Vancouverites -- Help!

[Sanity Claws]

I hope you can help a friend of mine. She plans to stay a couple of weeks in Vancouver and needs to know what Vancouver neighborhoods are good. Basically she needs to feel safe and preferably find a place not expensive. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

[jwlashta]

1. A place to stay

If she's looking to stay in the downtown area, the YWCA hotel (or is it a hostel) is rather inexpensive, even for a single room (I believe it was about $80 for a single room); the hotel next to it cost more than twice as much. It's been a while since I've stayed there (two years), but the rooms were clean and the staff was courteous. She should avoid Hastings Street, especially at night (it's a few blocks over from the YWCA). Downtown Vancouver's night life is essentially dead by 9 pm as well, and I would avoid walking around after that time unless going to get something to eat. However, the downtown area has some great shopping. Chinatown is also near by, and it has some great food; Stanley Park is also quite near.

Unfortunately, the downtown area is all I'm really familiar with.

[Sanity Claws]

2. Thanks

I'll forward this info to her.

[tuvor]

3. What does your friend consider "not expensive"?

Vancouver's got the most expensive real estate in Canada.

[Sanity Claws]

4. Least expensive, if everything is expensive

My guess is that if everything is expensive, she would like the least expensive. It's a trip she has to make and she's just trying to keep the costs down.
Do you know anything about the area about the University of British Columbia? It looks like a nice area but I don't know whether there are any hotels or hostels in the area or their cost.
(I visited Vancouver several times during the years I lived in Seattle but it's been a while.)

[tuvor]

5. Sorry, I don't know anything about the UBC area.

All I pretty much know is the West End.

As far as safety's concerned, the West End is as safe as anywhere else.

Have you looked at tripadvisor at all?
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g154943-Vancouver_British_Columbia-Hotels.html

You can sort by price if you'd like, and read travelers' opinions.

Good luck!

[Sanity Claws]

8. Thanks.

I've sent your message to my friend. It looks really helpful.

[Tindalos]

6. Some suggestions

I go to UBC, so I hope some of this helps. I found a list of accommodations here http://www.linguistics.ubc.ca/wscla/accommodation.html Some UBC housing has guest rentals, not sure about price though. UBC is in one of the pricier parts of town. There are also links to B&Bs and hostels which may be more affordable.

UBC is about 30-40 minute bus ride from downtown (driving by car is about the same because Vancouver traffic is BAD). If your friend will spend most of her time downtown, then finding somewhere closer to downtown may be better. In general, further west is better and also more expensive. The worst area is Hastings and Main (the Downtown Eastside) so avoid hotels around there. That said, the Downtown Eastside only extends a few blocks and borders most of the interesting parts of Vancouver. I avoid it at night but walk through it all the time during the day to get places. If preferred, it is easily avoided by taking skytrain one or two stops.

Suggested places to visit in Vancouver include Chinatown, Robson street for shopping, Granville for shopping/entertainment, Stanley Park. There are lots of beaches and gardens (around UBC too). Granville Island is a huge market with fruit/veg, fish, arts and crafts. Richmond has a large open-air night market that runs until the end of Sept (or maybe into Oct?). Vancouver has a pretty good transit system and most places can be reached by bus/skytrain.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Hope your friend enjoys their trip.

[Sanity Claws]

7. Thank you.

I just send your message to my friend.
Are you in the Linguistics Dept.? The funny thing is that this friend has her Ph.D. in Linguistics.

[Tindalos]

9. Glad I could help.

I hope your friend enjoys her visit. UBC and Vancouver are very beautiful. I just started a PhD in Neuroscience at UBC and I love it there.