A day trip to Grouse Mountain, Vancouver

Around 45 minutes from downtown Vancouver is Grouse Mountain, a pleasantly touristy mountain spot that’s a lot of fun! Not only is there a cable car ride to the top, but there are also shows, bears (yes bears!) as well as optional activities for those seeking more of a thrill. And of course, you’re surrounded by gorgeous scenery all the while.

You can easily spend a solid 3-4 hours on Grouse Mountain – more if you’re doing some of the additional activities such as ziplining through the treetops. 

(If you’re visiting Vancouver and wanting some more inspiration you can find my full Vancouver 3 day itinerary here).

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Getting to Grouse Mountain by bus

When I first arrived into Vancouver, I was shocked at how easy it was to navigate around by bus – you just tap your contactless card when you get on and that’s it (you don’t need to tap when you get off). What’s even better is that you can transfer as many times as you want across the bus network (including the Seabus) in a 90 minute timeframe without having to pay an additional fee. You’ll still have to tap your card when you get on each bus though.

I took the 236 bus from downtown Vancouver to Grouse Mountain. It cost me $4.55 (around £2.70 or $3.40 USD) to get there using my contactless bank card to pay. If you’re staying a bit longer in Vancouver you may want to consider buying a reloadable Compass Card which makes each journey slightly cheaper.

It does take around 45 mins to get from Grouse Mountain from downtown so it’s worth factoring that time in. 

Taking the Skyride up to Grouse Mountain

Once you’ve arrived at Grouse Mountain if you go up the stairs where it says ‘Skyride Ticket Centre’ the queue will split into two, where you can easily purchase a ticket at the counter if you didn’t buy one in advance. It cost me $73 CAD (around £43 or $55 USD) which gets you there and back on the Skyride cable car, and there are lots of free shows and things to do when you get up there as I’ll detail below.

 

The Skyride takes only a few minutes and it’s your first opportunity to see some of the amazing views that Grouse Mountain has to offer. 

Bear in mind that it does get a little bit cooler as you go up the mountain – I was fine in shorts but had to put my zip-up hoodie on. It was still really pleasant though. 

At the top there’s a shop, café, theatre, bag storage, toilets etc, and places where you can buy tickets for some of the additional paid activities, for example ziplining (which looked great fun although a bit too terrifying for me I think!) 

(Optional: Take the Grouse Grind – if you dare)

For those of you that are athletically inclined (I am not), Grouse Mountain is famous for the ‘Grouse Grind’, a gruelling 2.5km hike up the mountain. You can only go up and so you’ll need to book a Skyride ticket for the way down.

You can find out more information about the Grouse Grind here. I am sure it will come as no surprise to you that I did not do the Grouse Grind.

Eat a delicious Beavertail

One of the kiosks on Grouse Mountain serves Beavertails. These are essentially fried dough in the shape of, you guessed it, a beaver tail. These have a selection of toppings but I went for the classic sugar and cinnamon option. It was delicious!

 

Visit Grinder and Coola the rescue bears!

A short distance away from the Skyride is the enclosure for Grinder and Coola, two orphaned bear cubs that were rescued from separate incidents and placed together. 

It was amazing to actually see a grizzly bear up close, and it was fun to see their personalities shine through. Grinder was absolutely living his best life. I watched him playing with a massive log in the water before floating on his back with his back feet in the air. It was quite easy to forget just how dangerous grizzlies can be. 

Multiple times throughout the day there’ll be a ranger talk beside the enclosure where you can find out a bit more about the bears’ backstory and personalities. 

See the Lumberjack Show

As well as an owl talk and raptor show (which I didn’t manage to see) there’s also a free Lumberjack Show which demonstrates some of the skills and games that lumberjacks played (and still play – turns out there is actually a Lumberjack World Championship). It’s a little bit cheesy but actually there were some hilarious jokes in there and I was very impressed with the sheer talent of the performers. There’s all sorts here – wood chopping, axe throwing, wood ‘carving’ – and I was actually peeking through my hands at the finale, which I won’t spoil!

It was also interesting to hear a bit more about the lives of lumberjacks in the Pacific North West during the late 19th and pre-war 20th Century – as a Brit this is a part of history we don’t learn about at school.

Take a ride up the chairlift to see some stunning views

You know I love a good chairlift, and this was no exception. This chairlift actually carries you a fair way above the ground (which is something to bear in mind if you’re not a fan of heights) and the route takes you through a lush fir forest in an eyepopping green. At the top there are gorgeous views, and I mean gorgeous. The landscape in this area is truly beautiful, with the land carpeted with fir trees. And of course, there are the views of Vancouver below. At the top there’s also a wind turbine that you can go up for an even higher vantage point, although this wasn’t open when I was there. 

Overall, I spent around 20 minutes right at the top, taking photos of all the different viewpoints. 

 

Round off the day with some great food on the North Vancouver shore

After coming down the mountain via the Skyride, I took the bus to The Shipyards where there are lots of restaurants by the waterfront. Many have outdoor seating so you can admire the view as you can see below! When I visited there were also market stalls selling art and jewellery.