This place ferments their own mustard greens and apparently has an outpost at Changi Airport too. We showed up on a Tuesday night, and learned they had sold out a full hour before closing.
• Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park
  • This is an old-growth temperate rain forest on Vancouver Island, about a five-hour drive on rough roads from Port Renfrew. Shockingly, many of these ‘Crown Lands’ aren’t protected from logging in the same way similar landmark forests are protected in the US. We weren’t able to visit since lumber companies blocked the more convenient roads after the Ferry Creek Protests. Read more about the preservation work around this forest at the Ancient Forest Alliance.
• Indian food
  • When I made my way to Punjabi Market, it was apparently Diwali (and Rishi Sunak’s installation as UK’s PM). Two sweet shops east of Punjabi Market had pretty long lines for freshly fried (!) jalebi.
• Salmon season
  • Salmon are apparently spawn shortly after the rain starts, since the streams fill back up. Unfortunately, this is worst time to eat them (unless you’re a hungry bear).
• Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, and really, any public gardens in Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

We saved locations both visited and not on a Google Maps list here. Places change! Restaurants and shops in all cities turn over eventually, so best of luck finding these places in the future.

Some tips:

• Getting around. You don’t need a car unless you’re leaving the metro area. Walking, public transportation via Skytrain/bus/Seabus are pretty good and Vancouver’s not that big. If you’re planning to hike in North Vancouver, you can take TransLink buses (240 and 246) from Downtown Vancouver to great public parks, and then return via the SeaBus.

  You will need a 4WD SUV if planning any backcountry visits on Vancouver Island.

• Food. Like Los Angeles, Vancouver has a wide variety of really great food in food courts. Some of these food courts are in unexpected places. Unlike Los Angeles, you don’t have to drive for hours to get to them. Compared to the SF Bay Area, it felt like there was a lot more experimentation, more broadly, as well as more foreign imports (like Yuan’s Chuan Chuan Xiang from Chengdu). Typical meals were cheaper than the Bay Area and LA, but not by much.

• Ferry logistics. You can rent a car in Vancouver to drive on Vancouver Island, but you’ll need to transport that car via the ferry (fare is $18/person, $100/car). You should definitely reserve a spot on the ferry as soon as you’re sure about your plans, and you can check the BC Ferries website for surprisingly detailed information and boat space allocations and reservation utilization. We were one of the last dozen or so cars let onto the ferry without a reservation.

  If returning from a distant part of Vancouver Island for a Sunday afternoon or evening flight, time budget for cross-island driving, potential rain and ferry complications, as well as weekend traffic going into Richmond. We avoided Sunday traffic through Victoria by returning through Nanaimo.

• Rain. If you’re planning to explore on foot during the rainy season, bring a drybags and/or waterproof backpack (…. or borrow a giant umbrella).

(🙏 Thanks to coworkers, friends, and family who gave trip planning advice!)