Vancouver Sightseeing by How You Get There
Vancouver rewards whichever way you choose to get around, but each mode opens up a different set of sights. Feet cover the flat waterfront well, a bike stretches that same waterfront further in the same afternoon, and only transit or a gondola reaches the summit views that neither one can climb.
On foot
The Stanley Park seawall covers almost 9 kilometers of flat, paved path, passing the Brockton Point totem poles and Prospect Point’s lookout over Lions Gate Bridge, all free to walk. Pedestrians get a separate two-way path from the cyclists, so there’s no need to watch for bikes coming the wrong way. Gastown’s cobblestone blocks lead to the 1977 steam clock, which chimes every fifteen minutes at Water and Cambie streets, and Granville Island’s public market is a short walk beyond downtown and free to wander.
By bike
A rented bike from Denman Street covers the seawall loop in a fraction of the walking time, but only in the direction the rules allow: the park’s cycling section runs one-way counter-clockwise, and riding against it is a real collision risk on the blind corners. From the seawall, a bike also reaches English Bay and Kitsilano beaches faster than walking, useful if the plan is to fit both the park and the beaches into one morning. A bike rental booked through GetYourGuide can be arranged before you arrive if you’d rather not queue at a rental counter on a busy weekend.
By transit or gondola
Reaching the mountains that ring the city means trading feet or pedals for wheels or a cable. Grouse Mountain’s Skyride climbs to the Refuge for Endangered Wildlife, home to the grizzly Coola, for $89 CAD round trip, and the Sea to Sky Gondola near Squamish costs $73.95 CAD online or $81.95 CAD at the gate for views over Howe Sound. TransLink covers the flatter connections between them, at $2.85 CAD a ride on a Compass card or $12.55 CAD for a DayPass, and reaches the Museum of Anthropology at UBC , where adult admission is $26 CAD, half price after 5pm on Thursdays, closed only on Mondays between mid-October and mid-May. Arriving from YVR adds a $6.50 CAD AddFare to that first inbound ride, with no matching charge on the way back out.
Mixing modes in one day
Most days work best combining two of the three: a morning on foot through Gastown, an afternoon by bike along the seawall, or a transit ride up to Grouse Mountain after a morning at MOA. A Vancouver sightseeing tour on Viator bundles the transit-and-gondola stops with transport included, and a downtown hotel through Booking.com keeps the walking and cycling sights within an easy ride of your door either way.
For a slower version of the on-foot route through more neighbourhoods, see the walking tours guide .