LTX 2023 Visitor guide/things to do

[PizzaDad]

I would like to create a little cheat sheet (in addition to/expanding on https://www.ltxexpo.com/travel) for people visiting Vancouver for LTX. Think good food and coffee, Lodging options, Interesting Bars, transit tips or experience options for those that might add an extra day or two to their stay. For those who have attended LTX before, post your own personal favorite spots you plan to visit again. Do you want tips for specific dietary needs? niche hobby stores? Ask here, it's like a smaller, worse version of google... goo if you will. 

 

I can start this off with some good base level stuff:

-Transit is good. Save yourself hassle and stay near a sky train station if possible to give yourself quick easy access to the convention center and pretty much anywhere else you want to go! Waterfront station is right beside the convention center and is on the Canada line and Expo line. Also the sky train station is right inside the airport!

-Pizza Garden makes great pizza that I like to eat. I would recommend The Ruchetta. What is a trip without ordering pizza?

-Vancouver is legit beautiful and surrounded by breathtaking nature. Stay a day and look at it. Walk off all those pizza calories! https://happiestoutdoors.ca/vancouver-hikes-on-transit/

[Livin]

Oh man, there's so much that could be put in this.  I thought I had a long post for this from a previous LTX but I can't seem to find it....so diving right in!

 

I may edit this post with fixed links if I messed anything up or updates if I think of other things

1.) Transit

 

Skytrain is your friend - This will by far be the easiest way to get around if you don't have a car rental.  There are a few different lines, so you will want to familiarize yourself with some of the routes/transfers ahead of time, but you can literally take it from Vancouver Airport all the way to the LTX 2023 venue location (Vancouver Convention Center).  There are a number of stations that have hotels very near as well, so this could be all you need for transportation.

 

Rideshare - As opposed to the last LTX in 2019, Vancouver does indeed have ride sharing now with both Lyft and Uber.  I personally do not use it much so I can't speak to it's availability or comparison to other major cities in Canada/US, but at least it is an option now.

 

Car rentals - Honestly unless you are specifically looking to go or do something that would require a rental, you are probably better off with the two options above.  Now that's not to say there are not amazing things to go and do around and outside of Vancouver, but purposefully plan this.  Driving in Vancouver is not great for a lot of the down town area.

 

2.) Food/Pubs/Etc.

 

I'll try to keep this section centered around Vancouver with skytrain access (within walking distance of skytrain stations).  There will be a ton of other great places to eat, but here's a few of my recommendations:

 

Tap and Barrel - A great place for some decent eats and a good selection of beer.  Has a location basically at the venue (Convention Center Location) as well as one a few Skytrain stations away (Olympic Village Location).  Both of these locations are right next to the water.

 

CRAFT Beer Market - Good pub food and shareables, MASSIVE amounts of beer selection.  I have only to one of the two located in Vancouver but that one in Olympic Village (False Creek Location) has easily 75+ taps.  Their other location (English Bay Location) looks to have a decent selection as well based on the menu.  English Bay would be a bit more of a trek to get to (about a half hour walk), but still doable and you'll get a bit of exploring downtown Vancouver in the process.  Can get a bit loud during the busy times, but still a great place to eat and drink.

 

St. Augustine's - Yet another restaurant with great beer selection (60+ taps - can you tell I like beer yet?).  A little further away from the Convention Center but almost right under a Skytrain station, so easy to get to (Google map link).

 

Maruhachi Ramen - Something not centered around pub food and beer finally!  Great ramen, fairly straight forward and simple.  Their Central Library location is a longer walk (25 minutes) or quick hop on the Skytrain away from the Convention Center.

Jinya Ramen Bar - Another ramen recommendation.  Has more selection than Maruhachi and more appetizer/side options, but is a bit more expensive.  Robson street Vancouver location is again a longer walk (25 minutes) or quick hop on the Skytrain.

Patron Tacos & Cantina - Decent mexican fare.  Good margaritas.  A bit pricier, but worth it.  Google maps link and in the same relative area as the last two.

