A West Coast Adventure
10 Days in Vancouver
August 17, 2026
By Raistlin van Spronsen
A West Coast Adventure
Vancouver, British Columbia is a city located on British Columbia’s West Coast. This sample itinerary is designed for you to get the most of your trip to BC’s largest city. While it is based on my personal travel in 2020, this itinerary can be modified to fit your own trip
Day 1: Travel Day
The first day of your trip (could be more depending on your travel method) is getting from your home to Vancouver. Since I am from Dawson Creek, this also includes a 45 minute drive up the Alaska Highway to the Fort St. John Airport to catch my flight to Vancouver.
The flight is about an hour and a half from push-back to landing in Vancouver. Upon arrival I collect my luggage and then head to the Canada Line SkyTrain to Waterfront Station.
At Waterfront I transfer to an Expo Line train (I can take either Production Way or King George as I switch before the train goes to Surrey) At Commercial-Broadway I switch trains again to Millennium Line to Lafarge Lake-Douglas, after disembarking in Coquitlam my host greets me and drives the remainder of the way to my accomodations
The rest of the travel day is used to create and edit the Trip Report video to be published on our YouTube channel.
Day 2: Gastown, UBC & Twwassen Mills
The first full day in Metro Vancouver takes us downtown to walk around Gastown, and the Waterfront area before meeting up with our friend for lunch near Commercial-Broadway Station. We ended up stopping a unique Chinese restaurant called Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant before catching a bus back to Commercial-Broadway and boarding the 99 B-Line to UBC. We then spend the next couple of hours walking around and touring the University of British Columbia campus which my friend attended university before coming up to Dawson.
After touring UBC we decieded to head to Twwassen Mills for dinner. Our first bus took us to Knight St, and another bus took us to Bridgeport Station, where we got onto the 620 Express bus to Twwassen Ferry Terminal (us getting off at Twwassen Mills) On our way back we took the bus to Bridgeport and then the SkyTrain to Broadway-City Hall and back onto the 99 B-Line to Commercial-Broadway where my friend took another bus home and I boarded the train home
Day 3: Granville Island
Day 3 wasn’t as full as Day 2 (getting home by 9pm compared to 4 or 5) and as usual we made our way to Waterfront Station and then boarded the 50 bus to Granville Island getting off at the closest stop to Granville Island, where we walked around the island, checking out local shops and eventually the Granville Island Public Market where we had our lunch. After lunch we walked along False Creek back to Science World where we’d catch the SkyTrain back to Coquitlam
Day 4: Downtown & North Vancouver
On this Saturday morning we headed to Canada Place, to meet up with a close friend who we worked with back home in Dawson Creek. (she moved a number of years ago to Vancouver) and spent the morning with walking around Downtown Vancouver seeing the Art Gallery, Vancouver Public Library and the CF Pacific Centre shopping centre before having lunch at Edo Japan (a national Japanese chain restaurant) in the food court of the CF Pacific Centre, we then made our way to Vancouver City Centre Canada Line station and rode the train to Marine Drive, and walked with each other to the bus stop.
After we parted ways, I jumped back onto the train to Waterfront and headed to the Seabus to North Vancouver and visited the Lonsdale Market (my next trip I want to venture into North Vancouver more) and the Lonsdale Quay area where I took some photos of the Vancouver Skyline and the Seabus vessels. I then took the Seabus back to Waterfront, and the SkyTrain to Main Street-Science World where I walked along False Creek towards Rogers Arena (home of the Vancouver Canucks) and BC Place/Plaza of Nations before heading back to Stadium-Chinatown Station to head back to Coquitlam
Day 5: Church & Metrotown
Sundays have always been relaxing for me no matter where I am. However since I was on vacation, but it was also during a time where we wanted to limit exposure I made the decision to watch church online instead of heading to a local church. Thankfully I was able to pull up the stream from Bethel Pentecostal Church (my home church) and watch the morning service
After church I headed to Metrotown (one of Vancouver’s largest shopping centers) to do some shopping in the afternoon before heading back to Coquitlam
Day 6: Stanley Park, Downtown
This Monday morning, my hosts would be leaving to head out of town for the week as we had previously discussed prior to my arrival. I said goodbye to them as I headed off on another day of adventure across Metro Vancouver. This morning I booked a rental bike to ride around the Vancouver Seawall in Stanley Park and have my lunch at English Bay. As I rode around Science World, Randy called me to meet at Commercial-Broadway Station.
I rode the bike back to the rental shop (I only paid for a 4 hour rental) and then headed to Burrard Station and took the train to Commercial-Broadway. I met Randy at a Second Cup coffee shop (It’s now a Tim Horton’s) and we rode the 99 B-Line to a Starbucks and walked around downtown visiting different businesses and small shops before heading for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant
Day 7: Tri-Cities
I spent what I thought was going to be my last day in the Tri-Cities area, I woke up to an email from Air Canada stating my evening flight back to FSJ the next was canceled and I was then booked onto the Thursday night flight. After a couple of phone calls to the bus company (from FSJ to Dawson) and the hotel I had everything reorganized to Thursday evening/Friday morning, and I headed to Lougheed Town Centre Station and went to Denny’s for Breakfast.
I then ventured around Lougheed Town Centre before heading to Coquitlam Centre to finish of Day 7
Day 8: Waterfront & Richmond
On this extra day, thanks to Air Canada cancelling my outbound flight and being rebooked on a evening flight the following day, I ventured downtown and walked though Waterfront Centre for something for breakfast, I eventually settled on having a small breakfast combo from McDonald’s, before heading to the Waterfront and taking in the action of the floatplanes, ships and Seabus traveling across the Vancouver Harbour. After a while I made my way towards Stadium-Chinatown Station and had lunch at White Spot on Dunsmuir.
After lunch I headed to Stadium-Chinatown Station to catch a train to Waterfront Station, at Waterfront I exited the Expo Line Station and made my way over to the Canada Line to catch a train to Richmond-Brighouse, getting off at Lansdowne Station to walk about 20 minutes to the Richmond Olympic Oval. The Oval holds signifiance for myself and many others as we skated here in 2009, ahead of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games
Day 9: Downtown & Fort St. John
My final morning in Vancouver, I met up with Randy once again and we headed to breakfast at one of his local spots. After breakfast we walked down Granville Island and then over the Granville Island bridge into Downtown Vancouver, eventually stopping at Granville Station, and boarding a train to Production Way-University, Randy and I parted ways at Commercial-Broadway as I continued onto Coquitlam Central before boarding a bus back to my accommodation.
Around 4pm, I got back on the bus and traveled to the Vancouver International Airport to catch my 8pm flight to Fort St. John, the flight landed around 10pm, and my cab showed up around 10:30pm as I arrived at the hotel around 10:45, and quickly checked in and then ordered some dinner. Being late I ordered a simple Chicken Alfredo from Domino’s Pizza and had it delivered to the hotel. After dinner I headed to bed
Day 10: Fort St. John & Dawson Creek
After a good nights sleep, I woke up in a hotel in Fort St. John, on my last travel day. I’d be making the last leg home to Dawson Creek by bus. I headed down to the main lobby; during the COVID-19 pandemic the hotel was doing a bagged breakfast which had a breakfast sandwich (egg. sausage and ham), fruit, and a juice. Around 11am, I checked out of the hotel and walked from the hotel to the Tim Horton’s on 100 St/105 Ave and had some brunch before heading to catch the bus.
After a short bus ride to Dawson Creek, I arrived shortly after 2pm and met up with Michael and we headed to Bill’s News to grab some minutes for his phone and then to the Telus store to load them before heading back to the Co-op Mall before heading home on public transit
