Vancouver Airport
Vancouver International Airport is
situated on Sea Island, 13km south
of the city centre. Its often-used
coded abbreviation is YVR.
International flights arrive at
the majestic new main terminal;
domestic flights at the smaller
and linked old Main...
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Bus terminal
Vancouver's main bus terminal
, which is used by Pacific Coach
Lines (for Victoria, Vancouver
Island), Maverick Coach Lines
(Whistler, Sunshine Coast and
Nanaimo) and all Greyhound
services, is in a slightly
dismal area alongside the VIA
Rail Pacific Central train
station at 1150 Station St;
ticket offices for all companies
are on the inside on the right
as you enter. It's too far to
walk to downtown from here, so
bear left from the station
through a small park, to the
Science World-Main St SkyTrain
station and it's a couple of
stops to downtown (take the
train marked
"Waterfront"); tickets
($1.75) are available from
platform machines.
Alternatively, you could take a
taxi downtown from the station
for about $6-8. There are left-luggage
facilities here and a useful hotel
board , whose freephone line
connects to some of the city's
genuine cheapies (but check
locations) - some of whom will
deduct the taxi fare from the
terminal from your first night's
bill.
Trains
The skeletal
VIA Rail
services also operate out of
Pacific Central Station (tel
640-3741 or 1-800/561-8630,
www.viarail.ca
); they run to and from Jasper
($175), where there are
connections
for Prince George and Prince
Rupert, and on to Edmonton and the
east (3 weekly Mon, Thurs &
Sat). There is also one daily
VIA-Amtrak (tel 253/931-8917 or
1-800/872-7245,
www.amtrakcascades.com
) service between Vancouver and
Seattle (currently departs 6pm and
arrives Seattle at 9.55pm).
A second train station,
belonging to the provincial BC
Rail , at 1311 W 1st St, in
North Vancouver (tel 984-5246 or
1-800/339-8752 in BC,
1-800/663-8238 from the rest of
Canada and US, www.bcrail.com
), provides passenger services to
and from Whistler (1 daily; 2hr
35min), Lillooet (1 daily; 5hr
35min), and Prince George (3
weekly; 13hr 30min) via 100 Mile
House, Williams Lake and Quesnel.
Note that in the summer they also
run very popular excursion
trips to Squamish aboard the Royal
Hudson steam train, sometimes
combined with a sea cruise.
