For one of the most scenic city drives you'll find anywhere, catch West Vancouver blue bus #250 ($1.75 - $2.50) in front of The Bay department store on Georgia Street. This 50-minute trip to Horseshoe Bay transects Stanley Park, providing spectacular views of the Coast Mountains and Burrard Inlet as you pass over the Lions' Gate Bridge. You could disembark at 13th and Marine Drive in West Vancouver. Here Ambleside Park is grand for level seaside strolling, pitch and putt golfing, and picnicking on fine days. Or, on cool, gloomy days, you may go for a cappuccino at the many coffee bars along Marine Drive.
Otherwise, stay on the bus and enjoy the leafy, countrified ambience of a windy, up and down ride past Dundarave and enjoy the peekaboo sea views all along the way until you reach the end of the line at Horseshoe Bay. At the foot of Howe Sound, Horseshoe Bay is awesomely surrounded by mountain and sea. Its two-block waterfront is lined with seafood restaurants. At Sewell's Marina you can take a guided salmon fishing charter (from C$300, 5 hours, reservations required), or get suited up for a 2-hour ride (C$55) on a high-speed inflatable and go searching for whales.
A less weather-wary alternative would be a BC Ferries trip to Snug Harbor on Bowen Island (20 minutes, $5.75 foot passenger) where you'll find a few restaurants, local arts and crafts, and hilly walks. Alternatively, the Langdale ferry (40 minutes, $8 foot passenger) is the gateway to the Sunshine Coast and beyond to Vancouver Island. Local buses meet all ferries for transport to the quaint coastal communities of Gibsons and Sechelt. On a day trip from Vancouver, it would be worthwhile going this far only if you really like bus rides or are in sync with a special community event such as the Fibre Arts Festival in Gibsons or the Writer's Festival in Sechelt.
From Georgia Street walk 4 blocks north on Granville to Waterfront Station and catch the SeaBus to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. Before transferring to a #236 bus (May to September, otherwise call Translink for schedules), check out the lively market for regularly scheduled free concerts, maybe pick up some fruit or picnic fixings.
Your first option en route is Capilano Suspension Bridge & Park (C$10.75) where the main attraction is a swaying but safe wood and cable footbridge 70 meters (230 feet) above the rushing Capilano River. The ticket price also allows forest walks, local entertainment and native folklore. But you needn't pay to walk across the river if you disembark the bus further up the mountain at Cleveland Dam, which is at the top of Capilano Regional Park.
Here, take a gentle stroll on fairly level ground around the dam and across the river. A salmon hatchery is an interesting diversion about a 10-minute hike downhill on a rough path. Hardy types may select from a variety of trails, including a 7km (4 ½ mile) trail down to the mouth of the River, emerging at Burrard Inlet and Ambleside Park.
If you stay on the bus and ride to the end of the line, you come to the Grouse Mountain Skyride (C$17.50). The cost includes the lift ride and numerous mountaintop activities. Continuing on the Peak Chair takes you high above the forest and opens up a stupendous panorama of city, ocean and mountain. Theater in the Sky gives you a high-tech view of BC scenery.
On the shores of Blue Grouse Lake, First Nation storytellers and dancers perform at a cedar longhouse, and there are regular Logger Sports demonstrations. Dining options include picnic to haute cuisine at The Observatory (reservations). Helicopter rides and paragliding are available in summer, snowshoeing, cross-country and downhill skiing in winter.
Fort Langley is a pretty little town in the Fraser River valley and one of the earliest settlements in BC. This excursion by public transport gives you a little town, and a little country. Three transfers are needed, but you do get a nice landscape overview from urban to suburb to rural.
Check with Translink for best connections. Board the Skytrain at Granville Station, just north of Georgia (C$1.75 weekend; $3.50 midweek - get a transfer). Ride to Surrey Central Station (40 minutes) and transfer to bus #501, which takes you to Walnut Grove Park and Ride on the outskirts of the city of Langley, the "Horse Capital of BC." Here, catch bus #507, which gives you meandering views of horse, berry, flower and produce farms undulating across the Fraser River valley, with the Coast Mountains as a backdrop.
In Fort Langley, get off the 507 at Glover and 96th; walk north three blocks on Glover, turn right onto Mavis for Fort Langley National Historic Site. This reconstructed fur trading post gives a glimpse of early BC river-based commerce. Nearby, on King Street, two other museums are worth a brief visit: Langley Centennial Museum and the BC Farm Machinery and Agricultural Museum. Or, cross the road and railroad tracks to the north of the Fort to picnic at Marina Park and view the activity on the Fraser River. Or, stroll the few blocks to town and find numerous snackeries and the usual assortment of arts and crafts shops along Mavis or Glover Streets.
