I recently went to Vancouver for a 48-hour trip and had the best time. If you haven’t been, you need to go to Vancouver. The city is full of shops, restaurants and things to do, but you’re also near the mountains and ocean. It’s a gorgeous city.
I went with a friend for the weekend for a concert, but we planned to get the most out of our trip, and we did. Here’s our itinerary for 48 hours in Vancouver.
Day 1
We got the earliest flight possible so that we’d have as much time as possible on our first day. We landed shortly after 8 a.m. and were at the hotel by 9 a.m. Our room wasn’t supposed to be ready until later in the afternoon, but by some miracle it was ready when we arrived. We settled in, changed and headed out for breakfast.
I highly recommend booking a hotel near downtown Vancouver so that you’re within walking distance to most shops and restaurants. Many hotels are expensive, so I suggest booking months in advance so that you get a great deal. We stayed at the YWCA Hotel and it was the cheapest option, but the room was one of the nicest I’ve stayed in. We had a renovated room with two queen beds and a private bathroom. The room was clean and spacious. The hotel is also secure as you need to scan your room key to use the elevator and to get into the hotel after 11 p.m. There’s also on site security.
We planned on spending the morning shopping on Robston Street, which is infamous for its shopping so we walked until we found a breakfast place in the area. We stumbled upon Bellaggio Cafe, and it was incredibly delicious. It’s near the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, which is also near Robson Square and the Vancouver Art Gallery. I ordered the breakfast bowl with a strawberry lemonade and my friend ordered the breakfast sandwich.
Both were delicious and filled us up after our early morning flight. Then we went shopping for a few hours and walked around the area before heading back to our hotel around 2 p.m. and changed to go to Granville Island.
There’s many ways to go to Granville Island including Uber, but we took the bus. It was fairly simple getting there, however, we took the wrong route and ended up walking about a half hour to Granville Island. The weather was nice, so we didn’t mind and the walk through the neighborhood was gorgeous. The island was beautiful, however, my first impression was that it was touristy. It’s definitely something to do if you haven’t been before.
We went for a late lunch at Tap & Barrel Bridges, which is right on the harbour. The patio was large and we had a table next to the water. I ordered the Cajun Chicken Burger and my friend ordered the Poke Bowl. Both were hearty meals and filled us up after our long walk. We also shared the Truffle Waffle Fries, which were some of the best fries I’ve ever had. We then went to the public market, which is mainly food vendors and then went to shops. It’s a great place to explore, but doesn’t take more than three or so hours. We left around 6:30 p.m. to go back to our hotel before dinner.
For dinner, we made reservations at CinCin, an Italian restaurant on Robson Street. It’s on the fancier side and the food was delicious. It’s a perfect date place. My friend ordered the tagliatelle al ragù and I got the ravioli of winter squash with mascarpone. I love ravioli and this dish really hit the spot. After dinner, we walked to Granville Street where the bars are and took in the scene, but decided to go back to our hotel as we had an early morning the next day.
Day 2
The next day was the 5 Seconds of Summer concert we flew in for. We had general admission pit tickets, so our plan was to spend all day in line so that we could get as close to the stage as possible. We ended up waking up around 8:30 a.m. and did our hair and makeup before going to the Georgian Court Hotel next door for breakfast at Frankie’s Italian Kitchen & Bar. The restaurant had both a breakfast menu or a buffet for $19.99. We each ordered the Brioche Breakfast Sandwich, which was average but still tasty.
Then we hopped on the bus and headed to the University of British Columbia campus for the concert. If there’s one piece of advice I would give after waiting in line for 7 hours in Vancouver is don’t listen to the weather forecast. The forecast called for rain for both days we were there, but there was barely any rain. I ended up getting severely sunburnt on our second day. Bring sunscreen AND an umbrella with you, just in case.
I also recommend visiting the area around UBC. It’s by the water and there’s lots of large parks including the Pacific Spirit Regional Park.
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