Vancouver Hop On Hop Off: Bus or Trolley?

When I'm visiting a large city, I always like to do some sort of hop on hop off bus tour if time permits. Vancouver is the type of place where making time for a hop-on hop-off bus tour is worth it.

These tours are great on the first day of a Vancouver vacation. Riding one of these buses is a way to get acquainted with Vancouver quickly. While not every major city has a hop on hop off bus, travelers to Vancouver should take advantage of this convenient way to sight-see.

For Vancouver, a couple of companies run hop on hop off bus tours.

• Vancouver Big Bus Hop-on Hop-off Tour
• Vancouver Trolley Hop-on Hop-off Tour
• Stanley Park Trolley (free)

I did the Big Bus sightseeing tour on their Hop-On Hop-Off bus. Big Bus operates two styles of buses: a double-deck bus and a single-deck open-top bus. Both styles circulate around Big Bus's tour route and you can hop-on either style bus. If the weather is nice, the open-top bus is the way to go.

Here are the Big Bus tour stops. During peak season the buses are scheduled for every 5 or 10 minutes except during lunch when they run every 15 minutes. In my experience, at a few stops it seemed like we were waiting forever.

1. Gastown
2. The Station
3. Canada Place
4. Marriot
5. Hyatt
6. Art Gallery
7. Bosman
8. Quality Inn
9. Granville Island
10. Entertainment district South
11. Century Plaza
12. West End-Davie street
13. English Bay Beach
14. Second Beach
15. Stanley Park
16. Robson Shopping District
17. Robson at Burrard
18. Entertainment District North
19. Library
20. Sandman Hotel
21. Georgian Court
22. Chinatown

The Vancouver Trolley Hop-On Hop-off Tour makes the following stops every 20 or so minutes. The stops are very similar to the Big Bus Tour's stops, though the Vancouver Trolley makes more stops in Stanley Park.

1. Gastown (175 Water St)
2. Seabus Terminal
3. Canada Place
4. Marriott Pinnacle/Renaissance
5. Hyatt Regency (Melville St)
6. Art Gallery (Howe St)
7. Holiday Inn (Howe St)
8. Quality Inn (Howe St
9. Marriott Residence/Landis
10. Sheraton Wall Center
11. Blue Horizon (Robson St)
12. Westin Bayshore Resort
13. Stanley Park - Pavilion/Rose Garden
14. Stanley Park - Vancouver Aquarium
15. Stanley Park - Totem Poles
16. Stanley Park - Prospect Park
17. English Bay (Beach & Davie - beach side)
18. Bute and Pacific
19. Vanier Park
20. Granville Island (Island Market)
21. Yaletown (Homer Street)
22. Library Square (Homer Street)
23. Chinatown (Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden)
24. Police Museum (Gore Street)

Both the Big Bus tour and Vancouver Trolley tour cover central Vancouver's biggest attractions. However, neither cross the Lion's Gate Bridge over to northern Vancouver, home of Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The tours also do not go anywhere near the UBC Anthropology Museum and the UBC Botanical Gardens which are both good attractions to see during an extended stay in Vancouver.

Other guided bus tours go directly from Vancouver to attractions like these, but they are not hop-on hop-off. For most destinations on the outskirts of Vancouver, a local commuter bus is the cheapest way to get around without renting a car.

What I do like about the hop-on hop-off tours is the convenience. Rather than trying to navigate to these areas by car by myself and then try to find parking in these areas, the bus makes getting around Vancouver easier.

With either of these hop-on hop-off options, you'll have time to look
at the things you may not see from a car or when walking around.

A third hop-on hop-off bus line operates solely within Stanley Park. The Stanley Park Trolley is free and makes 15 stops throughout Stanley Park. The route follows the perimeter of Stanley Park and makes stops near the attractions and some of the best vantage points in the park.

Stopping at every stop would be too much for one day in Stanley Park. A good itinerary would include a stop at the totem poles, cooling off in the pool at second beach, doing a hike on one of the trails, and hanging out at a few of the look-out points. I liked the Prospect Point stop because of the view of the Lion's Gate Bridge.

Whatever you do, don't stay in your hotel room all day. Go out and see Vancouver!