We could write about Vancouver for forever, but to keep this list short and sweet without overwhelming you with a ton of choices, every category only has 3 suggestions. Trust us, this was super hard to narrow down, but subscribe to our Vancouver Guide if you want the full run-down!

Getting to Vancouver is pretty easy. Tons of ways in on the highways, via boats and cruises, seaplanes, regular planes, trains, and bus. Vancouver is also a complete treat if you come by plane, because there is a train service that runs from the airport directly into downtown. It’s 9.20$ and takes about 30 or so minutes. Depending on how far your hotel is from the various skytrain stations located downtown, it’s worth taking it for the convenience and the ability to avoid traffic. Parking is pretty expensive in Vancouver, and a little pricey at the hotels too. You’ll just want to do valet because the price difference with self park is marginal.

Places To Stay

Definitely stay downtown if it’s your first visit to Vancouver, or if you planned on not having a rental car. We love the Pan Pacific, the Fairmont Pacific Rim, and the Sheraton. All of these hotels are in great locations, the hotels themselves are really nice, and have lots of amenities like a gym, spa, or pool. People like to stay at airbnb but this city struggles with housing affordability, so they crack down often on illegal airbnbs. There are a lot of stratas (think HOA) in downtown Vancouver that do not permit short term stays so your host could cancel your booking without any notice. So in my opinion, it’s too risky to book airbnb in Vancouver.

• Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, central location close to lots of restaurants and shopping. We also love this hotel because its DOG-FRIENDLY!!
• Fairmont Pacific Rim, luxurious stay with beautiful rooms and views, and especially for the the spa lovers. The BEST spa with rooftop lounges, hot tubs, and sauna.
• Pan Pacific, beautiful view and great amenities. Pan Pacific also has a roof top spa and it’s higher and closer to the water views than compared to the Fairmont. Huge hotel and views of the North Shore or city.

Where To Eat

There are so many places to eat! These are the ones I recommend, because I love interesting menus, food quality, and great restaurant vibes.

Breakfast

• Medina, there is no other place for breakfast, lunch, or brunch. It’s worth the lineup, trust us.
• Pier 7 (North Van) – great brunch menu and views of downtown Vancouver.

Lunch

• The Poke Guy, filling and healthy lunch of poke with your choice of fixings!
• Festal, they call themselves a Paleo cafe. We think healthy comfort food. I like the turkey chilli with the cassava focaccia bread.
• MeeT in Gastown, vegetarian and vegan fare! Nice ambience, great menu selection.

Dinners

• Nightingale, modern Canadian cuisine. I always order the roasted cauliflower and grilled arctic char
• Copper Chimney, Indian inspired west coast cuisine. Order the platter so you can try all their tandoori.
• Blue Water Cafe, the best place to go for seafood in Vancouver.

Best Places To Eat With A View:

• The Teahouse in Stanley Park, west coast cuisine. You’ll have a view of the water and Burrard Inlet.
• Cardero’s, another seafood restaurant. For a view of Stanley Park and a place to eat nearby.
• Cactus Club Coal Harbour, this is a “chain restaurant” but it started in Vancouver, and their menus are awesome. In the summer this location opens up their windows and you have the most stunning view of Stanley Park, in what feels like a very intimate setting.

Happy Hours

I love a good happy hour, especially on vacation. These are my favourites because of the vibes, food menu, buck a shuck (more like 1.50$) oysters, and drink selection.

• Joe Fortes, in the summer be sure to hit up their rooftop patio
• Fanny Bay Oyster Bar, very low key and quiet, a great hidden gem.
• The Keg in Yaletown, again with the rooftop patio! Great happy hour food and beverages.

All Things Sweet (Desserts)

• Thierry Chocolates, hands down my favourite Patisserie. The tiramisu or mille feuille are divine.
• Ladurée Robson, Yes! Vancouver has one! Macarons are flown in from France.
• Nero Belgian Waffle Bar, for authentic Belgian Liege waffles.

