Living out of a backpack: Backpacking Vancouver

In true back packing style we stayed in youth hostels while we were in travelling through Vancouver and opted for the private rooms. Because we had no idea what we wanted to do during our 2 weeks in Van, we’d booked 2 nights at the HI Hostel Downtown (http://www.hihostels.ca/westerncanada/169/HI-Vancouver_Downtown.hostel) before leaving Aus just to give us something for when we arrived. After catching the train from the airport then coming out at the Granville Street train station, we commenced the hike to the hostel. It was a little further than expected but I suppose when carrying back packs that weigh half your weight everything feels a little more difficult!

Our humble abode at the HI Hostel downtown

Anyway, the hostel was located in a quieter part of Vancouver and only a 5 minute walk tops to the main street and clubs etc on Granville Street. We ended up staying here for a few nights before heading over to Vancouver Island, where we once again stayed in HI hostels at Victoria and Nainamo. So far so good.

When we got back to Van we spent another week back at the HI Hostel downtown. We had thought about moving down the other HI hostel on Granville St but found out it didn't have kitchen facilities so that kind of quickly crossed it off the list for us! We really loved our little private room at the HI Hostel downtown, it was close to al the public transport, nice and quiet (for the old timers were starting to turn into !) and everything and the organised tours (including Erik's tours) and evening yoga from there were fantastic! We were really happy we’d stayed here!

Our pad in Naniamo

The other bonus with staying at the HI hostel.. when we arrived we paid $26 for HI membership which got us discounts on our room rate (at all HI hostels around the world), 25% discount off greyhound tickets (best way to get up to Whistler from Van) and a whole bunch of other deals. Definitely a good $26 spent..

Haloween at the Beaver Bar downstairs from the Samesun Hostel

Through TWHC (the company we got our jobs through) we got a free night accommodation at the Samesun hostel, (http://samesun.com/) which is located down on Granville Street. We opted to use our free night and stay here the night before we jumped on the Powder Express bus to head up to Whistler and we were kind of glad we didn’t spend any more time here. There was a bar downstairs so it was a lot noiser than the other hostel we had been in, and the down rooms were also quite small with minimal lockable storage areas. The dorm rooms fitted 4 people in them though so would be perfect for those travelling in small groups and wanting to be in the midst of it all!

Leaving the Samesun. Destination - Whistler!

Not sure on prices of any of the rooms or anything but I did hear from a few people that staying in dorm rooms in hostels was starting to get a little more exi..so be prepared

All in all, staying at a HI hostel on Granville(http://www.hihostels.ca/westerncanada/170/HI-Vancouver_Central/index.hostel) would be good if you were going to become a member and reap the benefits of membership, especially for the bus trip up to Whistler.. and weren’t fussed being able to cook. Location wise it’s perfect and there are heaps of cheap places to eat and drink so either the Samesun or the HI hostel on Granville would probably be the place to be if you wanted to be in the heart of party Vancouver!

There is also a really good Japanese restaurant down on Granville Street (opposite the American Apparel Store) where we chose to celebrate our last night in Van. They had the most amazingly fresh sashimi and Rhys treated himself to a platter of sake!