The Old Spaghetti Factory - Depending on who you ask you can get different responses as to whether or not this place is worth going to.  The Gastown location is in a neat part of town though and decor really interesting.  Unsurprisingly, they specialize in.....spaghetti!  If you go, make sure you have some spumoni ice cream .  TRAVELER WARNING: If you stray a few blocks south and/or east from gas town, you quickly enter the somewhat infamous Vancouver down town east side (East Hastings).  This area unfortunately struggles with lots of homelessness challenges and can be sketchy to walk around in, even during the day.

 

3.) Nearby things to do

 

Stanley Park - A very large park at the north end of Vancouver.  Lots to do in the park itself (see the link).  Great place to just explore and walk around too.  You could feasibly walk there, but may want to bus there and back if you are going to be spending lots of time walking.  Google map link

Science World - Edutainment!  Geared towards science and learning but in a fun way.  Can be enjoyed by people of all ages!  You would probably want to set aside 3 hours or so to make your way through exhibits/activities.   Google map link - a quick skytrain hop away from the convention center (literally has it's own station).

Vancouver Seawall - A nice walking path along the waters edge that runs for 28km (17 miles).  This is directly accessible from the Convention Center location, so you can just start going from there or pick up from another spot like Stanley Park or English Bay.

Gastown - Interesting part of town to explore a little bit.  Lots of restaurants, bars, a brewery, souvenir shops, etc.  I'll paste the warning I had above as well here.....TRAVELER WARNING: If you stray a few blocks south and/or east from gas town, you quickly enter the somewhat infamous Vancouver down town east side (East Hastings).  This area unfortunately struggles with lots of homelessness challenges and can be sketchy to walk around in, even during the day

Legacy Liquor Store - I like to call this place out as a neat spot to check out for your various alcoholic beverages.  Whether it be beer, scotch, bourbon, tequila, etc. you'll be sure to find something new and interesting here.  It's located in the Olympic Village Square which is nice and close to the water.  If you're interested in continuing on from here you can take the Aquabus/False Creek Ferry to.....

Granville Island - A culture center with lots of neat shops and a large public market.  Lots of things to see and experience.  You'll want to likely take the Skytrain to Science World and then the Aquabus/False Creek Ferry from Olympic Village to get here.

4.) Some local breweries

 

A call out to some of the breweries in and around Vancouver.  Again, there are many that won't be in the list, but here's a few I have enjoyed.  Many of these won't be as easy to get to by skytrain, but where there's a will there's a way....!
 

Steamworks Brew Pub - In Gastown, relatively close.  Google map link

Granville Island Brewing - On Granville Island (mentioned above).  Google map link
Strathcona Beer Company - Google map link
Andina Brewing Company - Google map link

Storm Brewing Ltd - Google map link

East Van Brewing - Google map link

Strange Fellows Brewing - Google map link

Parallel 49 Brewing Company - Google map link

Bomber Brewing - Google map link

 

5.) Things a little further away

 

White Rock - About an hour south of Vancouver by car.  Main strip of Marine Drive runs along the water with a bunch of restaurants and shops on one side and then a beach on the other.  Typically a little cold to be swimming, but some people still do.  Google map link (to the general area)

 

Golden Ears Park - A bit over an hour away by car to the east in to the Fraser Valley.  Some amazing views to be had while hiking in and around the mountain and forest.  https://www.alltrails.com/parks/canada/british-columbia/golden-ears-provincial-park.

 

Squamish - A bit over an hour away by car to the north.  Another great hiking destination.  https://www.alltrails.com/canada/british-columbia/squamish  If you head this direction you can also check out Backcountry Brewing (Google map link) or Howe Sound Brewing (Google map link)

 

Whistler Village - About 2 hours from Vancouver by car.  The venue of the ski and snowboard events for the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.  Many things to do, places to see, restaurants to eat at.  Google map link

[Elektra57]

Download "Skip The Dishes" if you want to order food to your hotel. https://www.skipthedishes.com/

 

Poutine: Smokes. It is soooooo freaking good. https://smokespoutinerie.com/

 

Hop on hop off bus tours: https://www.vancouverplanner.com/hop-on-hop-off-vancouver/

• These tickets are good for 24 hours. You get to see Vancouver and can hop off when you want to explore and catch another bus when you are done. Also recommend the

Electric boat tour. https://electricharbourtours.com/

• I am biased on this one since the boat's name is Elektra. We learned a lot. It was extremely relaxing and we got to see several float planes take off and land. Made friends with a little seal.

