Port guide: Vancouver, Canada

One of the world’s most organised cruise terminals makes for an easy arrival in a city happily married to the sea.

Who goes there

2023 set a new record, with 332 cruise ships carrying 1.5 million passengers visiting Vancouver over its April to October cruise season. Many are cruising roundtrip to Alaska. Expect just about every cruise company, from mega-ships to small expedition vessels. Vancouver is also a departure or arrival port for destinations such as the US west coast, Mexico and Hawaii, and repositioning cruises across the North Pacific to Asia.

Sail on in

You’ll want to be ready for the sail-in as you approach the city along the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Vancouver Island and Washington state, scattered with pine-topped islands. You glide beneath Lions Gate Bridge right into downtown Vancouver, skyscrapers glistening on one side, distant mountains flaunting snow caps on the other.

Ponant ship Le Soleal sailing under Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver Harbour.Credit: Ponant

Berth rites

Canada Place, a cruise terminal that incorporates shops, restaurants and a convention centre, has a distinctive series of pointy white Teflon roofs that mimic yacht sails, although it might remind you of baked Alaska. Good news: this is one of North America’s most efficient cruise terminals and is well served by taxis, rapid transit and airport shuttles. You’ve no need to pay for pricey cruise transfers, and you can walk or bus into town.

Before and after

You should certainly stay on in Vancouver, or use it as a springboard to visit other destinations in British Columbia. You’ll find Pan Pacific Vancouver inside Canada Place – many rooms have terrific harbour and mountain views. Another fine hotel, Fairmont Waterfront, is just across the road.

Vancouver and its remarkable waterways and skyline.Credit: Albert Normandin

Going ashore

While downtown Vancouver lacks striking monuments and major tourist sights, you can’t beat its harbour setting, mountain backdrop, sophisticated arts and theatre scene, and multicultural dining: this is a city for savouring rather than sightseeing. Inspect Canadian wilderness paintings at Vancouver Art Gallery, then get wandering down Robson and Granville streets, and around Stanley Park, Granville Island and English Bay.

Don’t miss

Looking for something different? Take a bus ride to the University of British Columbia (UBC). Nitobe Memorial Garden is a glorious Japanese garden, especially in autumn when maples turn bronze. UBC Botanical Garden is also delightful. The university’s outstanding Museum of Anthropology has a terrific First Nations collection of totem poles, painted canoes, ceremonial masks and jewellery.

Get active

Vancouver is a scenic, outdoorsy city strung with promenades and patch-worked with parks. Seawall walks start right from the cruise terminal and eventually lead right around the edge of peninsular Stanley Park, with bracing views all the way. The circuit around the park runs 10 kilometres, so you might want to rent a bike. Kayak in False Creek, where seals sometimes flop, or wilder Indian Arm, watched by bald eagles. Kitsilano Beach has a heated saltwater swimming pool – and frigid ocean.

Best bites

Nightingale near the cruise terminal has lip-smacking shared plates that showcase multi-ethnic-influenced, seasonal British Columbian cuisine. Railtown and Gastown are former industrial districts turned trendy, now notable for their lively restaurant and bar scenes. Try Tacofino for modern Mexican, L’Abbatoir for meaty (and fishy) French, and Alibi Room for boutique beer and fancy pub grub. Next door, Chinatown is also undergoing a Renaissance: check out Bao Bei or Torafuku for Asian-fusion, tapas-style dishes.

Further afield

Given Vancouver is mostly an arrival or departure port, excursions are usually limited to city highlights, sometimes combined with an airport drop-off. However, on cruises that do pass through, excursions might take you beyond the city to Grouse Mountain, which you can ascend by cable car for astonishing views, or Capilano suspension bridge, which spans a forested ravine with an adjacent, cantilevered cliff-top walk.