Vancouver

Stanley Park & the seawall

15 min walk from Canada Place to the park edge; bike rentals cluster there

Four hundred hectares of rainforest ringed by the world's longest waterfront path, with the Brockton Point totems, Lions Gate views and beaches en route. Walk a stretch free, or rent bikes (roughly CAD 10-15/hr, verify) and do the full 9km loop in about 90 glorious minutes. The single essential Vancouver thing.

Must try. Counter-clockwise is mandatory (one-way for bikes) and better anyway

Gastown & the steam clock

5 min from Canada Place

The cobbled original city: Victorian facades, the (1977, whisper it) steam clock performing on the quarter hour, and the best souvenir and gallery shopping near the pier. Touristy at the clock, genuinely good one street back.

FlyOver Canada

Inside Canada Place itself

The flight-ride over Canada's landscapes, literally in your cruise terminal building: the perfect embarkation-morning time-killer or rainy-hour save, roughly CAD 35 (verify). You'll fly over the mountains today twice: once here, once for real at sail-away.

Canada Place & the sail-away

Your terminal

The sail-roofed pier is an attraction itself: the Canadian Trail promenade, mountain-and-harbour panoramas, floatplanes landing beside you. And the sail-away under Lions Gate Bridge into the sunset is one of cruising's great departures: top deck, port side, camera ready.

Vancouver Aquarium

In Stanley Park

Canada's biggest aquarium, strong on Pacific coast life (sea otters being professionally adorable) and marine rescue storytelling. Roughly CAD 45 (verify): the pre-cruise primer for everything the kids will see wild in Alaska.

Sushi at Vancouver prices

Downtown and Robson St, everywhere

Vancouver sushi is a civic achievement: quality that embarrasses most cities at neighbourhood prices, plus the local invention to honour: the BC roll (barbecued salmon skin). The correct last dinner before ship food.

Must try. A BC roll alongside the usual suspects

Ramen row & the Pacific Rim eats

Robson/Denman corridor, 10-15 min walk

Robson Street's ramen cluster, dim sum institutions, and Japadog's hot-dog fusion carts: the Pacific Rim food city in a walkable strip between pier and park. Queue lengths are accurate reviews.

Must try. Japadog on the walk to Stanley Park

Indigenous art & Canadian staples

Gastown galleries and Granville Island studios

Northwest Coast prints and carvings from artist-run galleries (buy where the artist is named), maple everything, and Canadian outdoor-brand flagships for the Alaska layers you forgot. Gastown's authentic galleries beat the trinket rows by a street.

Museum of Anthropology (MOA), UBC

Bus ~40 min from downtown

One of the world's great Northwest Coast collections: monumental Haida poles, Bill Reid's Raven and the First Men, in a building worth the trip alone. The profound pre-Alaska context stop, for the extra-day itinerary.

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park

Free shuttle from Canada Place in season; ~25 min

The famous one: a 137-metre bridge over the gorge plus cliffwalks and treetop platforms, polished to a high sheen. Roughly CAD 65 adults (verify current), free shuttles from the pier. Worth it for bridge-collectors; Lynn Canyon for the rest of us.

FlyOver Canada

Inside Canada Place itself

The flight-ride over Canada's landscapes, literally in your cruise terminal building: the perfect embarkation-morning time-killer or rainy-hour save, roughly CAD 35 (verify). You'll fly over the mountains today twice: once here, once for real at sail-away.

Vancouver Aquarium

In Stanley Park

Canada's biggest aquarium, strong on Pacific coast life (sea otters being professionally adorable) and marine rescue storytelling. Roughly CAD 45 (verify): the pre-cruise primer for everything the kids will see wild in Alaska.

Indigenous art & Canadian staples

Gastown galleries and Granville Island studios

Northwest Coast prints and carvings from artist-run galleries (buy where the artist is named), maple everything, and Canadian outdoor-brand flagships for the Alaska layers you forgot. Gastown's authentic galleries beat the trinket rows by a street.