3 days in Vancouver

Where else can you build a sandcastle in the morning, watch a sea otter at lunch and still see snow on the mountains from the playground? Vancouver sits between the water and the peaks, and you can feel it from almost every stop on this plan.

Day one is Granville Island and the beaches around it: an indoor play area, a boat-side lunch, a planetarium and a long evening on Kitsilano Beach. Day two is Stanley Park (two playgrounds and the aquarium), with a flight over Canada to finish. Day three is Science World, a creekside playground, and a pair of gardens that are better with kids than you'd guess.

It's built for kids from about two to ten, and it works in the rain more often than you'd think (Vancouver gets plenty, so that matters).

Stay downtown, around the West End, Yaletown and the waterfront. From there it's a train from the airport, a short walk to most of day two and a quick bus or ferry to everything else. The trade is room size: book the suite or the connecting rooms first and the hotel second.

Our Vancouver family hotel guide says which room to ask for at each of these.

Walking

Moderate. Each day clusters its stops, and the longest walks are the seawall stretches on day one and in Stanley Park. A stroller does well on the paved paths.

Ages

Two to ten. Toddlers get the playgrounds, the beach and the garden. School-age kids get the science museum, the planetarium and the aquarium.

Season

Summer is the easy one: long days and warm sand. Spring and fall are quieter, and gray days suit the indoor stops. Check the listings for hours before you plan around a museum.

You don't need a car. The Canada Line train runs from the airport straight into downtown, and from there it's the SkyTrain, buses and your feet. Day three's gardens are the one place where a car or a bus ride helps.

Small ferries cross False Creek between Granville Island, Yaletown and Science World, and kids will pick the boat over the bus every time. The seawall (a paved path along the water) links most of day one and runs all around Stanley Park.

Vancouver rains a lot, and the plan already holds up. Science World, the Space Centre and the Bloedel Conservatory are all indoors. Add the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC if you want one more, or the Museum of Anthropology on the same campus.

Keep the Kids Market, the playgrounds and Kitsilano Beach, and trade the Space Centre for a long afternoon at Science World's smaller galleries. Skip Flyover. The Creekside and Second Beach playgrounds do a lot of work.

Add the Greenheart TreeWalk at the UBC Botanical Garden, a walkway up in the treetops, and the Museum of Anthropology next door. Flyover is a better fit at this age too.

The beaches are the point. Add Rainbow Park and Coopers' Park near Yaletown for the water play and the lawns, and plan the playgrounds for the cooler ends of the day.

Trying to do all of Stanley Park in a day. It's far bigger than it looks on the map. Pick the west side and enjoy it, or you'll spend the day on the path.

Science World: Differense / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Kids Market and Adventure Zone, Granville Island: Canmenwalker / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0) · H.R. MacMillan Space Centre: Stokedonfooty / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Kitsilano Beach Park Playground: Canmenwalker / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0) · Ceperley Park Playground, Stanley Park: bynyalcin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0) · Vancouver Aquarium: Iiii I I I / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0) · Bloedel Conservatory: Alejandro MEJIA / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Century Plaza Hotel: Minnaert / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Coast Coal Harbour Vancouver Hotel by APA: User:Another Believer / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 1.0) · Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront: Chris Clarke from Dubai, UAE / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Fairmont Waterfront: JamesZ_Flickr from Vancouver, Canada / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)