Granville Island: https://granvilleisland.com/

• This is a stop on the hop on hop off bus tour. Go hungry. This was one of my favourite places. We went a couple of times.

The Sky Train was my son's favourite thing. It was like a roller coaster, lol.

 

We loved The Old Spaghetti Factory. The food was really good.

 

We only had one scary incident. We were followed by a homeless man at night. We were walking from Gastown to our hotel after a ghost tour down a very dark street which was really dumb. He got spooked and stopped. Other than that, we did not have any issues except getting lost in Surrey on our way to LMG office tour. I want to go see Whistler this year and do some more things we missed. There is so much to do. Victoria is on my bucket list this year as well. I would like to go whale watching and kayaking too. I am a list making fiend. I make itineraries. We don't always stick to them but it helps. Especially to prioritize your time.

 

I will say some of the best things about Vancouver are free. You can not beat the serenity that Vancouver has. It is such a magical, healing place. The mountains and the water. One of my favourite things was just sitting and taking in all of the beautiful scenery. It is good for the soul to stop and appreciate nature. I also loved how environmentally friendly it is there. I have only been once and it is one of my most favourite places on Earth.

 

PS. I had such a crap phone. Dennis made fun of it and said the picture was so bad. Can't wait for a redo.

You can find some great YouTube travel guides:

 

[eLTee]

Some more outdoorsey stuff over North shore:

Capilano Suspension Bridge

35 mins via bus or coach from downtown

closes at 7pm

 

Grouse Grind / Grouse Mountain Gondola

40 mins via bus from downtown

open 7am to 7pm

 

Cypress Mountain

https://cypressmountain.com/visitors-guide

80 mins via coach from Vancouver art gallery

7am to 7pm

 

Seawall walk

If you like walking, there is a seawall around the entire of Vancouver downtown

https://www.awalkandalark.com/vancouver-seawall/

 

Evening stuff:

 

Fireworks

https://hondacelebrationoflight.com/
As others has already said in other threads - The annual fireworks competition "Honda Celebration of Light" 3rd and final display is on the Saturday 29th July from a barge off English Bay. It will be absolutely rammed downtown, it gets a bit crazy and there is a ton of energy in the city. We wont be able to see it from the expo center, its a 25m walk.

 

Breweries

There is a lot of local beer and microbrewries in Vancovuer.

I suggest East Van or Mount Pleasant as the two best areas - just dont walk there, get an uber.

https://justbeerapp.com/guides/ca/bc/vancouver/map

 

VR gaming centers

Never been to these, but revirewed well - both around Mt Pleasant:

http://www.evolvevr.ca/

http://zerolatencybc.com/

 

Seabus to North Shore Shipyards

you can take the seabus over the water to the north shore where there are eateries and a few bars, as well as more breweries

https://theshipyardsdistrict.ca/

 

Travel tips: 

 

Sign up for one of the car sharing apps.
EVO - https://evo.ca/ which is a pretty decent car-sharing app. if you have non-canadian license, you will need your driving history to be submitted via web form / sign up process. Will take a few days to process.

[Dredgy]

La Belle Patate for Poutine. You can even order one with Canadian bacon and maple syrup for that stereotypical Canadian experience.

[Esemes16]

On 3/17/2023 at 11:43 AM, eLTee said:

Fireworks

 

https://hondacelebrationoflight.com/
As others has already said in other threads - The annual fireworks competition "Honda Celebration of Light" 3rd and final display is on the Saturday 29th July from a barge off English Bay. It will be absolutely rammed downtown, it gets a bit crazy and there is a ton of energy in the city. We wont be able to see it from the expo center, its a 25m walk.

On the WAN show they joked about stopping the LAN party and going outside to watch the fireworks.