If you plan this excursion for a Thursday or Saturday (2000 schedule) you have the option of taking The Native ($35.95) paddle wheeler on her return run to New Westminster, BC's oldest city. She departs Fort Langley from Glover Bridge at 3pm (Thu/Sat) and arrives at New Westminster Quay about 4:30 or 5pm. Otherwise, you retrace the route the same way you came. Either way, you might want to stop in New Westminster (Skytrain Station: New Westminster Quay) and try your luck at the gaming tables or slot machines on board Royal City Star (open daily 10am-4am), a five-year old, authentic looking riverboat casino docked at the Quay, a block from the Skytrain Station. There is a restaurant on board, and a pleasant public market at the Quay.
Vancouver is about 30 minutes away by Skytrain. The casino runs shuttle buses to the station. It should be noted that some of the Skytrain Stations, including the two in New Westminster, have a reputation for harboring unsavory characters at night. Taxi fare back to Vancouver is about $30-35.
You can walk all day long in Vancouver and never lose sight of the sea. Stanley Park, the crown jewel among Vancouver's many parks, is a 20-minute walk along Georgia from Granville Street. Or, go north on Granville three blocks to Hastings Street; catch bus #135 ($1.75). Ask for a transfer to use on the shuttle, which stops at 14 different locations within the park. Besides the seawall and walking trails, beaches and picnic gardens, the Aquarium is here, pitch and putt golf, tennis courts, horse-drawn tours, and live theater in Malkin Bowl during summer. Get a bicycle at Spoke's Bike Rental or go on foot.
The seawall promenade encircles the park's 1,000 acres. Along the way, ancient forests tower to one side, North Shore mountains loom to another side and city skyline to another. A north-easterly circuit from the Coal Harbor side leads to the cafés of English Bay, and after doing the 9km loop (5.5 miles) you will certainly be ready for a snack.
Or, you might pick up picnic fixings at Granville Island Public Market. Stroll southeast down Beach Avenue to Sunset Beach and hop aboard a quaint Granville Island Ferry for the 5-minute jaunt across False Creek. Along with the market, the boutiques and galleries on Granville Island definitely call for an afternoon of poking about, after which you might want to call it a day. Or, you could hang around for an evening of theater at one of two Arts Club venues on the island.
Those with seaside strolling still in mind can carry on eastward to Stamp's Landing in the pleasant company of kayaks, canoes, yachts, and other False Creek traffic.
If not east, then a westward meander is equally inviting, passing by picturesque harbor-side condominium communities, proceeding under Burrard Street Bridge past the Vancouver Maritime Museum in Vanier Park, and thence for miles and miles from park to beach, beach to park. One section, between Kitsilano and Jericho Parks, may call for scrambling to higher ground during high tide. Otherwise, as long as body and spirit are willing, you can go right to Spanish Banks and Wreck Beach (nude bathing) where you make a rough climb up to the campus of the University of British Columbia.
Alternatively, along the way, you could take any street going south, but uphill, to 4th Avenue and catch a bus #4 to UBC. On campus you have the Botanical Gardens, the Asian Gardens, the Rose Garden, the Chan Center for Performing Arts, and sometimes cheap movies (all welcome) at the Student Union building, just behind the bus loop. The Museum of Anthropology is renowned and well worth an afternoon. It's about a 10-minute walk north of the bus loop - best to ask directions.
Early evenings by the seaside, come rain or shine, Vancouverites are out in full force shooting the breeze with other strollers, or walking their dogs, so it is perfectly safe to walk alone with so many people about.
Besides the sea walks mentioned above, another easy possibility is Ambleside Park. Take any West Vancouver blue bus from Georgia and Granville and get off at Marine Drive and 13th. You can walk either direction: go west for 3.5 km to the pier at 25th Street.
Or go east to where the Capilano River meets Burrard Inlet - a pleasant stroll year round but especially so in August when huge numbers of salmon gather. You see them leaping in excitement while waiting a turn to get going upriver to their spawning grounds. Harbor seals often show a bobbing, inquisitive head, and an endless stream of working and pleasure vessels, including luxury cruise liners, keep you company as you walk.