24 Hours in Vancouver

A photographer’s paradise! Day one.

Would you believe I have never been to Canada before? My tendency has always been to migrate southward to Mexico and beyond, but this summer, I packed my hiking shoes, puffer, tuques, flannel, and raincoat and headed north! This post contains some affiliate links, which helps me continue to bring you useful content. I appreciate your support!

I got a flight alert from Going, (my favorite way to book cheap flights), and scored a great deal on a nonstop United flight to Vancouver.

So, I hit the ground running in Vancouver, and took the Sky Train to the West End neighborhood, and checked into my hotel/apartment Times Square Suites which I found on Booking.com. My apartment had a kitchen, living area, and bedroom with a super comfortable bed. It was spotlessly clean and quiet, and best of all the location was sooo close to Stanley Park, which is a must-see destination if you’re visiting Vancouver. As soon as I dropped off my bags, I rented a bicycle (there are several rental shops on the same street) and started pedaling furiously!

One thing I really wanted to do while visiting Stanley Park was to go up to the pedestrian overpass at Lion’s Gate Bridge and take a long exposure photo of the bridge at sundown. If you’re biking around the main seawall pedestrian/cyclist path that encircles the park, you’ll need to get off of the bike path and onto Stanley Park Drive to go up to the bridge. It’s not that far, but the hill is kind of steep on a cruiser style bike, so I had to get off and push up the last bit. Ok, so I’m pretty chuffed with the photo I got up there, so I’ll lead with that.

Lion’s Gate Bridge pedestrian overpass, Vancouver

I’m going to digress for a minute here and tell you how I captured this shot. First of all, a tripod is necessary. I love my Peak Design travel tripod because it’s compact and lightweight, so there is no reason not to bring it everywhere. Secondly, I did my long exposure using the Live Composite function on my Olympus camera. Live composite enables a long exposure without over-exposing the brightest parts of the image. I had to expose for quite a while in order to capture enough brake-lights, as the traffic was much lighter going in that direction.

After I got my money-shot, I thought I’d try to get over to Siwash Rock as well, and I followed some signs and went on some dirt trails, which unfortunately did NOT take me to the famous rock, so I had to push my bike up some steep dirt trails in orders to get back on the road home. It was already getting pretty dark, so I decided to try again the next morning.

Part Two - Stanley Park (again)

I woke up bright and early, grabbed a coffee and snack, and saddled up to ride around Stanley Park again. The ride around the Seawall is about 10km. There are other trails and byways to explore if you have more time and energy. My primary goal this morning was to visit the Totem Poles and Siwash Rock to experience some of the culture and history of the First Nations people who have inhabited this land for thousands of years. If you ride the standard Seawall route, you can make a stop at both the Totem Poles and Siwash Rock without having to climb any major hills. At first, I was a little disappointed that the morning was grey and drizzly, but then I remembered that the damp climate is a signature of Vancouver and I should just embrace it. I’m glad I did because the dark skies gave a moody drama to my photos!

Totem Pole garden

A totally different perspective of the bridge this time!

If you look closely you can see my hot pink cruiser, and Siwash rock coming into view in the distance!

The low tide enabled me to climb down onto the “beach” to get this perspective.

Some cairns along the seawall road

After my second ride around Stanley Park, I pedaled along the shoreline to downtown Vancouver, so see a little of the city. I wanted to see the famous Steam Clock in Gastown, and I barely had enough time to check it out and hurry back to pack my suitcase and get myself to the Harbour Air terminal for my float-plane flight to Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver. It’s safe to say that having less than 24 hours in Vancouver was not enough, and next time I will spend several nights so I can enjoy some dining and a more relaxed pace. My little legs sure did get a workout though!

This steam-punk inspired clock toots a little tune every 15 minutes and billows steam!

I hope you enjoyed this 24 hour mini-tour of Vancouver. Next stop, Tofino on Vancouver island!