[sodapone]

Tapping into my knowledge from previous trips to conventions at the VCEC other than LTX...

• Public transit is definitely your friend--use it if you're close to any noteworthy routes. More specific answers for Vancouver's metro area...
  • Vancouver: As the city where most of these transit routes converge on, you are definitely spoiled for choice. It's best you just look for yourself at what transit is near where you'll be staying, than for me to list every single possible way you could get to Waterfront.
  • Burnaby: Expo Line or Millennium Line to Waterfront station depending on whether you're closer to the northern or southern side. If you're taking the Millennium Line you'll need to transfer to the Expo Line at Commercial-Broadway station. If you're staying particularly close to the northern coast of Burnaby you'll be better served by the R5 Hastings Street RapidBus.
  • New Westminster: Expo Line to Waterfront.
  • Surrey: Expo Line to Waterfront. It unfortunately doesn't extend far into Surrey (they're working on it), so it might be difficult getting there. I would not recommend staying closer to LMG HQ if that gives you an idea.
  • Richmond: Canada Line to Waterfront. Similarly to Surrey it doesn't extend too far into Richmond, so it might be a little difficult getting there, especially if you're staying in Steveston.
  • Coquitlam/Port Coquitlam/Port Moody: Millennium Line is a good all-day option; like with Burnaby, you'll need to transfer to the Expo Line at Commercial-Broadway station to get to Waterfront. If you're willing to leave early in the morning you can also take the West Coast Express straight to Waterfront; it's a commuter train that runs westbound from around 6 to 8 in the morning and eastbound from around 4 to 6 in the evening.
  • Maple Ridge: West Coast Express only. Better get acquainted with the schedule.
  • North Vancouver: Get down to Lonsdale Quay (it has a major bus exchange so this is pretty easy) and catch the SeaBus. It goes straight to and from Waterfront station once every 10, 15, or 30 minutes depending on the weekday and time of day.
  • West Vancouver: The 250 Vancouver and 257 Vancouver Express buses are pretty much your only fast options; you could catch an R2 Marine Drive to Lonsdale Quay and take the SeaBus, but it can be up to twice as slow as just taking a bus directly. As long as you can get to Marine Drive you'll be able to catch at least the 250. Get off at West Georgia at Granville Street and catch the Canada Line to Waterfront station. I would not recommend staying anywhere further west than Dundarave; getting downtown from Horseshoe Bay is quite the long trip.
  • Langley, Abbotsford, Delta: No fast options as far as I know. If you're staying in Abbotsford you could potentially go up north to Mission and catch the West Coast Express, but that's it.
• The Vancouver Convention Centre is at the Waterfront, which is pretty gentrified and has a lot of high-end restaurants if you've got the money. The Fairmont Pacific Rim's raw bar is across the street, and the Japanese restaurant Miku is just a block away and now I can say it got a recommendation from the Michelin Guide--though no star.
• For cheaper eats, there's a Subway near the Convention Centre front entrance, a Cactus Club Cafe across the courtyard, and an entire food court with decent offerings across from the East Convention Centre (and I just realized there's a second Subway in there, less than a block away--weird.)
• In terms of mask-wearing, I would recommend it particularly on the Expo Floor and if you visit the aforementioned Waterfront Centre Food Court (and don't eat in there; take it outside.) According to someone who visited AniRevo 2022 with a carbon dioxide meter, those are the places that tend to have the most stagnant air when a busy convention is in town. The rest of the Convention Centre does indeed have good ventilation that isn't as likely to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of people.

