The kids have a long weekend off of school in September so we're looking at doing a trip and none of us have been to Canada before. Kids are 9 and 12 year old girls and are pretty experienced travelers.

What would yall recommend for 4 full days on the ground in Vancouver excluding travel days? Is late September an ok time to go?

Also if you're just staying in metro Vancouver and not going up to Whistler, do you need to rent a car? Seems like they have a robust public transit system.

Late Sept will be a great time to go to Vancouver...I will be there in 2 weeks for a couple days. Public transport system is pretty good, but it will take you some time to figure it out. So need to decide if it's worth the hassle vs taking Uber's. For me I would do Uber's to make the best use of your limited vacation days.

Thanks! Let me know how the trips goes!

Absolutely Butchart Gardens. Here is one of my pics in July.

Yo, Victoria is 3-4 hours of commute one-way. That's a commitment for only 4 days.

I think the 9 and 12 year old would rather hit the Capilano bridge, tram/hike Grouse, etc. If you want gardens VanDusen is right there. Depending on how late in September, Larches might be going. So cool to see.

We did the Capilano suspension bridge and grouse mountain. Also rented bikes and rode around Stanley Park.

I agree that a trip to Victoria is going to require a full day commitment. We took a small float plane which was a fun experience. Had breakfast and toured around Parliament. Then took a bus ride over to the Butchart Gardens. The gardens are fantastic and worth the trip in my opinion. Our bus also stopped at the Butterfly Gardens (probably fun for the kids). We flew both ways but there is also a ferry that runs back and forth.

Stanley Park is great. The kids might enjoy the aquarium inside the park. It seems to be highly rated although I've never been.

Could take a water taxi, or an uber, over to Granville Island to spend part of the day. Very artsy, lots of shopping. Mostly a local farmer's market kind of thing but with lots of food vendors and some art vendors. Kids might get bored quickly though.

Also hit up Chinatown for some good eats