8 hour stop over in Vancouver
 

My family and I are flying to San Francisco via a 8 hour daytime stopover in Vancouver Airport. Can anyone tell me if there is time for us to visit the city or do we stay in the airport? Also if we do visit the city can we put our cases in safe storage within the airport and then leave the airport to visit the city?

Welcome to Flyertalk, Debbieastan I am moving your thread to the Canada Forum. Please follow there.
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Questions
 

What day of the week is this going to happen on? exact times? 6am to 2pm or 1pm to 9pm?
Where are you flying in from?
Which airline are you flying in and out on?
Will this be one ticket or two?
What nationality are you and what travel document will you be using?

All these will add to time you will spend at YVR upon arrival and before departure. Flying to SFO will require US CBP entry pre-cearing at YVR which adds to yu time.

There is baggage storage available in the international and domestic terminals:

http://www.yvr.ca/en/passengers/shop...d-services/276

You can take the Canada Line rapid transit from the terminal into the city and back to the airport, ~30 minutes each way. The entrance to the station is on the departures level between the domestic and international terminals. I suggest you go to the end of the line, Waterfront Station, where it is an easy walk to Canada Place and the shoreline walkway, great views of the harbour and mountains.

Plan on arriving back at YVR at least two hours before your flight to check bags, clear security and US customs and immigration.

Great questions. But weather permitting and assuming it's the right time of day, on an eight-hour layover you'll have plenty of time to stroll around the waterfront and other parts of the city, have a nice and leisurely meal, etc.

This thread answers most of our questions but to be complete.

What day of the week is this going to happen on? exact times? arr 0715 depart 1620 hrs.
Where are you flying in from-Munich
Which airline are you flying in AC and out on LH to Frankfurt.
Will this be one ticket or two- One
What nationality are you and what travel document will you be using? Australian and Australian passport.

We would like to catch the train downtown and have lunch there and or take a harbour cruise.
Would catching a train from the city centre say 120 minutes pre our flight departure time be safe?

Getting a harbour cruise coordinated might be optimistic, but taking the SeaBus across the harbour is easily do-able and highly recommended:

http://i.cbc.ca/1.2857040.1417498350...yage-dec-1.jpg

At the YVR train station, buy a daypass, and when you get to Waterfront Station exit the train and follow the signs for the SeaBus. It's part of the regular transit system.

The harbour crossing takes about 10-12 minutes and once you get to Lonsdale Quay (pronounced "key") on the other side you'll have a wealth of food options at the Public Market. Just exit the SeaBus terminal and turn right.

At Lonsdale Quay you can climb the stairs under the big "Q" and have a great view of the city and harbour from the lookout tower:

http://lynncanyon.ca/assets/DSC_1804.jpg

Thank you for all your advice.
I would never just stopover for 8 hours again.
Still, the train and Seabus were great and the connections were fine.
We had fun back at the airport station when we went to the ticket issuing machines and offered our all day passes to people in the queue to save them money.
My impression is that Canadians do not usually don't do this kind of thing.

That actually used to be illegal in the day of paper tickets.

ha at every station they have (had?) a locked bin for you to dispose of your paper tickets and a sign scolding people that pass back is unlawful and subject to a fine

i never thought about passing back, but then when i saw that i went out of my way to do it. i'm glad you did

Ironically, the stats would suggest that Australians don't generally do this either....
http://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index
http://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-law-around-world

so i am not surprised by the reactions.

I have never heard of the "world justice project"

Has anyone else?

Vancouver I would say is one of the more manageable stopover cities in the world. You can train from airport direct to downtown in 30mins or so and the city center is so walkable you can see a lot of the highlights in 2-3 hours, gastown, waterfront, a bit of stanley park, robson street etc.

Even with a 4hour stopover, it would not be completely crazy to go downtown just to see the waterfront/harbour and gastown for an hour or so - if you have never been to Vancouver before. The waterfront is by far the highlight of the city imho.