Now for general Vancouver stuff:

• My number one recommendation, especially since you'll probably be close to the Vancouver Convention Centre, is to go to the EzeeRiders Bike Rental just a few shops to the right of the main entrance, rent an e-bike, and ride all the way along Coal Harbour to Stanley Park, and go for a ride around the entire Seawall into English Bay. Last year I took my friends--one from Oregon and one from Ontario--on that route, and they loved it to bits. And sure, you could find cheaper bike rentals, but the e-bikes EzeeRiders offers are really nice (and useful given some of the inclines you might encounter if you cut across the city proper on your way back), and their location is absolutely perfect, being right outside of a dedicated bike lane that'll mark the start of your route.
• Greta is an arcade and bar on the border of the Downtown Eastside--the best arcade machines there IMO are Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, Guitar Hero Arcade, Big Buck Hunter, an electromechanical Pong table, and Space Invaders Frenzy. The food and drinks are pretty good too. Visit between 5 and 6 PM and you can get a Happy Hour special card which gives you free play for 3 hours (though if you go for that you'll forfeit your ability to earn points to redeem for prizes, booooo.)
• I read in an earlier post here that the Celebration of Light will be happening at the same time as LTX this year--definitely worth a trip to English Bay if you're interested. It's a big fireworks festival with teams representing countries competing on different nights.
• Granville Island is a tourist trap, but dammit, it's a good tourist trap. It's really nice to just kinda vibe there, although what the shops offer can be overpriced. Even after all these years, I still enjoy visiting the Kids Market, because I just find it cool with how full it is with all sorts of toys and games.
• Visit Robson Street! It's a fun street full of fashion shops, karaoke bars, and ramen shops. My particular recommendation in the ramen department would be Maruhachi Ramen on Bidwell and Robson.
• Queen Elizabeth Park is a really beautiful park. It's vast, featuring a duck pond, flower garden, and the Bloedel Conservatory--a biodome full of beautiful tropical plants and birds, including many varieties of parrot. I really can't recommend it enough, although it's a little difficult to reach without a car--heck, the Canada Line even is forced to go around it and doesn't have a stop in there, which is a shame.

For more special-interest stuff:

• If you happen to actually be in the market for some PC hardware during your trip for some reason, you should check out Canada Computers and Memory Express--they're basically Canada's equivalent to Micro Center, and they have several locations across Metro Vancouver. Their closest locations to the Convention Centre though are on West Broadway though, which is quite a ways away.
• If you're a retro gamer, the stores I'd recommend are Gamedeals in New Westminster (pretty easily accessible from the Expo Line) and Mostly Games in Port Coquitlam (further away; most accessible with the Millennium Line). I don't recommend Triple-M Buy and Sell on Granville Street if that shopkeeper's prices are still as insane as they were when I visited (he wanted $80 for a Wii Classic Controller Pro?????)
• Rhythm gamers and other arcade enthusiasts out there will be delighted to know that while national chains like Dave & Busters and Round1 aren't to be seen in Canada, there are two absolutely fantastic options--CHQ in Metrotown Mall in Burnaby, and eSpot in President Plaza in Richmond. Both arcades also have plenty of other popular cabinets of other genres--you'll find Mario Kart Arcade GP DX at both for example. eSpot is bigger and has more machines in general. They also have chairs for most of the machines where CHQ doesn't. I included hyperlinks to community database entries showing just how many dang games these places have--see if there's anything there that catches your eye!
• Otakus and weebs out there! My recommendations would be Sakura Media in Metrotown (conveniently right next to CHQ), and Gacha Hobbies in Aberdeen (in Aberdeen Mall, conveniently across the street from eSpot). Sakura Media has the better overall pricing and friendlier staff. There's also J-Toys which is about a ten-minute walk from Aberdeen, but can be worth the trek if you've got the time.
• Vancouver in general is a hiker's paradise--if you don't wanna cross over into the North Shore where some of the best trails are, then I'd recommend going to Stanley Park. I've personally not hiked around there myself... Yet... But you can't go wrong with hiking through nature trails in the second-largest park in North America (the first being Central Park).
  • And if you do wanna cross over into the North Shore, then I'd strongly recommend the Capilano Pacific Trail which runs from Ambleside Park in West Vancouver all up to Cleveland Dam in North Vancouver. Up there you also get the best possible view of the Lions, an iconic pair of twin peaks. Note that a landslide broke the original trail though, so you'll have to cut through some suburbs to make this trip. And if you want more of a challenge, then definitely give the Grouse Grind on Grouse Mountain a go.

That's about all I can think of for now. I'll update this if I think of anything more.