Staying in Vancouver: The Burrard Hotel

When we latched onto the idea of a January excursion to Vancouver I instantly googled: what to do in Vancouver in the winter. I'm not a winter sports person, so I needed to see there were options above skiing, snowboarding, and snowshoeing. One of the first matches was THIS post by Earth's Magical Places. Their description of The Burrard made me fall in love with the quirky former motel. I was thrilled they had rooms.

The Burrard started its life as a 1950's motor lodge. Today it is a boutique hotel, with white walls and tropical colored accent doors and windowsills. The inner courtyard has palm trees, ping pong tables, and a firepit. Inside the walls have off-beat art by narrative photographer Dina Goldstein. Cinder, her picture of Cinderella in a bar graced our bedroom.

Each night they have non-alcoholic Happy Hour with mocktails. The drink choices could have been more to our taste, but the thought was charming. 

They have also parking, though the parking was tight with the square columns between every other parking space. I got out of the car to guide Don through the maze as he backed the rental into the space.

It's biggest selling point to Don, though, was free bicycle rentals. Yes, we were going in the winter, but Don has ridden in just about any weather. Everything I read about Vancouver said the city tends to be above freezing each day. I was pleasantly surprised we actually used the bikes on a day trip around Stanley Park.

Now that I've stayed there, my selling points would be Café Elysian and the restaurant Burgoo located on the ground floor of our hotel. Most of our days started with tea in café and ended with soup and salad at Burgoo. Any longer and we would have felt we were at Cheers.

Another big selling point is the front desk. When we checked in at midnight after a rather long travel day I asked if there was any place to get food. Without batting an eyelash, they pointed us in the direction of Davies Street -- to the right is a 24-hour Denny's, to the left a 24-hour bakery. For a city whose sidewalks looked like they had been rolled up for the night, hearing there were two places to eat only a couple of blocks away was magical. Every question we asked of them was met with the same ease of answer. 

Next time we return, and we truly hope there is a next time, we will make sure there is availability at The Burrard.