Granville Island Walk

Date of Walk: August 27, 2001

Length: About 1 mile of streets and lanes
Time to Walk: 30 minutes (if you can resist spending hours shopping!)
Type of Walk: Waterfront/Scenic/Market/Shopping/Restaurants
Location: Downtown Vancouver
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The Granville Island site has a map that is so well done, we could never match it. We have linked to their site rather than do one ourselves.

Parking
Granville Island is a refurbished industrial area on False Creek. It was not set up for tourism and parking. However, small parking lots have been shoe-horned in and parking spots line the main road that loops Granville Island. We suggest you allow a few minutes extra to take your time to circle the island, and a parking spot usually appears when you least expect it. If you'd rather not hunt for a spot, there are some pay parking sites.

Let's Go!
Granville Island is more than a walk, it is an experience. To try to describe a route through the varying lanes and mews is like trying to tell someone how to navigate a maze. We started at the Federation Of Canadian Artists gallery because that was where we found a parking site. We walked on a short distance to the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, a respected art and graphic design school. As you walk, you pass working sites that remind you of the island's industrial past.

I followed Bill towards the Market that is the heart of the island. Before you get there, you pass a group of shops to your right. There's everything from Christmas Presence to Dig This, a Garden Store. As you walk through the shops, you reach the water for the first time.

Leaving the shops, we continued on to the Market itself. The dock outside the Market attracts many pigeons - you may enjoy feeding the birds.

Inside the Market there is a food shopper's delight. There are fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, bakeries, delicatessens, spices, wine and just about anything you need to eat here or to make a wonderful dinner at home. David couldn't resist buying some cherries.

As you leave the other side of the Market, you come out to a marina and a view of the Burrard St. Bridge. A well known local restaurant, Bridges, is at the marina. This is also a stop on the False Creek Ferries run, an interesting way to see Vancouver.

As you leave the marina and head further around the main loop road, you pass several shops, the Granville Island Sport Fishing Museum (which also houses the Model Trains Museum), the Granville Island Brewing Company and the Granville Island Kids Market, a mall for kids!

Carrying on, there is a children's water park. You can even rent a battery operated car for your kids here. As the road loops left, if you keep to your right, you come to another park with a view of False Creek. You can carry on from the park and link up with the False Creek Walk. We walked back to the Sandbar Restaurant. Bill really enjoyed his lunch and we both quaffed a Granville Island Lager.