Things To Do

• Bike or walk around Stanley Park on the seawall! This is a must-do! Try to hit up English Bay and stay in the seawall and to False Creek and Olympic Village. You could even make it to Granville Market, which is another must-do.
• Granville Island Public Market, a huge farmer’s market. Love this place for food, bread, treats, arts and crafts.
• Steamclock in Gastown, and then then hang out/shop/eat in Gastown too!

The post 3 Days in Vancouver BC – The Ultimate List appeared first on The Lifestyle Of Us.

Starbucks Reserve Bar

(This post is going to be part of a “What to do with 3 days in Vancouver” blog post, which I’m currently writing, so I’ll update this with a link when it’s live)

The Starbucks Reserve Bar is located on Granville and West Pender in downtown Vancouver. It’s essentially connected to Pacific Center, the huge shopping complex in downtown. The Reserve Bar is huge and it’s an awesome place to visit if you’ve never been before, or a great place to meet for coffee to change up the scenery.

There’s a beautiful entrance area with a feature menu, and you head towards the back to make your drink order. Of course you can order your regular beverage, but I would recommend ordering something like a pour over, a siphon coffee, or nitro brew – because you can’t get these types of drinks at any regular Starbucks. The Reserve Bar still functions like a regular Starbucks, they take your name and call it out when your drink is ready. My friend and I only had a very short time to catch up, so we decided on nitro cold brews with sweet cream.

The best experience is actually ordering a siphon coffee, because you get to sit down at the bar with a barista to watch your coffee being made in the siphon! It’s looks like this scientific experiment, and the coffee is insanely delicious. I am pretty caffeine resistant, but I found that drinking siphon coffee had a rocket fuel effect on me. Definitely have it earlier in the day, if you have trouble falling asleep at night due to caffeine.

With siphon coffee, they fill the bottom bulb with water, and a heater is turned on below it. The water boils and heads up into the upper chamber, the cup looking piece of glass. Then they pull it off the heater, and the coffee gets pulled back down into the bulb. I’m going to look to see if I can find old pictures and videos so you can tell what I’m talking about.

For pour overs, (which are commonly ceramic or metal devices), it’s kind of like the cup that holds the grinds in a traditional coffee maker. You put a filter into the holder, and then the beans into the filter, and then you pour hot water over it. The coffee comes out of a little hole at the bottom of the pour over, and drips into your cup!

Nitro cold brews is cold brew coffee that is dispensed like a beer from a tap that infuses nitrogen. Hence “nitro” cold brew. Why on earth would you want to drink nitrogen-infused coffee?! It makes the cold brew super creamy and delicious. It has amazing mouthfeel and super velvety on the tongue. Since it’s just cold brew coffee, it’s also super low in calories, like it’s 5 calories… unless you get it with sweet cream. But even then with sweet cream, it’s not many more calories as a tall is only 70 calories. It’s phenomenal.

If you are having cold brew for the first time, I highly recommend getting it black… even if you don’t drink black coffee. Because that way you get to experience the true taste of the cold brew, then you can add additional fixings like cream and sugar if you wish. I always love having my coffees with soy or “oat mylk”, but I do love a black cold brew. It’s not super acidic or bitter, as sometimes you might associate with plain black coffee. Also, it’s not JUST plain black coffee, it’s a nitro cold brew!

Considering how big it is and how many people were around, it wasn’t terribly noisy. So if you wanted to come enjoy a beautiful coffee and do some work, it’s a good place to do so. There’s tons of seating for 1-2 people, and then a few more tables towards the back for larger parties. The bathrooms are also really cool. It’s all individual rooms and then shared sinks. The sinks have the integrated heads that offer soap, water, and the dryer. Overall, it’s a super nice Reserve Bar and I love that it’s in Vancouver. It’s in a super great location, and I love the vibe. I highly recommend a visit if you haven’t already, Reserve Bars are my favourite!

What do you think of this bar concept? Are you a coffee drinker? Have you been to a Starbucks Reserve Bar? Let me know your thoughts about this post in the comments below! 

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The post What To Order At A Starbucks Reserve Bar appeared first on The Lifestyle Of Us.