Car Hire Vancouver Canada Place A Downtown

Car Hire

Despite the 2009 loss of its famous IMAX 3D theatre, Vancouver Canada Place remains among the most popular attractions in Canada's second-most populous city. It first opened during the city's successful Expo ’86 festival and has now become one of the city's most famous landmarks. A large hotel and interesting interactive historic exhibits are located here, alongside the city's convention centre and World Trade Centre. Vancouver Canada Place's Burrard Inlet waterfront location puts its signature five sails in the middle of many prominent Vancouver ferry and cruise ship routes. The area also contains many car hire companies and is located not far from Waterfront Station, the city's main rail and bus hub.

Who to Book With
Vancouver Canada Place's Pan Pacific Hotel includes National and Alamo offices where guests can collect their vehicles, while cruise ship passengers can pick up at the Avis, Budget and other car rental offices at the cruise ship level. Many cruise ship companies also provide shuttle bus services between Vancouver Canada Place and the waterfront, which features many more places to rent cars.

Best Time to Go
Summer may be Vancouver's high season, but Vancouver Canada Place is busy throughout the year as it’s the venue of many of the city's biggest festivals. As soon as the Vancouver International Jazz Festival ends at the end of June, Vancouver Canada Place hosts the biggest Canada Day event west of Ottawa. Christmas at Canada Place has been a popular local tradition for almost 25 years. Hotel and vehicle rates are at their highest during all of the above festivals and throughout the summer months.

Need to Know Essentials
Most car hire offices need to see these documents at vehicle collection:

- An International Driving Permit or a valid driver’s licence
- A passport or another secondary form of photo identification
- The credit card used for the online reservation
- A printed confirmed reservation

For further information read our FAQs.

Driving
The foot of Burrard Street and Howe Street provides the easiest vehicle access to Vancouver Canada Place, which boasts its own two-floor parkade at VINCI Park. VINCI Park is also Vancouver's only on-site car park for cruise ship passengers, who are frequently entitled to discounts when using any of the parkade's more than 750 stalls. Motorists wishing to explore other sections of Vancouver and its stunning surroundings will find the grid system of the city's streets fairly simple to navigate, with less traffic experienced here than in many other similarly sized cities.

Our Guide to Canada includes more detailed driving information

Transport

Vancouver Canada Place is easy to reach not only by private vehicle, but by all the public transit options available in British Columbia's provincial capital. Waterfront Station, Vancouver's main rail and bus station, is just steps away from Vancouver Canada Place and is part of the city's popular SeaBus passenger ferry service. Vancouver International Airport is under a half-hour taxi or automobile ride from Vancouver Canada Place.

Trains
The Canada and Millennium lines of Vancouver's rapid transit SkyTrain network both stop at Waterfront Station, steps from Vancouver Canada Place, as does the West Coast Express commuter rail line. Trains from Canada's national rail line VIA Rail and Amtrak services from the United States also make daily trips to Waterfront Station.

Buses
Waterfront Station is a frequent stop on many diesel buses and electric trams operated by TransLink, Vancouver's main public transportation company. Buses travel between 05:00 and 02:00. Passengers can pay the approximately £1.75 bus fare at a ticket machine or by giving exact change to the driver.

Ferries
Ferries are a popular way to travel to Vancouver Canada Place and around the rest of this waterfront city. It takes roughly 12 minutes to travel between North Vancouver’s Lonsdale Quay and Waterfront Station aboard SeaBus commuter ferries. Bus and SkyTrain tickets include SeaBus ferry fares. The provincially owned BC Ferries network connects Vancouver with the Vancouver Island cities of Nanaimo and Victoria.

Taxis
Vancouver Canada Place is one of the many places in the city where taxis stand ready to greet passengers, but people can also board taxis directly from Waterfront Station or most major hotels. Yellow Cab, available 24 hours, is one of Vancouver's most popular taxi services.

Exploring

Vancouver Canada Place, not to mention the rest of the city, contains enough attractions within itself to keep most visitors busy for hours. However, those craving outdoor pastimes will find more than their fair share of things to do after a scenic car rental drive towards the majestic Coastal Mountains or the stunning Sunshine Coast. Drivers of rented vehicles can also board a ferry to neighbouring Vancouver Island and British Columbia's serene provincial capital of Victoria.

Recommended Drives

Vancouver Island – British Columbia's provincial capital, Victoria, stands at the tip of this scenic island west of the province's mainland. Vancouver Island visitors can embark on whale watching tours, enjoy some of Canada's finest surfing in Tofino's waters or appreciate high tea in the city which boasts the planet's northernmost Mediterranean climate.

Sea to Sky Highway – The main road between Vancouver and the popular Whistler Blackcomb ski resort has long been as famous for its treacherous driving conditions as for its breathtaking mountain scenery. However, this scenic drive is now much less stressful thanks to significant safety improvements made before the 2010 Winter Olympics. Halfway between Whistler and Vancouver stands Squamish, Canada's outdoor recreation capital.

Whistler Blackcomb – North America's biggest ski resort attracts over two million annual visitors and is twice as large as the second-biggest ski resort on the continent (Vail). Skiers can soar above the same slopes used during the 2010 Olympics aboard the world's longest and highest unsupported cable car span, the Peak 2 Peak gondola. After the snow melts, Whistler's biggest attractions are its summer festivals and world-class mountain biking.