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In this post, I will give you some options on how to enjoy 48 hours in Vancouver if you love nature and if you only want to use public transportation to get around.
This is based on our personal experience, which was great, so for that reason, we wanted to share it with you.
Also, we are vegan, so I will share where we ate to satisfy our vegan stomachs.
I will leave all the links to the places we visited so that you can do your research. So let's dive right in!
Table of Contents
Let's imagine you are on your Working Holiday in Canada, and this is a weekend getaway.
You arrive on Friday night in Vancouver and leave Sunday night. So you have two full days to enjoy.
Day 1: Giving it all on the bike
Breakfast
Start the day with a fantastic breakfast at Heirs Pears. They have vegan options and sweet and savoury treats that you will love.
We had a tempeh sandwich, doughnut and peanut butter pie for breakfast. We served them with a creamy oat milk latte, and everything was perfect.
They also gave us water which we used to refill our reusable water bottles.
Bike rental
With all the energy you take from that breakfast. We recommend going to Spokes bicycle rentals, where you can choose the bike of your preference (helmet and lock are included).
You sign up on a tablet and let them register your credit card, and then off you go.
When you return, they calculate how many hours you have used it and charge you accordingly. For example, we used it for around 5 hours and paid about 33 CAD each.
The experience was excellent. The whole place was bike friendly. We toured Stanley Park stopped at the beach and several times to take pictures.
As I mentioned, this area is bike-friendly, including separate pedestrian areas. So you could always stop to take pictures, and the bikes were super comfortable.
I was in a dress, so I chose a bike with seven gears, and it was comfortable the whole time. I spent 5 hours using it, and I didn't feel any discomfort.
Aldo chose a mountain bike which was also comfortable.
The landscapes were beautiful. I think it was one of the best experiences of my life, so give it a try!
Eat a treat
We were biking and found two events, one with Opera and one with Jazz. The summer is pretty active, so be sure to check around.
We stopped at the jazz concert, and there was an ice cream food truck called Rocky Point. It was wonderful! They had vegan options; I highly recommend trying the mango and coconut vanilla, which are so creamy and delicious!
Continue biking
After stopping for a bite to eat, I recommend continuing the route by bike along the rest of the bikeway. The place is beautiful.
Dinner
To end this day, I recommend going to Good dogs plant food. They serve vegan hot dogs with different gourmet condiments, which are excellent.
I tried one with cabbage, crispy onions, mustard and ketchup, which was terrific.
They also have beer and salads if you want to try them.
Day 2: Enjoying nature
When we were there, we stayed in a city called Delta, which was about an hour from Vancouver by public transport, so we used our Compass card.
Let's think that this is your last day and you have to check out of the place where you stayed, so this is our recommendation.
Store your luggage at the airport
If you are leaving the place where you stayed, use public transportation to the airport first thing in the morning so that you can leave your luggage stored at the airport.
We left a carry-on suitcase plus two backpacks for 30 CAD, using the service of the company CDS baggage, and that freed us from having to go back to the place or ask for a late checkout.
Breakfast
Since we arrived at the airport around 9 am, we had breakfast there. You can find Tim Hortons, Starbucks and more.
We bought two oat milk lattes at Tim Hortons and found a vegan sandwich at Subway.
We bought the largest one, so we only ate half for breakfast and saved the other half for lunch.
Go to The Capilano Suspension Bridge.
From the airport, I suggest going to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. You can do this trip using the compass card used by Vancouver Public Transit.
To go there, follow the instructions below:
Take the Canada Line
Using the compass card, take the subway from YVR airport to the last station, Waterfront.
Take the Sea bus
There is a free bus from Canada Place to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, but we wanted to experience the Sea bus, so we took it here.
It's a 15-minute boat that drops you off on the other side.
It was adorable, and I recommend taking this short trip.
Another tip, you'll see some flyers in the terminal. Make sure you grab one with discounts because it helped us get 10 CAD on our bridge ticket (yey!).
Take bus 236
At the same terminal where the Sea bus drops you off, you will need to take the 236 bus, which is about 20 minutes will drop you off outside the Capilano Suspension Bridge.
You can buy tickets at the entrance; the cost was around 65 CAD per person. However, with the discount we found before taking the Sea bus, we got 10 CAD off.
If you are a British Columbia resident, you can have an annual pass for the value of a day pass, so make sure you check the website to get the benefit.
This place is beautiful; it took us about 2.5 hours to cross the bridge, walk through the trees, do the route under the trees, we saw birds of prey (raptors) and then, on the way back, we walked through the Cliffwalk.
There is a place where you can sit and buy some treats; as we brought our snack, we could have lunch without problems.
If it rains, they provide free ponchos, so don't worry.
Going to Grouse Mountain
Once you are done visiting the Capilano Suspension Bridge. I recommend you get out again to take the next 236, which in 10 minutes will take you to Grouse Mountain.
The entrance fee is quite expensive but well worth it. For two adults, we paid 144.90 CAD.
We waited a couple of minutes, and they took us up the Skyride. The scenery was beautiful.
I recommend not to go when it rains. In our case, it was so foggy that you could not see well, and it was too cold to enjoy more activities.
Anyway, we enjoyed the experience. We walked around and found BeaverTails, where we tried a classic beavertail. (You should have seen my happy face when we found this place - I love Beavertails)
We saw a raptor exhibition but then moved on because we are not fans of animals in shows.
We also saw two grizzly bears that they've had since they were babies. According to the description, they were found after their mothers were killed by a car.
We then took refuge in the main entrance, had hot chocolate with oat milk, and ate delicious veggie samosas.
After waiting a few minutes, we went back using the Skyride to go down. The trees looked beautiful from that height, so I highly recommend taking this trip.
Finally, since our luggage was already at the airport, we took public transportation again (bus 236), then the Sea bus and the Canada Line from Waterfront to YVR airport and caught our plane back to Mississauga.
I hope you feel inspired to go to these beautiful places to make the most of your 48 hours there.
Remember to visit the post on How to travel in Canada on a budget where you can find more ideas to make your trips more affordable.